Mountain biking in the Yorkshire Dales. Photo: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

Cyclists and mountain bikers now have their own dedicated websites to guide them through the Yorkshire Dales.

The national park authority has revamped the two sites with routes, event information and links to shops and accommodation. The area has graded its mountain bike routes in order of difficulty and severity.

Mark Allum, The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s access projects officer, said: “Cycling and mountain biking are great ways of getting around the Yorkshire Dales and these two websites aim to give you the information to do this. 

“Whether you are a beginner needing to hire a bike and have some instruction, or an experienced mountain biker who just needs to have a suitable route, you should find all you need. A number of new features have been built into the new sites, the most important of which is that the route information is now available as free downloads. 

“Not only are cycling and mountain biking great fun and good exercise, but they also allow you to get around the area whilst helping to protect it by minimising your impact.”

Cycle the Dales caters for road cyclists and includes day rides as well as cycle touring routes and those suitable for families.

MTB the Dales is for off-road cycling, with 16 routes, including downloadable PDF files and route data for electronic mapping systems. The road-cycling site also features mapped routes.

The MTB was originally launched late last year but was hacked into and then taken down. The site organisers say they have increased their security and now have a more robust system.