anyone done the Ronde van Calderdale before! 80 miles of Yorkshire roads with a few cobbles … 7th April slightly apprehensive after I did my entry online yesterday. wondered if anyone has done the route before? As we don’t live up that way, no opportunity to pre-ride any of it.

Sorry to drag this up – me and my bro are doing it M_C, it’s organised by a mate too. It will be hard, no doubt!

Event Link

with a few cobbles

Erm, that might be an understatement TBH! I live locally and have ridden a few of the climbs, some of them are completely cobbled and very steep. We’ll be doing some of them this weekend, not really looking forward to it!

oh yes, good one that up to the ski slope – nicely sloppy at the mo!

A*** I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread! I was scared and nervous before and EVEN more so now!!!! ARRGGHHHH anyone want my entry 😉

You’ll be fine m_c, don’t worry 🙂

Welcome to ride at the back with me and my brother if you want some company, we’re aiming to survive it rather than beast it! Oh, and it’s only actually 73 miles 😉

That picture of the cobbles going up to Ploughcroft doesn’t do it justice. It’s much steeper in the flesh! 😆
Good fun though, hope it’s dry and not slimy wet!

OOO it’s this weekend, so who’s in? Looks like you’ll be getting your free set of arm warmers!

PS I did also see there are only 4 women entered into this crazy event.. maybe there’s a reason for that!

They have cut it short, for those who were doing the long route. ETA I am, if my knee has recovered

Sunday Ronde Van Calderdale cut short:

Now then guys and gals.
Bad/good news depending on which way u look at it.
The loop over withins moor rd is totally impassable. That’s the gravel section and one of the most scenic parts. Unfortunately the snow is just too deep and for too long to clear for Sunday.
It means after the drop into luddenden and the climb of old lane the route will be heading left and missing out that loop (that’s the climb of Jowel bank, withins moor rd and Cock hill).
Overall the ride will be reduced to around 60 miles.
It’s the safest option, and I am sure nobody wants a mile long walk over snow drifts.
Just like Milan San-Remo (which was also cut short), I am sure it will still be an exciting and fantastic ride.

Haha – looking at that photo you’re coming up Lee Lane from the Shibden Valley. You poor poor person. I struggle that on my MTB in the granny ring on a bad day.

Enjoy!

In reality, knocking a few miles off just means less recovery time between the big climbs. Lee lane is third or fourth in terms of difficulty sadly :-$

Munque_chick/djglover – if you fancy rolling round with me and my brother you’re more than welcome to, drop me a mail or look out for the short bloke on a flat bar kaffenback on Sunday morning 🙂

Best of luck to everyone that’s riding this bad boy on Sunday. Brutal doesn’t even scratch the surface…..

“brutal”? It’s just a road ride with some cobbles 🙂
Shorter and less climbing than the Flanders sportive and tiny cobbles compared to roubaix which really is brutal.
Looks like fun though.

According to FaceFaff, the organiser has phoned the Council and they’ve been up and cleared the snow now.
The FULL ROUTE is now back ON.

MrSmith – you coming to blow us all away then? 10,000+ft of climbing over a shortish route sounds pretty tough to me. The cobbles do vary in size, and there are plenty of tyre sized gaps to catch the unwary. See you in the morning, you can still enter on the day 😉

As above, full route now back on. Great! Or possibly not…..

MrSmith – you coming to blow us all away then?

flanders is closer and easier to get to for me 🙂
i’m sure it’s ‘brutal’ enough if you step in to the pain cave and try and be a strava hero 🙄

Any news/feedback to report yet?
Hope all who rode got round safe and unscathed today.

Brutal is a perfectly satisfactory adjective. Brilliant, but the hardest day on a bike I’ve ever managed I think..

http://app.strava.com/activities/47691615

I live local, and despite regularly riding with the organiser and the route coming through my village, I wouldn’t touch this event today.
Brutal summed it up nicely for me too.
Well done fella.

It was bloody horrible, but the pain is currently being numbed by a celebratory Guinness! I was foolish enough to ride there and back too, so I ended up with 88 miles and 10,000 ft of climbing, 7.5 hours though which was a bit slower than I’d have liked, but hey ho. Was very happy to ride all the climbs (happy being a subjective word obviously!)

Well done to everyone, we must be mad! 🙂

Ha ha, glad I didn’t ride in, its a 40 mile round trip for me, cycling back would have finished me

🙂

I live in Brighouse, so it was pretty hard to ride past the road to home knowing I’d have to ride back again. Last 5 miles was pretty, err, “challenging”!

Next year? 🙂

NO, never again.

I’m so glad I didn’t read these replies before the weekend when I did it! Holy shizzle that has to be the hardest, most brutual, gruelling event I have ever done! Only 4 women entered (1 was pro Annie Simpson, I know 1 DNF’d) but I FINISHED! and I rode everything except the last top bit of Trooper Hill, I was just too absolutely broken! Woody2000 we had a similar time we were clearly challenging you for the Lantern rouge! after the last feed stop we pottered on and got to the bottom of the last of 4 cobbled sections (as we drove up from Oxfordshire we didn’t know ANY of this route) and we nearly bailed. mr MC was looking at the Garmin and I decided it wouldn’t be worth the disappointment of not finishing so we soldiered on.. I did think i’d still be going at 8pm!

