Cycle Magazine Taster October / November 2015

T H E

M A G A Z I N E

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C T C

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NATIONAL

CYCLING

CHARIT Y

O C T O B E R / N OV E M B E R 2 015 £3 O R F R E E TO C TC M E M B E R S This issue CAMER AS FOR COMMUTING PLUS-SIZE MOUNTAIN BIK ES DISC BR AK ES

CAMERAS FOR COMMUTING

DISSENT HE WIT T CHE VIOT

H OW, W H Y, A N D WHICH TO BUY

SE TOURER HANDCYCLING THE DALES A FAMILY IN FR ANCE

PLUS

O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 15

DISC BRAKES DISSENT PLUS-SIZE MOUNTAIN BIKES HANDCYCLING THE DALES HEWITT CHEVIOT SE TOURER

CTC.ORG.UK

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THE BIG PICTURE

GLYNDWR’S WAY, NEAR MACHYNLLETH

TRAILS FOR WALES This is part of the Trans-Cambrian Way, a 106-mile long distance route from Knighton on the Welsh border to Dyfi Junction on the coast. The trail consists of bridleways, restricted byways, byways, and unsurfaced, unclassified roads linked together by country lanes. It takes in some of the most remote riding in Wales.

Wouldn’t it be great, however, if even more of the spectacular Welsh countryside was accessible by bike? Currently, cyclists can use only 21% of the rights of way network in Wales. The Trails for Wales campaign aims to change that – see page 8. Photo by Phill Stasiw, who was leading this ride

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PRODUCT NEWS

SHOW TIME

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Photo: The Cycle Show

The Cycle Show takes place at Birmingham’s NEC from 25-27 September – see cycleshow.co.uk.

Here are some things Dan Joyce wants a closer look at 1. PUMPING NOT REQUIRED The interesting thing about the Bimp’Air compressed air canister isn’t that it’ll inflate tyres, top up shocks, or seat tubeless tyres, but that you can refill it by riding your bike.

Stand F29 bimpair.com

2. LEADING THE CHARGE While some are hedging their bets on plus-size tyres for mountain bikes, Charge have gone allin, converting their whole Cooker hardtail range.

Stand D51 chargebikes.com

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3. READ MY SPEED A 48-LED rear light, the VeloCityLight displays your speed to inform drivers – or cyclists, if you’re a commuter racer (itsnotarace.org) or TTer. Stand L28 velocitylight.com

4. MONO-PANNIERISTS, REJOICE Here’s a new Ortlieb Single-Bag QL3 commuter bag with recessed hooks and a Tubus Minimal rack that will carry it or other QL3 bags without bolt-on extras.

Stand G143 ortlieb.com

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5. SHIMANO GOES 1fi11 Shimano follow Sram in offering 1fi11 mountain bike gearing with a narrow-wide chainring and big cassette. It’s available with a double or triple too but isn’t 11-speed road compatible.

Stand A80 shimano.com

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6. GPS TRACKING GOES TINY At 30g and roughly the size of a passport photo, Lezyne’s Mini GPS is one of the smallest GPS computers available. Bigger models also monitor heart rate, cadence and power.

Stand G15 lezyne.com

7. QUALITY GEARBOX BIKE I want to try it, so I’m hoping KTM will bring the Life Lontano P18, a trekking bike with a Pinion bottom bracket gear. It won a Eurobike award.

Stand H121 ktm-bikes.at/en.html

CTC IS AT THE SHOW. We’re on stand L61, next door to the Canyon stand. Do drop by and say hello.

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MY BIKE

Dave Sims’ Chopper Last year, Dave rode the Étape du Tour on a Raleigh Chopper. This year he attempted all 21 stages on one. Dan Joyce spoke to him

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n 2 July, two days before the Tour de France professionals rolled down the start ramp in Utrecht, Dave Sims was riding his own time trial around the Dutch city. He had a skinsuit, an aero helmet… and a Raleigh Chopper. Three weeks later, he and his Chopper were on the Champs Elysées, having ridden 18 of the Tour’s 21 stages.

