The organisers of the Autumn Skylark Sportive (Sunday 28 September) have taken the Tour de France’s visit to their local patch in the South Pennines as the starting point for designing an event that incorporates the famous climbs, but links them with the very best local roads and lanes.

Using their local knowledge, they have been able to link the climbs with some of the most enjoyable riding in the country.

Organiser Phil Ingham explains their thinking: “We cycle these roads all year round and although we loved the Tour’s visit to the area, we knew that their route was dictated by the need to cope with the race convoy and also take the race to as many people as possible.”

“In contrast, we have had the luxury of being able to use tiny lanes and half-forgotten routes that often don’t see a car for hours on end. Our aim was to make a route that’s interesting and technical and therefore engaging to ride. It will stretch you as a rider, but hopefully reward you with the quality of the ride and experience.”

The full 115km Autumn Skylark route includes over 2000 metres of climbing. However, the 2014 Tour de France climbs of Holme Moss and Cragg Vale will catch your eye as you study the route profile.

Less well known, but just as impressive is the A635 “Isle of Skye” climb that comes after less than 10km and matches both Tour climbs in both scale and difficulty. Here’s the Autumn Skylark’s guide to these three monster climbs:

Holme Moss - 2.2km at 9%

Holme Moss - Autumn Skylark from Stainlander on Vimeo.

One climb that every cyclist is wary of is Holme Moss. Happily, the Autumn Skylark joins the climb, via a side road, in Holme village, thus cutting out the first couple of kilometers climb from the valley floor, leaving you to tackle the exposed, spectacular top section. Shortened though it is, this climb will test the grit and determination of all the riders. In the simplest terms it’s some 2.2km long and climbs 212 metres.

A couple of twists and turns even add an Alpine feel to the first section, but it’s the final push to the summit that really hurts, with its 10% gradient, before the ultimate reward of sweeping views over the Eastern fringes of the Pennines. In the first running of the Autumn Skylark’s sister event, the Spring Skylark, the organisers had to re-route riders off Holme Moss after strong winds made the final ascent dangerous, which gives you some idea of the influence the elements can have on it.

Cragg Vale - 8.1km at 4%

Autumn Skylark Sportive: Cragg Vale - the 8km climb! from Stainlander on Vimeo.

This beautiful climb is, at over 8km, famously the longest continuous road climb in England. Not especially steep, its challenge lies more in its length and, perhaps, the fact that it faces into the prevailing winds. That will be a relief for many riders as the climb comes well into the second half of the 115km route.

So, if riding Cragg Vale isn’t really about gradient, what is its appeal? Well, it offers the cyclist a remarkable visual journey from the lush river valley and bustling villages of Calderdale at the foot, through to bleak heather moorland at the summit. Along the way you pass though woodland, pastureland, small villages and past pubs, schools, terraced cottages and then remote farms. The final few hundred meters then run alongside a high upland reservoir. Waves have even been known to break over the road on windier days!

The A635 “Isle of Skye” Climb - 5.1km at 7%

Autumn Skylark Sportive: The Isle of Skye Climb from Stainlander on Vimeo.

This climb would not have looked out of place during the Tour de France’s recent visit to the area being somewhat steeper than Cragg Vale and more relentless than Holme Moss. The organisers rate it highly as a cycling climbing experience, not only for its difficulty (it grinds you down with its sheer relentlessness and scale), but also for the jaw-dropping scenery.

The Isle of Skye climb (named after a long-gone pub), edges its way up one side of a huge rift in the Western escarpment of the South Pennines opposite a stunning vista of craggy cliffs and rocky scree, overhanging giant reservoirs. Throw in extensive pine woods and the uncannily straight-rule-edge to the moorland, revealed as you top out the climb, and you have one of the very richest landscape spectacles in England.

Yet this climb remains little known amongst cyclists from outside the area. Finally, like all great climbs, it rewards you with a great descent off the other side, with far-reaching views into East Yorkshire.

What better way to explore this hidden gem and its better known companions than in the Autumn Skylark on Sunday 28 September 2014.

Event Website: www.skylarksportive.com
Twitter: @skylarksportive