Annie Simpson posted on twitter about how broken she was and was having to bum shuffle up the stairs. Funny thing is yesterday I said never again..today I’m think..mmm mmaybe next year and I’ll do some more training. most of the hills were over 20%, the cobbles were insane. As for anyone saying it’s shorter and easier than Flanders then you can royally GFY…most of Flanders climbs you end up pushing as too many monkeys riding it. This was brilliantly organised, lots of friendly faces and flipping brutal. I’m so stoked I finished with only pushing one last climb and I one of only 3 women. So when’s the next one?

PS Mr MC has done the Coed y Brenin endure and this pi**es all over it in terms of physical endurance! Plus the climbs in Flanders are much much shorter.

Brilliant event. Cracking route, you know the climbs are tough when your arms hurt as much as your legs from yanking on the bars. Impressed they’d cleared all the roads, the views over the moors from the top of Oxenhope were spectacular, and in places the remains of the roadside drifts were still shoulder high. Terrific atmosphere on the road, lots of encouragement between fellow riders and with a field limited to 100 you couldn’t blame anyone else for stalling. We were on elastic with a large group from Alba Rosa (new Leeds based club) who’ve challenged all the preconceptions I had about roadie clubs, top bunch of guys with a lot of humour and really supportive of others.

Average speeds were shocking because when you weren’t climbing 20% grades you were descending them, they’d designed a route with almost no flats in it.

Chapeau to all who finished it. All our riding mates mtb’ed the dry south downs this weekend, I doubt they had more fun than we did. Probably hurt less, mind.

Im an alba rosa member. top bunch, i will pass on your feedback 🙂

I was one of the women who did it, It was ace, loved it. Can’t beat lots of steep climbs. I did get lost though and rode home. 94 mile and 12000′ by the time I stopped. Splendid stuff…bring on next year :0)

dj please do, we spent most of the ride with ’em and they were a top bunch, munqe chick got a barrage of encouragement climbing the cobbles when they were around (I said something similar on the RVC FB page and a few of them have ‘liked’ it). Fair play to their young lad in shorts and short-sleeve jersey, either he was nails or Ive lived down south too long 😉

I was disappointed to see pics of people riding on the pavement/kerbs, not really in the spirit of the event 🙂

millscc that is mad, not sure you get a prize for the extra mileage! You werent in a yellow fluory jacket on a Ridley by any chance? Apparently the guy with the pink-dyed beard (apologies if its an STWer didnt speak to you in person) and the guy on the Tommasini (ditto) rode one of the cobble sections twice-on the final run home you pass them on your left and they must’ve seen the sign pointing up it and not recognised it ’til they got to the top.

djglover, were you on the ARCC club run on Sunday? I thought I was the only STW gobshite in the club

Edit~ I sat next to you in the cafe Carl

Any pics of this anywhere? sounds like a perfect place for gurning faces caused by hills/effort etc. Well done to all who rode, judging by the above comments it sounds a tough course

Ben, no I did RvC with them, but don’t get out on club runs that much as I live and ride with Ilkley. I mainly joined to try (and fail) to beat Joe (my brother on SOTW)

Some words: http://www.cyclosport.org/09-Apr-2013/event-reviews/ronde-van-calderdale-review.html

dj, there’s a guy with the surname Glover in the club so incorrectly put 2 and 2 together; I nearly complemented you on being a strong rider but it seems that would just fan your sibling rivalry 😆

There are pictures on our Facebook page, Twitter and on Instagram #rondevancalderdale.

We are looking at April 6th 2014 for next years event but keep your eye on our facebook page and twitter for further updates.

Ressurection of the old thread ..but whilst in the midst of a night shift and attempting to stay awake I was wondering what date this will be in 2014. Ronde.. have you confirmed 6th April yet? Was looking at A/L as Mr MC will have to book weekend off and we have to get it in early!
Thanks!

Another thread bump – found this when I googled RvC which I’m doing tomorrow. On the video there are mostly road bikes but given the forecast bad weather I was considering using the CX cos its got discs. And much lower gears which might also be useful. 😉

Any ideas how much of the route is cobbled sections and how much slower a CX is going to be overall? 35mm almost-slick tyres vs my road bike with its 25mm. I know it’s a very subjective thing but thought someone with experience of the route might be able to advise on the “best” bike out of those two…

You doing it tomorrow Munqe-Chick?

You’ll get all the answers to your questions if you ask on their FaceBook page, they’re pretty keen. Good luck for tomorrow to all that are participating. The weather up here is a bit damp, but much warmer than last year.

Wow, I’d never heard of this until reading this thread. Looks brilliant and /or brutal, take your pick. The perfect thing for the Flanders weekend. I’ll fancy doing the 2015 one now.

Chapeau to anyone who’s got round, especially in last year’s conditions.

“brilliant and brutal” looks good as a description

millscc – Member
I was one of the women who did it, It was ace, loved it. Can’t beat lots of steep climbs. I did get lost though and rode home. 94 mile and 12000′ by the time I stopped. Splendid stuff

had to convert that to over 3500m of ascent to make sense – that’s a tough day out

edit was looking for some summer events in the area suspect this one will lurk