Why? For charity. He was raising money for Help for Heroes. ‘I met a Paralympian on Sa Calobra in Majorca,’ he said. ‘She had handcycled up it on this amazing piece of kit. She mentioned that her bike was partly funded by Help the Heroes. I thought: wow!’

He had the Chopper from the year before, when he’d done the Étape du Tour (see Cycle Dec-Jan). ‘No one thought I would even finish the Étape. But I did it. I thought: next year I’m going to do the whole thing.’

Dave is a fit cyclist. He’s a qualified mountain bike coach who does century rides on road on a 29er. ‘As well as raising money for charity, my Tour de France ride

was an attempt to show cyclists that’s it’s not all about the bike, but the engine that powers it.’

His three-week Tour began well. The Raleigh Redline tyres might have been ‘like treacle’ at times, but were fine hammering over the pavé in Belgium. He completed a 138-mile stage at an average of 15mph.

Later, his luck changed.

‘I had to abandon on stage 14 after damaging my Achilles. It was either go home or get it fixed. I rang Fran Millar, Dave Brailsford’s PA. Team Sky knew about the project as they were following me on Twitter!

Fran sorted out some physio and I met the squad. Sir Dave went round the car park on my Chopper bike. He loved it.’

Descending mountain passes was the most difficult part of Dave’s Tour. ‘On the Chopper, anything above 30mph is hard with hairpin bends. You’ve got to get the line in spot on and get the braking done before the corner. If you brake with that tiny front wheel, you get really bad understeer.’

Despite this, Dave cited the handling as his favourite thing about the bike. ‘It’s terrible but it’s what makes the Chopper what it is.

“You’ve got to get the line into bends spot on and get the braking done before the corner” I’ve learned how to ride that bike – descending, climbing, cornering. I never fell off during my Tour, unlike the professionals.’

Dave made a few changes to the Chopper for practical reasons. He fitted his own saddle. ‘I changed the seatpost as well, because it’s a kid’s bike and I’m 5ft 11in. A mate who’s an engineer made me a solid steel seatpost. It weighs a lot but it was the only post long enough that didn’t flex.’

He fitted an 8-speed hub instead of the 3-speed, a bigger crankset, and better brake pads. He also took a back-up bike, a red Chopper that became his mountain stage bike. ‘The red one was less twitchy on descents. Its headset was less worn.’

For more, visit teamchop.co.uk.

Tech spec: Dave Sims’ TdF Chopper(s) MODEL: Mk3 Raleigh Chopper PRICE: £100 secondhand, plus upgrades WEIGHT: 15.9kg FRAME AND FORK: aluminium frame, steel fork WHEELS: 16in front, 20in rear, with original Raleigh Redline tyres at 3.5bar TRANSMISSION: 170mm 46T chainset (instead of 152mm 44T), SturmeyArcher 8-speed hub gear with twistgrip shifter BRAKING: V-brakes front and rear STEERING & SEATING: Steel Apehanger handlebar (670mm wide, 330mm rise), steel 25.4mm stem, own saddle, solid steel seatpost EQUIPMENT: mudguards, bottle cage, rusty horn, spokey-dokeys

SHARE YOUR STORY: If you’ve got an interesting bike that’s been chosen or customised to suit you, get in touch. Email editor@ctc.org.uk 34 CYC LE OCTOBER/N OV EMBER 2 015

where: the Yorkshire Dales START/finish: Dales Bike Centre, Fremington DISTANCE: 63 miles over two days PICTURES: Alamy, A Chamings, M Jackson

H a nd cycl ing t he Da l es | G R E AT R I D ES

Gre at r ide s

Handcycling the Dales Handcyclist Alan Grace created a two-day tour in North Yorkshire to celebrate the 2014 Tour de France and the life of handcycling friend Gary Jackson

Left: © John Potter / Alamy Stock Photo. Far right: by Andrew Chamings

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he Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire was a spectacular success, but as a handcyclist I felt there was something missing: a legacy for handcyclists. When the Tour came to London in 2007, there was an official race on the Mall that drew handcyclists from all over the world. So this year, some friends and I decided to create an event, the Dales 2-Day, to celebrate the Tour and also to remember a handcycling friend Gary Jackson, whom we’d said farewell to in 2014. Gary was one of the first of us to ride the coast to coast. (Cycle’s June-July 2007 issue carried an account.)

