Bike Review: Canyon Roadlite WMN CF 8.0

For those of you who are after a bike for keeping fit and doing longer endurance rides, but without necessarily using a road racing bike, this could be an option to consider.

Canyon Roadlite WMN CF 8.0

The Canyon Roadlite women-specific bike is designed with that in mind. It has the same geometry and specifications as other women's road racing bikes in the Canyon range, except that the bike has straight handlebars.

Canyon lent me this bike to try out earlier this year, so I had the chance to ride it in different situations and different places. I wrote a review of it for the now closed Total Women's Cycling website, which you may also wish to read.

I did a ride up north in the Yorkshire Wolds, and took it around country lanes just outside Beverley and a few of the hills in that area. The hills weren't quite Nunburnolme Hill proportions but in the areas of Millington Dale, then later, South Cave and Elloughton, where I went, the hills were still steep enough. My other rides were more leisurely rides in Surrey - namely Box Hill and the areas around Epsom. Since the frame is carbon fibre, it was very light and so it was very responsive when pedalling, and really took me up the hills with relative ease.

Women's geometry and cut-away saddle for comfort

The main thing for me, was the lack of dropped handlebars. I wouldn't normally ride a bike like that when doing a serious training ride, and it felt a little bit weird just having straight bars to hold, particularly on the descents. But really, it was something that I got used to quite quickly - especially given that it's no different a sensation from doing a descent with a mountain bike.

Like a lot of road bikes now, the Roadlite has disc brakes, so you have good control when doing a steep descent.
As with other bikes from Canyon, you have a choice of spec depending on your preference and your budget. The bike is available with an aluminium frame and Shimano 105 components, rather than Ultegra or Durace.

Overall, I would recommend this bike for those who want to take the next step up from leisure bike riding, but without necessarily getting into the sharp end of cycle racing. The women-specific geometry and the saddle make it a comfortable ride over long distances, of around 50 miles - which is the longest ride I did. If joining one of the beginner groups on the local club run or a British Cycling Breeze Ride, you wouldn't look out of place on this. Also, those who are big on mountain biking and want to ride on the road without using fat tyres may also find this bike a good option.

My review of the Canyon Roadlite WMN CF 8.0 on Total Women's Cycling webiste.


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A jaunt around the White Rose County

I had said I would do it this year, and I managed to do so a couple of weeks ago - that is, to get up to Yorkshire. And it didn't rain!

The first part of my weekend was spent in the North York Moors, where I did some course reconnaissance of the route for the Yorkshire Lass Charity sportive, which takes place in August. I was keen to ride the full 103-mile route, as opposed to the 30-mile and 60-mile options, particularly as this recon will be for an article I'm writing for Cycling Weekly magazine. It was a nice ride, though I must say I did it over a couple of days as I didn't think I would be fit enough to do the whole thing before sunset!

Byland Abbey

In any case, riding the actual 103-mile sportive in one day is the to be saved for the day itself when you spin through the lanes against the clock with a group of other lycra-clad keenies haring down the road. A recon should be taken at a laid back pace, so you have time to enjoy the landscape and sample the local fare during a cafe stop or even at a pub lunch. That's my excuse for riding slowly, and I'm sticking to it!

So, I was treated to some of the best sights that North Yorkshire has to offer - Byland Abbey, the picturesque villages of Boroughbridge, Bishops Monkton and Topcliffe, lovely views of purple heather moorland, and the iconic White Horse Bank. With a gradient of 25% to get up the bank, I had no intention of riding up it - so I dutifully and thankfully followed the direction to ride around it. However, I still had to get up a couple of "easier" 16% options on Beacon Bank and Jerry Carr Bank later on!

White Horse Bank

Historically, the North York Moors have not tended to be visited by cyclists as much as other parts of Yorkshire, like the Dales and the Peak District. But in recent times, since the staging of the international Tour de Yorkshire stage race the profile of this area has been raised.

This year will be no exception when the race once again traces a route up through the Moors as it heads up to Scarborough from Bridlington with a detour up to Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay.

I hope to return to this area again to recce the Tour de Yorkshire route, and hopefully by the time the Yorkshire Lass sportive comes round, I will have been toughened up a little and will have lost some of my Southern softy ways!

The Strava recorded routes from the Yorkshire Lass Sportive

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

On the same weekend that I reconned the Yorkshire Lass Charity sportive I also met up with the good folks from Hull Thursday Club and went on a ride with them. This will also be a feature in a future issue of Cycling Weekly magazine.

Andy, snapping the lads from Hull Thursday Club

The photographer for the day, Andy Jones, and myself met with the guys and one lady at Skidby Windmill. Without much ado we did a spin through the lanes of the Yorkshire Wolds, with the main climbs being around the Nunburnholme area.

