Tour de France Leeds

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Tue 20 May, 2014 9:21 pm

I've arranged a weekend away, without thinking of the date. Erm I'm going to France! At least I'll be able to see Leeds on French TV!

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Tue 20 May, 2014 11:26 pm

raveydavey wrote: Cardiarms wrote: The closures schedule is the bubble that you describe with total closure bring approx three hours along the route. I'm guessing that start and finish sites will be all day and the rest. The estimate is that the race will bring 2 million people to the region. If we pull it off that will be quite impressive. A work colleague lives yards from the route through Calderdale (Day / Stage 2) and has been told to expect the road to be closed for "at least 8 hours". An inconvenience under normal circumstances perhaps, but his wife is due to have their second child 3 days later so it could be quite an interesting day for them as there is no alternative way in or out of their estate.Then there is this from the railway companies: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... -1-6625781 At YW I've seen the 'bubble schedule' for the first day so 'up to' may not be the reality, though no doubt some roads will be closed for most of the day. e.g. the roads on the skipton stretch are closed first thing in the morning but open by about 3pm. The Caravan and riders take at least 2 hours to pass through, the road opening about an hour behind them. Whatever, the traffic will be heavy and moving around will be difficult. Dont envy your friends.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Wed 21 May, 2014 12:17 am

I'm trying to come up with a plan where I can cycle to Harewood on the Friday night, sleep overnight outdoors (weather permitting) in my hammock under a canvas tarp in some out of the way woods – There are plenty of places around Eccup / Weardley etc.Come the Saturday morning I hope to see some of the start of the Tour De France Grand Depart Stage 1 from somewhere on the Harewood estate, or maybe where it meets the road to Otley. Then after the riders etc have passed I'm going to peg it on my bike to Harrogate and hopefully make it in time for the finish of Stage 1 as the riders enter the town. Then I plan to doss down again in some woods / fields on the outskirts of Harrogate so I can see Stage 2 as it passes through Harrogate again on the Sunday en route from York to Sheffield. I've cycled from Leeds to Harrogate plenty of times before, and once at Harewood its halfway there anyway so shouldn’t be too hard to get there in time. I just hope I can find some decent places to have a bit of hassle free kip without having to stump up the extortionate prices some places are charging for 'official' camping which is basically pricing ordinary Yorkshire people out of this event. I wont do that anyway, if it comes to it and there are anti-wild camping wardens prowling every bit of green space I’ll just come home early. Anyway that’s my plan, I’m gonna do a recce this weekend and check out any good places to pitch up and see where might be best to view the race from. Whats everyone elses plans cos it sounds a bit haphazard given all this road closures and the expected crowds?

WiggyDiggy · Post by **WiggyDiggy** » Wed 21 May, 2014 1:19 pm

I'm a keen cyclist and I agree that the event appears not be being as well organised as it could be, the big issues I see are:Roads are being closed for too long as it seems we can either have them open, or closed, but any sort of proactive approach to organising access when the Tour is not on them is beyond the skill/thought of the organisers.Trains are not dealing with the influx of cyclists at all. If you want to travel on a train with a bike everything I am reading indicates it will be extremely difficult. Why can carriages not be dedicated to carrying just the bikes, or goods wagons added to passenger trains?There's a large amount of animosity building up against the event, both from the naysayers who have never wanted it and from those who want it but are starting to see the issues.@JonLeedsI hope to be able to cycle (being young and relatively fit) to where I want to be as I'm close to several parts of the route. The rest I will watch on TV.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 21 May, 2014 1:49 pm

A good point was made on Look North last night. Here people are flocking to see the Grand Depart. In France the Tour, broadly, comes to you so pressure on local transport network isn't as marked as it will be here, they dont have 2m turning up for each one. The Yorkshire stages are different though a quick skim of the interweb suggests French towns that it passes through have no parking from the day before and a five hour road closure as it passes through. http://www.ville-sevres.fr/ewb_pages/a/ ... e-8610.php

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 21 May, 2014 1:49 pm

double post

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed 21 May, 2014 2:49 pm

WiggyDiggy, there are no longer any parcels vans or goods wagons suitable for carrying bikes (or for that matter anything other than stone, coal, steel coil or other such large-scale loads). Massive building of lorry fleets made such traffic totally unprofitable by rail, and facilities no longer exist. The very nature of the event will mean that the railways may be hard pressed to cope with the additional influx of people wishing to view the spectacle, and it is likely that not everyone will be able to be accommodated

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Wed 11 Jun, 2014 9:26 pm

Sadly, the further I look into this, the more it seems to be descending into a Tour De Farce if you actually want to do anything other than see a fleeting glimpse of some cyslists thundering past at great speed.The 'Le Tour Yorkshire' website still isn't giving up to date info about arrangements for actually getting to the start in Leeds (or not that I can find).The LCC website has no mention AT ALL of the TdF on the home page. Obtusely there is a pic of a dapper chap in a suit leaning against a bike in an alley way, which despite having no reference to the TdF, if clicked does take you to the Events section where it is listed.Once searched for half the details won't open in the Opera browser. Using IE, I've discovered that some city centre roads are closed / have parking restrictions from 4am on Friday morning and the city centre will be on virtual lockdown from midnight.There are vague details about limited access to some car parks from the A58(M) i.e Merrion Way being accessible from the North Street exit...presumably not via Vicar Lane / The Headrow, but this isn't stated?The A6120 will not only be closed near Harrogate Road (which is to be expected), but that from midnight Friday a diversion and 'no stopping' rule is being enforced from Park Lane in the East across to King Lane in the west until "approx 3pm". So no chance of nipping along the Ring Road to see the bikes pass through Moortown. Attempting to get anywhere along the route looks like being a complete nightmare and the chances of getting to Otley to see the race look non-existant from East Leeds due to the road closures.It seems that the only option is to drive to Temple Newsam from whence a P+R will be in operation at a cost of £3 each to Kirkgate. As anyone who has ever attended an event at Temple Newsam will know, it's likely to be gridlocked for most of the day as traffic management seems to consist of doing nothing at all. Opera / Party in the Park traffic used to tail down Selby Rd and York Rd almost to the city centre every year for example.I think I might stay in and watch it on the telly.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 11 Jun, 2014 10:34 pm

If you want to get to otley from East Leeds you could use that aire valley road, go round the south of the loop and then up the a65, though I suspect the parking in otley may be difficult. For most who get to the route it is usually a cavalcade of floats followed by a blur of cyclists, then back to the bar to watch it on TV.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Thu 12 Jun, 2014 12:24 pm

If you want to see more than a blur the first 10km (6+ miles) is the place to watch but it won't be very exciting as they are not permitted to "race" in this Neutral Zone. Its to allow the riders to warm up and avoid massive jockeying for position in confined space with plenty of street furniture (e.g. Headrow between Park Row/Cookridge Street and Briggate.I'd estimate the racing starts just beyond Alwoodely.