We would ride some of the Tour de France route, including Le Côte de Buttertubs, and take in the Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain, to provide a link to Gary’s coast-to-coast ride. Gary’s widow, Maureen, joined us for the weekend and planned to meet up with us at various locations in her car.

We based ourselves at the Dales Bike Centre in Fremington. Owners Stu and Bren agreed to host us and lay on a pasta party on the Saturday evening. We publicised the event on the handcycle Facebook page, took out CTC event organiser insurance, and wrote risk assessments. Seven handcyclists and five cyclists attended.

The Yorkshire Dales isn’t the easiest terrain on any cycle, but the handcyclists had a lot of experience: four had ridden the Fred Whitton Challenge; one had ridden LEJOG; three had done various coast to coasts; two had tackled classic Alpine climbs; two were regular racers; and all had

completed too many sportives to mention.

The common denominator among the cycles everyone brought was low gearing for the climbs!

Côte de Buttertubs Our arrival on Friday night was greeted with torrential rain. The few of our group who braved camping in Reeth rather than B&Bs were surprised when the owner of Orchard Park Caravan and Camping offered them the use of a static caravan for the weekend for the same price, on the basis that it was much too wet to camp. We felt sorry for several hundred Scouts camping in the field adjacent to the Dales Bike Centre. They must have had a damp night and a wet start to their walk.

Friday night’s torrential rain eased by morning. We decided to delay the start by half an hour to let the last of the light rain blow through. This was no hardship. All the necessary form-filling took place in The Dales Bike Centre café, accompanied by coffee and cake.

After a group photo, we set off in a peloton, passing quite a few of the Scouts equipped with compasses and maps. We were straight into the first climb at Grinton, up Whipperdale Hill and onto Grinton Moor.

The beauty of such climbs in the Dales is that they lead to fantastic views. You don’t stop because you’re tired; you stop because you want to admire the landscape. The summit of this climb, leaving Swaledale and entering Wensleydale, gives a 360-degree panorama that stretches for miles, towards Sutton Bank in the east, Fremington Edge

Do it yourself Arranging an event for handcyclists is not too difficult. Things to think about: L evel area for parking to make it easy to get wheelchairs and handbikes in and out of vehicles.

A ccessible toilets and showers.

A ccessible accommodation.

A ccessible cafés and pubs/ restaurants.

G ated roads, which are awkward.

CTC offers lots of information on running cycle events, plus event organiser insurance. See ctc.org.uk/ insurance/event-organiser

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(In the photo) This is a set-up shot, of course, as we didn’t want to risk harm to photographer Seb Rogers!

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D I G I TA L WITNESS Video evidence should make it straightforward to report bad driving. CTC member David Brennan examines how cameras can help cycle commuters

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WHERE: central & southern France START/FINISH: Clermont Ferrand to Avignon DISTANCE: 720km PICTURES: Alamy & Neil and Amy Hammond

A fa m i ly i n f r a n c e | G R E AT R I D E S

Gre at r ide s

A family in France

Neil, Amy and Alice Hammond took a series of trains from Inverness to the Massif Central in France, then headed south on a Pino tandem and a Dawes tourer

Left: Rocamadour in the Valle de la Dordogne © incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo

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ouring with a child is straightforward when they’re small enough for a trailer. At the age of six, our daughter Alice had outgrown hers and wasn’t ready to tour on a solo bike. So we bought a Hase Pino, a semi-recumbent tandem. Its frame separates, and once dismantled it fits into one of the lightweight nylon bags that I had made for transporting our regular bikes on French trains.

