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Phil Liggett CTC Challenge Ride

by Henry Peacock

The Phil Liggett Challenge Ride and Sportive returns to the roads of the Peak District for its thirteenth edition this year on Sunday 19th August. Top cycling commentator and former CTC President Phil Liggett unfortunately cannot attend this year but professional cyclists from Team Raleigh will be riding the event to help hone their climbing form ahead of the forthcoming Tour of Britain.

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Team Raleigh Will Ride The Tour Of Britain

Widely regarded as one of the classic sportives in the UK, there are two routes available, 100km and 150km, taking you through the beautiful Peak District from Sheffield taking in several iconic climbs including Holme Moss, Winnats Pass and Monsal Head all of which are featured in Simon Warren’s 100 Climbs book. The well established longer route takes in over 2600m of climbing and 32 Strava segments if you fancy testing yourself on the day.

Team Raleigh riders will also be riding the event to offer help and encouragement to participants and give ordinary cyclists the chance to find out more about life as a professional cyclist.

Previous participants will vouch for the quality of the course and either distance will give you a challenging day out as Phil himself normally discovers after being off his bike for the Tour de France: “It’s a hard ride but I wanted it to be, on roads I knew from my Milk Race days, but it’s fabulous country, even if it turns out to be a bit of a slog for me.”

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Veteran Commentator

Top cycling commentator and former CTC president Phil Liggett has been commentating on the Tour de France and all the top road races in the world for over 25 years. Liggett was also the race director on the Milk Race for more than 20 years and the Peak District was a favourite area for him to bring the race to. Phil wanted to showcase the area to all cyclists with a non-competitive event so the Phil Liggett Challenge Ride was born and twelve years later now forms part of the nationwide 2012 CTC Challenge Ride and Sportive series.

Both routes will be fully signposted, timed, have well stocked feed stops, and mechanical back up on route as well as the start/finish. The Phil Liggett Ride is one of the Shimano Wheel Service test events where selected riders, via a ballot system, can try out the latest Shimano wheelsets during the event for free. Shimano Service will also be on hand with professional mechanics to offer mechanical help and advice at the start / finish area. Please see event website for full details.

Entries can be made on-line or by post with a discount for CTC members and group bookings for teams of four or more.

For more information and to enter on line please visit www.ctcchallengerides.co.uk or follow CTC on Twitter.