CW5000: Toughest 100km spring challenge

Do so and you'll be entered in to a prize draw for an exclusive CW5000 prize.

• Three routes: Yorkshire Moors, Lake District, Exmoor
• Spring challenge runs: March 1 - June 31

Last year Cycling Weekly magazine went in search of the toughest 100km route in the UK. In May, Simon Warren (of 100 Climbs fame) devised a circular 100km route in the North Yorkshire Moors that he believed to the be the toughest in the country. We then challenged Cycling Weekly readers to come up with something even harder.

Now we're challenging you to go and ride those routes. This is our CW5000 spring challenge, running from March 1 to June 31. Sign up to the CW5000 challenge (if you haven't already done so), send us proof that you've ridden one of these routes - your GPX file, link or image of preferred ride logging site, and a picture from a recognisable point on the route - and you'll be entered in to a prize draw.

Ten lucky winners will be selected at random and receive an exclusive CW5000 pin badge. These are not available to buy, you have to earn them, and even the CW editor doesn't have one (not yet I don't, but I'll get one - Ed).

>>>> Sign up to the CW5000 challenge

We've given you four months to do this as the routes are well spread around the UK, and unless you're lucky enough to live in one of these areas it will involve some travelling. The routes are detailed below and you can download the GPX files in order to get guided round the route.

None of these should be taken lightly, they are big rides, designed to test even the fittest riders if attempted at a good speed. Be sure to let us know how you found the ride, and of course whether or not the route you rode was worthy of it's position as one of the toughest 100km rides in the country.

Send proof of your ride to cycling@ti-media.com with CW5000 Spring Challenge in the subject line and be sure to tell everyone about it in the CW5000 Facebook group.

Yorkshire Moors

Route devised by: Simon Warren - Download the GPX file here

"Sometimes we need to push our boundaries. Take ourselves out of our comfort zone in whatever we choose to do in life, whether it be gaining knowledge, breaking records or riding as many steep hills as hard as we can in one 100km ride."

"I set out to devise the UK’s toughest 100-kilometre loop and instinctively chose the infamous North York Moors as my canvas. The climbs may not be the longest but they are all viciously steep and with such an abundance of challenges in close proximity to each other it seemed the perfect location for such a challenge."

Exmoor

Route devised by: Adam Smith -   Download the GPX file here

Starting and finishing in Porlock and set entirely in Exmoor National Park, the profile for this ride looks like a bed of nails and will no doubt be just as comfortable. The framework was sent in by reader Adam Smith, but we made a few alterations as we saw that with a few tweaks here and there, this loop could get within touching distance of what we see as the holy grail for these rides: 3,000m of elevation.

Lake District

Route devised by:  Garry Lindsay -   Download the GPX file here

"After my initial attempt to find the most arduous 100 kilometres of British roads was published and the gauntlet to find a harder one laid down, further suggestions did indeed flood in," says Simon Warren."As it was my foolish idea, CW kindly offered me first pick and after careful deliberation I singled out the route sent in by Garry Lindsay. Set in the Lake District and featuring such beasts as The Struggle, Kirkstone Pass, Birker Fell, Hardnott and Wrynose passes to name a few, it looked like a brutal test."