Arriving into Euston, we walked along to St Pancreas and to Eurostar Dispatch. Their information page stated that any bike up to 2m long could be accommodated. The Pino is exactly 2m fully assembled, but looks very unusual for a bike. The staff at St Pancreas were completely unfazed, however, and cheerfully took the Pino for delivery to Paris.

We intercepted the bikes as they came off the train at Gare du Nord, then cycled across Paris. Our destination for the end of the day was Clermont Ferrand, which meant getting a train from Paris Bercy, an unremarkable station behind Gare de Lyon.

The trains heading south from here have the distinct advantage over TGVs of spacious bicycle compartments, which can be booked in advance along with your ticket.

Shelter from the rain We stayed in a hotel opposite the station in Clermont Ferrand. Next morning, we were ready to start our journey in sunny France.

Except it wasn’t; it was raining and colder than Scotland.

We set off with the vague intention of getting to Le Mont-Dore – vague because I wasn’t sure how fast progress would be on

a loaded Pino. South from Clermont Ferrand, everything is uphill. Not only was the terrain challenging but the light rain became heavier and the wind picked up. While Alice was stoic – she lives on the west coast of Scotland, after all – I deployed the fabric Pino fairing to offer her some protection. It worked a treat and likely saved the holiday.

After over four hours of cycling and 1,100 metres of climbing, we had covered just 50km and were wet and cold. All thoughts of camping vaporised. We found a pleasant hotel in Orcival and checked in.

This first day’s weather set the tone for the next three days as we headed through the Massif Central. Low cloud meant that although my legs told me we were going uphill, there were no views of the famous peaks or lush valleys to compensate for the effort. We managed a couple of nights in the tent, but the fourth day of our journey was torrential so we bailed out into a hotel.

Conquering cols The next morning, I peered out of the hotel window and was greeted by blue sky and sun. What a relief! With spirits lifted, we set off through lush green pastures towards the Col de Serre (1,355m). For a change I had drops of sweat dripping off my nose instead of rain on the steep climb up the Col. With renewed enthusiasm, we decided to make an attempt on the Pas de Peyrol (1,588m) to get a view of Puy Mary and perhaps take a short walk to the summit.

The road up had a reasonable incline for a while but then had a short but very steep 18-20% section leading up to the summit.

Do it yourself We used the Inverness to London Sleeper, then took the Eurostar to Paris and a train to Clermont Ferrand. We returned on the Eurostar direct service from Avignon to London. Taking the train requires a bit of organisation but is far more enjoyable and environmentally friendly than flying.

The Scottish sleeper (www.sleeper. scot) is bookable, as are its bike spaces. I booked the French trains and Eurostar through www.voyages-sncf. com (formally Rail Europe). To book bike spaces on the Eurostar you have to go through the ‘Eurostar Dispatch’ and drop the bikes off at their depot in St Pancras before boarding the train.

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f e at u r e | d i sc b r a k es d i s s en t

disc brakes dissent Disc brakes are great – for some applications.

For a bike with skinny tyres? Technical Editor Richard Hallett isn't so sure

ren’t disc brakes wonderful and isn’t it time to consign rim brakes to the parts bin of obsolescent cycling technology? This seems to be the prevailing view both within the industry, as Eurobike (right) recently illustrated, and amongst those cyclists who express their opinions on the subject online. There is, however, a countervailing argument worth making, if only to remind potential purchasers that the case is not closed.

The argument for disc brakes rests on three propositions: that disc brakes offer more powerful and controllable braking; that they work more reliably in all conditions; and that they avoid the various problems inherent in using a wheel’s rim as its braking surface.

The underlying truth of these is demonstrated by the near-universal use of disc brakes in mountain biking, where a coating of mud usually renders even linear-pull rim brakes ineffective and turns the brake blocks into abrasive pads that quickly wear away the braking surface. And if discs are so far superior in the demanding off-road world, surely they are a shoo-in on the road?

