Photographs of the
cottages4you National
Cyclo-Sportive are now
available.
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Saturday 26th June
Cycling through Pendle The National
Cyclo-Sportive will take place in Lancashire on Saturday
26 June and will share some of the same challenging
route that Britain’s best riders will cover one day
later.
It replaces the
existing Pendle Pedal event and will start and finish in
Barley village beside Pendle Hill – the same place as
the National Championships. Riders will get to ride
under the same start/finish gantry before heading out
onto some of the most beautiful and traffic-free roads
in England and the same ones the pros will ride on the
Sunday.
The National
Cyclo-Sportive will feature many of the famous climbs
previously tackled by pro riders on the Tour of Britain,
Kellogg's Tour and Tour of Lancashire races, over
Waddington Fell, Tatham Fell, Bowland Knotts, The Trough
of Bowland and the Nick of Pendle. The main route is
100miles long, with a 60mile option also available.
It will be a
fully supported ride, with four free feed stations,
extensive route marshalling and signage, bike mechanics
and sweep vehicles and chip timing.
The event
nutrition partner is CNP
Professional and the drinks
partner is Gatorade, both of
whom are official suppliers to
Team Sky. There will be a range
of their products at each
station.
The Route
The Sportive
climbs up from Barley beside the imposing figure of
Pendle Hill before speeding down through Downham, a
setting for many period TV dramas. This picturesque
village with no overhead cables is a throwback to a
bygone era. Areas of the Ribble Valley hidden off the
main roads are often likened to parts of Tuscany,
perhaps without the vineyards, with their beautiful
isolated farms and houses, wooded glades, and rolling
countryside.
There are also
big climbs and Pendle Pedal takes them all in: first
Waddington Fell, then Tatham Fell are tackled. Nowhere
else in England can you ascend for several miles with
nothing much around you except stunning views, and the
silence broken only by your exertions.
Cars are
infrequent interruptions.
After a loop
around the Lune Valley, you then take on the real big
ones: the Trough of Bowland, where riders might think
that they were in the Scottish Highlands; and the Nick
O’Pendle, the big daddy of cycling climbs.
By the time you’ve reached the finish, you will
have climbed over 3,500 metres.
Route Profiles
To download the
route profile pdf for both
routes - click here.
Prizes
All
entrants to the National
CycloSportive will be entered in
to the
Free Prize Draw for £500 of
cottages4you Holiday Vouchers.