Category: York Rally news

The City of York Council is carrying out flood resilience work around the Millennium Bridge, from this week, and over the weekend of the Rally. Pease be aware that there will be barriers around, although we are assured that the bridge will remain open for walkers and cyclists and other non-motorised modes of transport.

As you might have seen, in the previous post, there have had to be a few tweaks made to a few of our Guided Rides. Two of these are due to planned road works on a short section of the Solar System Greenway, but another has arisen due to a bridge on a Public Bridleway being deemed unsafe. In order to get the most up-to-date gpx files and route maps, we ask that riders check the Rides web page or the Rides display in the Information Hub.

Photo by courtesy of Lynn Bland.

We have been informed, by the City of York Council, that a short stretch of the Solar System Green way will be closed for resurfacing, over the period of the Rally. It has necessitated a diversion, using Sim Balk Lane, to avoid this. This will also impact on those of you cycling to the Rally.

We’re just under two weeks away from the York Rally and York Cycle Festival 2024!
Our busy volunteer teams have been firming up all aspects of the event:

• We’ve finalised the talks and entertainments schedule, with some great volunteer speakers and three tremendous bands: find full details here
  
• The organised rides list is also finalised, with 19 rides across three days – many thanks to all of the volunteer ride leaders and back markers! Find the full list here.
  
• The trade show (FREE for exhibitors!) now features over 20 companies, including some major brands exhibiting for the first time! See above for some of their logos, or visit the Trade Show page on the website for the very latest list.
  
• And there’s a great turnout of clubs for the club stands and displays area – again see logos above or see the full list on our website.

NEW features to highlight this year include:

• Grasstrack racing is back on the Saturday, thanks to the National Clarion Cycling Club! The race meeting will include rounds of British Cycling’s National Grass Track Endurance and Sprinter’s Leagues plus other other races for a full aftenoon of grass track action for Seniors, Juniors and Youth riders, male and female. Entries are open via British Cycling here.
• FREE! Kids MTB skills coaching. Mark and Amanda of Apex Cycle Coaching are qualified British Cycling Level 2 coaches for Mountain Bike, Cyclocross and Road/TT. They provide coaching for Sheffield’s Steel City Rippers, Crank It Cycling and other clubs in the region. So we’ve very grateful that they’ll be offering free coaching to under 18s on their custom-built training circuit at the Festival! Just join in, no need to book!
• Bargestra: York’s Arts Barge Big Band Community Orchestra. We’re delighted to have Bargestra making their debut at the 2024 York Cycle Rally & Festival – they’re York’s community big band orchestra, playing pop, jazz, latin and swing, and part of the York Arts Barge project. Please make them very welcome! They’ll start playing from around 1pm on Sunday, outside the talks area (or inside, if rainy).

Don’t miss this year’s event – it really is shaping up to be a good one!

Finally, the inevitable reminder for anyone not already booked to please book your campsite pitch ASAP please – advance bookings are open until the 14th June, for swifter check-in and reduced prices. Thank you!

The Guided Ride to Linton Lock has been moved from the Sunday of the Rally to the Saturday. This is because of businesses offering refreshments being closed on the Sunday ,and the ride leader’s other commitments at the Rally. Our apologies for any disappointment caused.

Many of the Rally’s wonderful volunteer ride leaders are busy riding and testing their Guided Rides over the next couple of weeks. Inevitably, they are coming across potential problems in some areas, and therefore some of the routes are having to be tweaked.

For this reason, if you are planning to go on any of our rides, we ask that you check at the signing-in point in the Information Hub, or on the website when uploading the route to your phone or gps.

We have discovered that Doyly’s Tearoom is closed on Sundays, and so it has been necessary to move the Retro Ride to Saturday.
We hope that this will not disappoint those of you riding lovely older bikes!

400km Audax at the York Cycle Rally :  Summertime Blues

400km cycling event starting from York Knavesmire. Controls at Thirn, Hawes, Appleby, Watson Hall, Castle Carrock, Mickleton Village Hall, Barton Truck Stop and York Knavesmire., plus 3 information controls.

A well-supported midsummer 400 with hills, but not a hilly ride. Campervan control at Thirn, and two village halls with food to see you through the darksome overnight section. Starts and finishes at York Cycle Rally.

The route takes in the cycle paths south of York and crosses the Ouse at the Bridge of Dreams, twice across the Wharfe before heading west into the Dales with a campervan stop and food at the eastern end of Wensleydale, then to Hawes and an evening ride over Mallerstang Common, into the Vale of Eden.

Lanes along the edge of the Pennines take you to a village hall at Castle Carrock where a warm welcome and hot food await.

The route then heads east of Eden and hopefully not to the Land of Nod, as it’s across to the Tyne Valley through Alston while the good folk are abed and over Yad Moss to a second village hall at Mickleton, with an optional bag drop and limited sleep space. Plenty of food, though.

Finally, it’s out of the hills to Barton Truck Stop World Heritage Site and across the Vale of Mowbray on your way back to York with a final section along the river path to get you back to the Knavesmire.

This ride will be for you if you like: being fed at the side of the road or at village halls, bridges, rivers, County Durham, Cumbria and Yorkshire. There’s a lot of Yorkshire.

This ride will not be for you if you don’t like: cycle paths, crossing the Pennines at night in midsummer with shooting stars across the sky (possibly), Barton Truck Stop World Heritage Site.

Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2024 

Distance: 400 km in 26 hours and 40 minutes

Time: 11:00 to finish by 13:40 the next day

Starting from: York Knavesmire

Fee: £30.00 

Closing Date: Enter soon as entries may close early if event is full

NON-MEMBERS are welcome but need to register first (audax.uk) This is free – we ask you to do this so we can verify your contact details. You only need to register once and can then enter multiple events or in future convert to paid membership.

Organiser: Dean Clementson

Email: dean.clementson@icloud.com