I live nowhere near this route or that of the Etape Caledonia in terms of being affected but think the attitude shown here is why there have been problems.

What the visiting cyclist from the city (and the organisers?) regard as "lanes" are seen, rightly, by locals as main routes of communication. In such areas the importance of a road is not measured by width.

totally agree with old pedaller

I do live near this route and first thought was 'I'm up for this'

then I saw the cost

then I thought, 'what if the toon are at home ?'

does look like a nice route though

Sure, cars are annoying. And bad drivers are getting so numerous that you cannot ride for 78 mile - in this country at least - without encountering at least one *sshole overtaking too close to "teach you a lesson", or shouting at you as they pass, or, at night, blinding you with their full beams. But is it really worth 61 quid to avoid them? (That is assuming none of the *sshole motorists deprived of their privilege of driving like maniacs on back roads for a single day don't scatter tacks on the road.)

There probably is a market for such closed-roads events, amongst people new to road cycling, but such people would probably baulk at 78 hilly miles. But if you are any kind of regular road cyclist - regular enough to be a BikeRadar reader - then you'll have long ago become accustomed to such irritations. Far better to ride the same route on another day. As well as saving 61 quid, you'll be free to choose a day that avoids the other great annoyance of cycling in this country: the British weather. Granted, October this year was mostly dry and warm, but next year it could be horrible on the 7th.

I know most of the route and ride parts of it mostly in the summer months. The majority of the route is fairly quiet anyhow so £60 is a bit much. As the start is only 20 miles away from my house it is tempting, but not at that price - sorry. As also mentioned, October in Durham is more likely to to swing in favour of howling gales and driving rain.

I ride most of this route when i visit my mums house. Great area for cycling, really hard. The route and the roads are mainly empty of traffic you just have to watch out for dead rabbits!

Dont fancy it in October though. Im summer 9/10 its windy as hell and the weather at Chapelfell is usually bleak and changeable. There is even a sign warning cyclists of this fact

£61 is way OTT for a route on roads that dont particularly need closing

The start must only be about 4 miles west of my house and even though my regular loops cover most of the route I'm very tempted by the thought of closed roads & supporting an event on my doorstep. But £61 for the privilege!! Despite my best intentions that really makes it a marginal decision whether I will do it or not.

For people outside of the area, that don't have the route on their doorstep, if Sportives are your thing then I would recommend it as the scenery is lovely, none of the hills are monsters but the repetition of them will take its toll and make it a challenging event.