In fact, there are perfectly sound reasons for still choosing rim brakes for road use. Today’s rim brakes have been developed to the point where the best of them arguably offer as much braking performance as most road cyclists can exploit, given the limitations of

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narrow tyres. At this point, more is superfluous and the belief that more can be used is potentially dangerous, as I found when first trying Magura hydraulic rim brakes.

Disc brake care There are a few operational niggles to consider too. Cycle disc brakes are usually operated either hydraulically or ‘mechanically’ by conventional Bowden cable, with a third ‘hybrid’ type available that uses a cable to operate a self-contained hydraulic calliper.

Cable disc callipers are easy to set up and adjust but do not self-adjust to compensate for pad wear. Comparatively heavy, they lack the power and feel of hydraulic discs but are not susceptible to fluid overheating, although the pad material and disc may get too hot.

Hydraulic operation uses the incompressibility of a fluid to transmit pressure from the brake lever to the calliper. The latest systems self-adjust to compensate for pad wear but installation is a skilled task if the hose needs to be trimmed, and pad replacement can be tricky.

Neither type is immune to a notable problem with disc brakes. It is not too hard to find accounts online of disc brake pads wearing out on wet gravel rides, even when the brakes are hardly being used. To save weight, pads are small and thin; the very close clearances necessarily maintained between

Photo: ©EUROBIKE Friedrichshafen

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pads and disc mean that fine grit on the disc rotor will eat away at the pad. The same process means pads also wear quickly if used for wet weather commuting. So, while discs themselves may be long-lived and using discs will save on rim wear, they entail costs of their own.

Brake fade Even without grit, pad rub is a common and annoying problem caused by the tiny clearances between pad and disc. It arose when I was testing the Whyte Cornwall for the June-July issue; after re-installing the front wheel, the pads gently rubbed the disc.

Wiggling parts made no difference. The cure

is usually to re-position the calliper, which is a bit of a faff.

Alongside pad wear sits the possibility of overheating. It’s one that can afflict a bike with rim brakes, of course, but discs are by no means immune. Excess heat can boil hydraulic fluid, leading to complete brake failure as it becomes compressible and can’t transmit pressure. Manufacturers, including Shimano, have fitted fins and heat sinks to callipers and discs to avoid both this and the problem of over-cooking pad material, which will cause it to generate less friction and ‘fade’. The results have not always matched expectation: see bit.ly/ctc-icetechrotors for an account of a melting Ice-Tech rotor…

Bicycle discs are small, contain little metal, and heat up very rapidly under severe usage. Hard braking on a short 25% descent oxidised the discs blue on the Whyte Cornwall within 200 metres. This braking was no harder than on the sidepull-equipped Boardman with which it was compared. So it is not clear that disc brakes are a significantly better proposition on very high speed descents.

Reinforcement required Fundamentally, however, the drawback for discs is structural. Not only do they require a stiff wheel with tangential spoke lacing to resist brake torque, but the frame and fork must be built to take the loads imposed by

the calliper. These are, of necessity, about four times the magnitude of those imposed by rim brakes for the same braking force since a 700C rim is roughly four times the radius of a 160mm disc rotor.

The fork crown or seatstay brake bridge provides a strong location for a brake calliper, while front fork cantilever bosses are brazed to the stiffest part of the legs. A disc calliper, on the other hand, is placed near the tip of the fork blade, which must, therefore, be made stiffer than needed for a rim brake. While the use of carbon-fibre has allowed engineers to build impressively light forks and frames for disc brakes, the requirement for stiffness affects overall ride quality, as does the

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REVIEWS | BIKE TEST

Trek Stache 7 29+ bike test

P l us - si z e h a r d ta il s Bigger tyres are transforming trail hardtails. Editor Dan Joyce reviews the Trek Stache 7 29+ and the Genesis Tarn 20 Fatter tyres are one of the trends in 2016 mountain bikes. Not fat bikes, though they’ll plough their own 4.8-inch furrow, but ‘plussize’ bikes. Surly kickstarted the concept in 2012 with the Krampus, an oversized 29er with wide enough rims and big enough clearances to accommodate three-inch tyres.

