The Sportive Breaks tour experience
Each ride will be fully supported with a van and rider. The van will set up a feed station at regular intervals and will also be on hand to support the group. You will be given a Sportive Break day bag for additional kit and these will be available at each stop. We will stop for lunch at a pre-determined cafe/restaurant. On the flat we will ride together in groups and on the climbs we will climb at our own speed. We will re-group either at the top of each climb or another appropriate spot.
If you want to go for the KOM / QOM feel free but the ethos primarily is to enjoy being on our bikes in beautiful places. On the Coast to Coast
Trip Itinerary
Arrival Day
Our hotel for the evening is the Queens Hotel, St Bees
130 Main St, Saint Bees CA27 0DE
Car parking is at the St Bees railway car park close to the hotel
Welcome dinner is at 19:30
Stage One : St Bees to Stanhope
162km, 3252m (Strava HERE)
The queen stage. We start at 8.30am withe a short warm up as we ride to Whitehaven for the obligatory “back wheel in the Irish Sea” start of the C2C route. The first section takes us on a cycle path with some loose surface as we head towards the nothern part of the Lake District. Our main climb of the morning is Whinlatter pass with the Summit coming at 43km. We will aim to stop in Keswick before heading to Penrith and the start of the Pennines. We have a number of climbs between here and our base for the night in Stanhope! The most famous climb being Hardside pass. This is wild and exposed at the top and one of the longest continual climbs in the UK with 400m gained over 5 miles.
Our base for the evening is the Bonny Moorhen pub in Stanhope
Stage Two : Stanhope to Talkin
172km, 1878m (Strava HERE)
The longest day of the trip but less climbing than day one. We start with a sharp climb straight out of Stanhope before a long gradual descent towards the River Tyne. We ride some beautiful sections of the Waskerley way and cycle paths all the way through Newcastle – take extra care when riding throught the city! We pass under the famous Tyne bridge before crossing over the Millenium bridge.We follow the river all the way to the sea where we celebrate by putting the fornt wheel into the North sea – before turning round and heading for home! We again ride out through the city centre before joining the Hadrians Cycle route. Our first major climb of the afternoon arrives at the 132km mark as we head back across the top of the Pennines. In the afternoon we follow close to the route of Hadrians wall before heading to our base for the night, the Blacksmith’s arms at Talkin.
Stage Three: Talkin to St Bees
102km, 1400m (Strava HERE)
Another roll out at 8.30am, our shortest day with just over 100km to make it back to the West Coast. The majority of the climbing is in the middle 40km as we cross back over the northern lake district. Once we are over this we have some undulations along the coast but we will be in sight of victory!