The GYBR is an annual event from which over the past 20 odd years well over £2,000,000.00 has been raised by the riders and sponsors. There are a number of charity organisations that benefit from helping to organise and run the event, one of which since 1987 has been the Wetherby Lions.
So it was that Gail and I ended up on the cliff-side fields of Filey on the Yorkshire east coast, setting up and manning the finish line and handing each rider a certificate. The following pics are just at the beginning of the day's proceedings. Things got a bit frantic as the peloton started to arrive. (that's French for a big group of cyclists...)
The finish and fields after a while turned to muddy slush under the wheels and feet of the vast number of riders and proud families.
There are 2000 entries 1,643 riders, the weather chilly, wet and windy. The ride is staged over76 miles of challenging back roads and hills between Wetherby Race course and the Filey cliffs. It is a one way ride as at the finish we take them all back to their cars in Wetherby, the people on buses, the bikes following in trucks.
Quite the logistic exercise. All went smoothly, only three riding injuries in the whole event, nothing dire. Well, one broken collar bone, bruises and abrasions are not nice but.... 1,643 riders multiplied by 76 miles equals near enough to 125,000 miles of riding, on public roads with traffic, all covered within nine hours.... Months in planning and setting up but all in all I'd say a very well run event.
The mood was fantastic and as first timers at any such a thing Gail and I were amazed at - the high average age of the riders, quite a few 70+ folk, - the variety of bikes, racing, mountain, shopping, tandem, dads or mums with kid's trailalongs, - at how far some folk had come to attend (Cornwall, France and Scotland), and the low percentage of female riders. But mostly we were amazed that many of the early finishers had a cuppa, turned around and rode back.... in the rain, and the wind, another 70 some miles to their cars in Wetherby...... crazy people.
