News

The York Cycle Festival is holding its Cycle Jumble (formerly the Saddlebag Sale) over TWO DAYS this year The Friends of the York Cycle Festival will have a table at the jumble, but will need articles to sell, to raise money to help run the Festival next year. We would be grateful if you have surplus cycle components, accessories, cycling books, memorabilia etc, that you would like to donate. Unfortunately, we cannot accept complete bikes, nor clothing. Donations can be brought to the Information Hub on Friday, or to the jumble on Saturday or Sunday. Thank you!

The Organising Committee has done its best to keep costs as low as possible, but there are many things which have to be paid for: marquee hire, toilet blocks, showers, generators, furniture hire, insurance etc. We have started to assemble a team of Friends who will help us to secure the future of the Festival. Their job will be to shake and rattle collection buckets to collect donations from Festival-goers. Might you be willing to spare just one hour to help us collect donations? If so, please contact us at friends@yorkcyclefestival.org

We’re busy recruiting experienced cyclists to lead our popular programme of guided rides at this year’s York Cycle Festival. We have already enlisted some fantastic people to lead traffic-free family rides, shorter distance and longer distance road rides, retro rides, rides for non-conventional bikes and themed rides. We’re still looking for two or three volunteers to lead rides with off-road sections, as well as for one or more gravel rides. We can help with ideas for routes, and all of our volunteers will be covered by our insurance. If this appeals to you, then please contact us at rides@yorkrally.org

An overdue update about the 2025 York Cycle Rally & Festival! Our all-volunteer organising team has been busy making this year’s event the best and busiest yet, with: Two days of grasstrack racing! Two days of cycle jumbles! More than 40 traders and exhibitors so far! all in the 80th year of the York Rally! We’re working hard to make the event the best it can be, not least to secure its financial future, as you can read here. Many thanks especially to all who have booked campsite pitches despite the price rises we have very reluctantly implemented – the…

And a reminder that earlybird discounts for campsite bookings close at the end of the year! Next year’s event (20-22 June 2025) is really starting to take shape, with site plan changes firming up and our all-volunteer organising team already working hard to iron out the hundreds of details which make for a successful and safe event. We’ll be bringing you more updates in the run-up to the event, as usual, both in these email newsletters and also through our website and Facebook page. There’s also a busy “Friends of York Rally” Facebook group where any friend of the Rally and…

We hope that many of you enjoyed the first York Cycle Festival in June – where the York Rally was joined on the Knavesmire by the Retrobike Show and the National Clarion Cycling Club’s Summer Meet. Grasstrack racing returned, and compared to 2023 there were more rides, more campers and more traders. We were again fortunate with the weather, too! That said, as we look to 2025, with dates confirmed for 20-22 June, there are a number of areas we’ll improve. The site layout will be revised again, returning the Info Hub (formerly Rally HQ) to its previous location. We’ll…

It’s next weekend! We can’t wait to see everyone on the Knavesmire, and as you’ll see above, the weather is looking perfect. Fingers crossed, it should be dry all the way from Wednesday when our volunteer set-up team arrives, through Friday when gates open, until Monday when we break down and depart. Directions to the event are here on the website – whether you come by foot, cycle, train or motor vehicle! Satnav to YO23 1EX.. Please do turn up and camp, motorist or lightweight! Advance campsite bookings are now closed, but if you haven’t pre-booked you are still very…

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…

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…

We are delighted that the popular “Tour de York”, led by an expert Club Cyclist, will be featuring on this year’s Rally Guided Rides Programme. This 68 miles long route will take riders through lovely countryside as well as pretty villages whilst circumnavigating the City of York. An added bonus is that all who complete this ride are awarded a special commemorative sticker! Don’t forget to sign up, in advance at the Rally’s Information Hub.

If you enjoy an informative ride, then this one could be for you! One of our excellent guided ride leaders has devised an interesting and entertaining ride exploring the life and times of George Hudson, who was known as “The Railway King”. Never far from controversy, George Hudson was a key figure on the development of the railways in and around York in the early C19th. Numbers for this guided ride will be limited to 15, and you will need to sign up, in advance, in the Rally Information Hub.

Rally and Festival are shaping up! Help us by distributing the 2024 flyers… As we look forward to warmer weather, an update on preparations for the York Rally and York Cycle Festival 2024!  We’ve printed our 2024 A5 flyers! Front artwork is above, and the reverse is below. We rely very largely on volunteers to help us distribute these to fellow cyclists and anyone else who may be interested – so if you could help promote the event by finding good homes for some, please just email publicity@yorkrally.org with your name, how many you’d like and your postal address, and…

We are delighted to tell you that there will be a Retro Ride at this year’s York Cycle Rally, which will be suitable for all manner of older bikes, whether they are roadsters, road bikes, Moultons or even high wheelers! So polish up your pride and joy, and join us for a ride into the countryside around York!

Audax is back, and we’re making trade stands free! Plus a reminder that the lowest super-earlybird campsite pitch prices end on the 31st December – book yours now! Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Amid the festivities we’ve been busy on the organising team, and the 2024 York Rally is really shaping up to be exceptional. Do please book your campsite pitch ASAP to be part of it (and by year end for the lowest rates!) As announced in our last email, the Rally is being joined by the Retrobikes Show and the National Clarion Cycling…

Exciting news for the York Cycle Rally 2024! We’re bringing three fantastic, volunteer-organised events together on the Knavesmire in June 2024: the York Rally, the Retro Bike Show and the National Clarion Cycling Club Summer Meeting. Together, they’ll make up a grand – and still 100% volunteer-organised – York Cycle Festival on the 21-23 June. Huge thanks to the volunteers with RetroBike and the NCCC who have helped make this possible, alongside our own York Rally team! It’ll have all of the elements of the York Rally we know and love – but with more people, more traders, more rides,…

We’re delighted to announce that campsite bookings are now open for the 2024 York Cycle Rally, 21-23 June! The current super-earlybird prices are the lowest possible, and are available until the end of December only. Please do book your pitch ASAP – it really helps our planning! Our campsite team volunteers will be happy to help if you have any problems or questions about your booking – just drop them an email on campsite@yorkrally.org. As mentioned in the last newsletter we have exciting plans for the next York Rally – we’re developing plans to co-host a bikepacking, off-road and retro…

Belatedly, many thanks to all who contributed to the 2023 York Cycle Rally, be that as volunteers, visitors, campers, speakers, exhibitors, caterers, contractors or organisers! As well as wrapping up this year’s event we’re now looking forward to 2024, with the Rally dates now confirmed as the weekend of 21-23 June. We’ll open campsite bookings ASAP, so please watch out for further emails, or check the York Rally website, and meanwhile please do save those dates in your calendar. 2023 lost property We still have a number of unclaimed items found while clearing the site after this year’s Rally. Please…