These can be run at low (8-15psi) pressures, offering some of the comfort and grip advantages of a fat bike without the same penalty in weight and rolling drag.

One bike doesn’t make a trend. While a few other 29+ bikes and tyres followed, the floodgates opened when someone noticed that a 650B rim with a 3in tyre was more or less the same diameter as a 29er rim with a normal tyre. You could fit 650B+ wheels into 29er frames and forks with minimal (sometimes zero) modification, sidestepping the design challenges posed by the bigger 29+ platform. Thus we have two new standards: 29+ and 650B+. And so as one wheel-size debate ends, another begins…

Most plus-size bikes are 650B+. There’s less retooling required and it’ll be an easier

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sell to customers daunted by the different ride feel of big wheels. Trek have bucked this trend, wholly redesigning their Stache hardtail range for 29+. The 7 is the middle bike of three: the 9 has nicer components, while the 5 is a 10-speed with a carbon fork.

For 2015, Genesis had a bike that was 29+ compatible, the Longitude. They've switched focus to 650B+ for 2016. The Tarn hardtail comes in two versions: the 10, with a rigid aluminium fork, and the 20 tested here.

F r a m e a n d f o r k : S ta c h e The Trek Stache 7 29+ looks more like a project bike designed to turn heads at trade shows than a production bike from a mainstream brand. The chainstays are so short that the 30T chainring overlaps the wheel. There’s no chainring/chainstay interference because the drive-side chainstay doesn’t swoop out to clear the enormous tyre. It's been lifted out of the way, using an elevated chainstay reminiscent of the 1990s. More space is saved by sacrificing the front derailleur. As a result,

(Above) This is the OEM-only Comp version of the Manitou Magnum 34 fork. The Stache 5 has a rigid carbon fork instead, while the Stache 9 gets a Manitou Magnum 34 Pro fork, which has an improved air spring and better compression damping than the Comp

BIKE TEST | REVIEWS

P61

Genesis Tarn 20

the chainstays are just 420mm, shorter than most mountain bikes with any size wheels.

Trek advertise the Stache as suitable for 29er and 650B+ wheels as well as 29+.

That’s the reason given for the adjustable dropouts, which can be set as short as 405mm with a smaller wheel. If I wanted to fit smaller wheels, I’d rather raise the bottom bracket to prevent pedal strikes than shorten already short chainstays. An eccentric bottom bracket (EBB) would give up to 15mm of adjustment up and down as well as back and forth. (An EBB bike could have vertical dropouts and would still have a big bottom bracket shell for frame stiffness.) The adjustable dropouts mean that the Stache can be converted to singlespeed use. A belt drive is possible thanks to that chainstay.

The Stache’s frame and fork are designed for the new Boost standard developed by Trek and Sram. The hubs are 110mm and 148mm wide over-locknuts at the front and rear respectively. Boost hubs make sense for any new mountain bike because wider spoke flanges mean stiffer wheels, and they particularly suit taller wheels. They’re good for plus-size tyres as the chainline is 3mm wider, increasing the gap between chain and tread lugs. The extra 3mm at the chainset is achieved by mounting the chainring further outboard rather than widening the bottom bracket. Pedal tread (Q factor) is unchanged.

There is a downside to having a rear triangle that’s both short and wide: if you’ve

got big feet or big legs, or perhaps just an unusual pedalling style, you might clip the chainstays or seatstays. I didn't.

The 110mm travel Manitou Magnum Comp fork is the first suspension fork specifically designed for plus-size tyres. It’s a much better solution than taking a file to the arch of a standard 29er fork! There’s plenty of room for big tyres and mud. The rearfacing arch makes the axle-to-crown height a little lower – handy for 29+ – and helps keep the stanchions clean. I wasn’t keen on the HexLock axle, which aims for QR-like convenience with through-axle stiffness and security. It’s a solution in search of a problem compared with a 15mm screw-through, and the extra, grease-dependent moving parts might seize in soggy UK conditions.

F r a m e a n d f o r k : Ta r n The Genesis Tarn 20 is chrome-moly steel.