Initially I felt happy in the bunch with the guys and was able to hold my own. But just like with the professional cyclists in Wiggle High5, as soon as the road went uphill I got unceremoniously dropped.

They guys were friendly enough and waited for me at the top of the hill or at the junctions, but I still felt a little embarrassed by the fact, and I could feel myself turning into "fat journo who can write, but can't ride!" In fairness I was getting over a cold that had affected my lungs the previous week, but I didn't want to make any excuses. I was just slow!

The Wolds are definitely a good place to train. The hills are not particularly long like what I rode in Mallorca the previous week. Instead they are short and a little sharp, making them a little bit tougher than what you get on those long alpine climbs abroad. Hopefully I will return to the Wolds and this is something else that will make me stronger.

Cafe Velo, Beverley

Our ride was not mercilessly epic, and the lads said they were actually riding slower than usual (crikey)! So I was glad to get to the cafe stop, a very pleasant cycle cafe in Beverley, called Cafe Velo.

The place was decorated with cycling memorabilia from recently as well as from the times of the Milk Race 30 years ago. Gary, the owner had done a good job of decking out the place and making it appealing not just to cyclists, but also to non-cycling folks out in the pretty market squares of Beverley.

Andy and I were treated to some tasty sausage sandwiches and tea, which definitely hit the spot. We also heard lots of tales from the lads at Hull Thursday Club, a cycling club that has almost 110 years of history. There are no surviving members of the club from the time the club formed, but there was one 90-year old who was out on the club run and he seemed as spritely as ever, and probably faster than me up those hills! I almost wanted to check his birth certificate!

So there ended my pleasant Yorkshire weekend. I amassed quite a few good quality miles in my legs, and some interesting words for my article, which should hopefully amuse and entertain club members and other readers alike!

Strava record of the route I did with Hull Thursday Club:
Ride with Hull Thursday Club

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The year has gone by so fast. One moment we are busy watching our cyclocross heroes battle it out in the mud, the next moment we are getting ourselves ready to take part in Spring cyclosportives and debating who will win the Primavera Classica, Milan-Sanremo bike race or the Queen of the Classics Paris-Roubaix.

                                 Tour de Yorkshire (Credit: SWPix.com)

Hot on the heals of the classics will be the Tour de Yorkshire stage race, which takes place in less than two months' time. The event, now in its third year, was inspired by the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart.

It's the third year that the three-day event is taking place and the third year that I say I would like to go up during that weekend - but I have yet to get up there.

It is particularly great to see that there is a woman's UCI 1.1 classified race, meaning that top international riders will be there, and there are plans to make this a two-day race in the future. So I have even more reason to be up in the White Rose county. In the last two years, the Tour de Yorkshire clashed with other things I was doing, so I hope that this year will be third time lucky.

Stage one goes between Scarborough and Whitby, two towns that I rode between via the Cinder Track rail trail last year. This was a lovely, spectacular, off-road ride. Although the Tour de Yorkshire will stay firmly on the tarmac, the route will be no less beautiful, as it will snake through the Yorkshire Wolds and around the beautiful North York Moors. I do like this area because the countryside is wild and unspoiled, with a purple carpet on the landscape from the heather. You really get a feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, even though you may be less than 10 miles from the seaside.

                    Lizzie Deignan  (Credit: SWPix.com)

Stage two of the men's race, also the course for the ASDA Women's Tour de Yorkshire, particularly appeals to me, especially now that Lizzie Deignan will be competing. The stage goes through the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, along roads that are well frequented by the local club cyclists. Pateley Bridge has popular, if not rather tough roads to climb, and it will be interesting to see how the men's and women's races are played out.

So with these tantalising competitions taking place, and the beautiful landscape North Yorkshire has to offer, I will be sure to make a trip up there at the end of April.

Before then, I will be up in that neck of the woods to do a reconnaissance of the Yorkshire Lass Cyclosportive. The actual event takes place in August, but I will be doing a preview ride to check out what riders can look forward to. The event starts from near Thirsk, with the full 103-mile event going through the North York Moors near White Horse Bank.

I think it's great to have an all-women cyclosportive with a testing route, as you don't often see that. For some reason, organisers seem to equate all-women events with a watered down, softened up variety of cyclosportive! But in fact, there are plenty of women who like an all-women's event that has the challenges included in mixed or men's events. So I will look forward to riding this route. (Note: There are shorter less challenging options too for those looking for something less arduous!)

So with all of the above taking place over the coming months I have every reason to take my bike up North.


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Rail trails galore!

I recently wrote a 6-week series on rail trials around the UK for Total Women's Cycling website. The great thing I learned was just how many traffic-free trails we can enjoy by bike (or on horseback or walking).