The frame is more conventional than the Trek’s, a solid angular plate in the longer chainstays providing chainring and tyre clearance. Yet it’s a contemporary long-andlow design that marries a rangy top tube to a short stem and a slackish head angle.

There’s lots of standover above the dropped top tube, and when you drop the saddle right down for technical descents there’s more room to move around the bike.

The Tarn 20 comes with a dropper seatpost and, like the Trek, has frame guides for a remote dropper should you wish to

(Above) This Boosted RockShox Reba is designed for a 110mm-axle 29er wheel but fits a 650B+ just fine. The Tarn's hub is a standard one with spacers to make it fit the wider fork – a strange economy on a near £2k bike

upgrade. Other frame features include a couple of bracing struts, for the seat tube and the rear disc brake, two bottle mounts, and, best of all, a 73mm threaded bottom bracket. Having seen (and heard…) the problems my riding buddies have had with press-fits, this immediately endeared me to the Tarn. Tyre clearances are generous, even around these big tyres.

The fork is a 120mm Rockshox Reba RL in a new Boost version for 29ers. Like the

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T R AV E L L E R S ’ TA L E S

SOUTH ACROSS SPAIN Paul Taylor and a pal spent three weeks riding a Spanish end-to-end

A happy birthday Frank Burns was in Penrith in Cumbria for this year’s CTC Birthday Rides

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enning these thoughts while I am still drawing breath after the Birthday Rides means I am catching the heat of the moment. The pulse rate is still raised and the glow is still being felt… The Birthday Rides drew about 350 mileeating cyclists to Penrith, where we were hosted by Newton Rigg, the agricultural college on the outskirts of town.

Nestling between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, this was the perfect setting for mixing the rolling contours of valley and coastal riding with the more challenging offerings of steep mountain passes.

There was a wide variety of routes, ranging from 10 to 80 miles, all painstakingly prepared by local CTC members. There was something for everyone, from the fast guys who wanted to get in the miles and storm the passes, to those who wanted shorter, more leisurely rides.

Especially pleasing was the sight of a wheelchair cyclist going out on rides with a group.

For most of the week, I headed off with buddies to do the longer rides. They were tough, and included

TO CELEBRATE my 60th birthday, we wanted a LEJOG-style challenge.

This was how we found ourselves in Santander on a wet but mild evening in April. We headed along the coast to Punta de Estaca de Bares, the most northerly part of Spain. There were challenging climbs and the weather was cool and damp, but the views of idyllic bays surrounded by hills full of eucalyptus trees were ample reward.

After leaving Bares, our first rest day was at Santiago de Compostela.

Many pilgrims have arrived on foot at this historic city over the centuries.

More recently, they’ve been joined by an ever-growing number of cyclists.

Santiago de Compostela was where we started to head south.

Some days we were on long straight roads crossing the Spanish plains, but Salamanca, Seville and Jerez were splendid and we saw lots of wildlife, in particular storks nesting on church towers and pylons.

Our accommodation was a mix of hostels and modest hotels costing between 25 and 55 Euros for two. All welcomed cyclists. Often they also offered a three-course evening meal, including wine, for an additional ten euros each.

After three weeks on our bikes, we finally arrived in a hot, sunny Andalucia and the town of Tarifa, the most southerly point of mainland Spain. We had problems booking our bikes on the train back to Santander so hired a car instead.

several climbs of 25% (Red Bank, Blea Tarn and Honister). At 20%, The Struggle lived up to its name too, rising steeply to the top of the mistshrouded Kirkstone pass.

The routes into the Yorkshire Dales were no less spectacular. I will never forget the disappointment of finding the pub restaurant at Garsdale Head closed, but that was quickly compensated by the 11-mile fast descent into Kirby Stephen, where, ravenous by 3pm, we found a plethora of eateries.

If you have dithered about trying out the Birthday Rides, I would recommend them heartily. Watch out for news of the venue in 2016.

CTC. O R G . U K CYC L E 81