We have Dr Beeching to thank for that. Following the closure of around 5,000 miles of railway lines in the late 1960s various authorities converted these disused railway lines into off-road, traffic-free cycle routes for our enjoyment. With around 1,200 miles of rail trails around the country that's a lot of traffic-free fun!

The trails are variable in length, surface, quality and difficulty. For instance the Alban Way between St Albans and Welwyn, in Hertfordshire is fully tarmacked, 7 miles long, and is designed so that children can ride from home to school safely. By contrast, the Downs Link, which starts near Guildford, Surrey, and runs down to the Sussex coast is around 40 miles long and is essentially a mountain bike route (though doable with a cyclo cross bike), so that one is more for the fitter, experienced cyclist.

The selection of trails I wrote about are on the women's cycling website and they include the Tissington trail in the Peak District, Forest Way in Sussex,  and the dramatic Cinder Track that goes between Scarborough and Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast.

One that isn't on there which I would recommend is the Hudson Way rail trail - a 10-mile trail between Beverley and Market Weighton in East Yorkshire.

I like this trail because it runs from one pretty market town in Yorkshire to another one. It is interesting to see the gradual change of landscape. When starting in Beverley you are on pan flat terrain in the outer reaches of the Humber Estuary, surrounded by arable fields. The area is pretty flat and it is possible to see far across the East Yorkshire plains. In fact, to the right you get a good view of the Sledmere grounds, with the Tatton Sykes obelisk rising up in the distance. By the end of the route the landscape has morphed into rolling hills of the Yorkshire Wolds.

There's pleasant woodland along the way, as well as a convenient stopping point at Kiplingcotes disused station, which still has a station house (now residential property), platform, and benches for a well earned picnic stop.

On the outskirts of Market Weighton is St Helen's Well, an ancient well that dates back to Roman times. I didn't have time to visit it, but it is an object of interest for the history buffs among you, particularly as it has been recently restored.

What was quite interesting to me were all the various colourful ribbons hanging from the branches of the tree near it. Leaving a piece of ribbon on the tree apparently brings you good health and good luck. I didn't have any ribbon on me, so I guess that's me doomed!

Still, it was a good afternoon. I was out on the Raleigh Mustang Sport gravel bike which I have been loaned for testing and I must say, it was a very comfortable ride. It certainly liked playing on the dirt track, and there were a few bits of single track where my skills were put to the test.

This felt the right bike for the job as it was robust and held it's place when trying to stay in the groove of the narrow track. Once in market Weighton I could have done another rail trail to go towards Bubwith and Howden, but time ran out on me so I just took the road route down to Brough and then got on a train to Hull. Again, being on the Mustang Sport was handy because although I had spent my afternoon on trails, which it does well on, it was still just about light enough to ride it quickly - which is what I needed as I was in a rush!


I will be back in the area to explore more trails in the near future, and will take some ribbon with me for the tree at St Helen's Well!

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Are you going to Scarborough Fai....Beach

Are you going to Scarborough Fai....Beach

I found a very pleasant bike route from York to Scarborough. As I had panniers I wasn't too keen to take on too many tough climbs in the North York Moors so I took what I believed to be the least hilly route - basically stay away from the seriously hilly stuff in the North York Moors and keep to the "easier" Yorkshire Wolds and the Howardian Hills.

The Vale of York was, as expected pretty flat, but the rest was surprising untaxing too. The only stiff climb I had to face before reaching Dalby Forest was the 16% gradient of Terrington Bank.

Dalby Forest is quite undulating - not surprising as it's one of the main mountain bike trail centres in Yorkshire. There are a few 15% ramps to negotiate in there. What goes up, must come down though, and I really enjoyed the speedy car free descents.

Once out of Dalby Forest I was only 10 miles from the seaside, but I couldn't see any sign of coastline or hear any sea gulls. Well, because there was a high ridge right in front of me, and all I had was a feeling of dread at the realisation that I would have to climb over that before I could reach the sea.

I made the most of the sweeping descent into Langdale End, and then tackled the succession of lumps between there and Scalby. It was pretty quad busting stuff, especially as I couldn't get out of the saddle because of the load that was on my bike.
I eventually made it to Scarborough after 60 miles and I'm not sure how many hours. Ok, so the ride hadn't been a complete breeze, but it was still the least arduous route that I could have taken - both in terms of gradient, and the quietness of the roads.

Once in Scarborough I very quickly able to enjoy the beautiful coastline with its lovely traditions - the amusement parks, the tacky souvenir shops, the all-day karaoke, the Harry Ramsdens, the donkeys...etc. I rewarded myself with chips and ice cream on the sea front at Marine Drive, before getting the train home. The ride had been pretty and I'd had wall to wall sunshine, so I couldn't complain. A very pleasant trip!



View York - Scarborough in a larger map


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