TORTUROUS climbs, exhilarating descents, spectacular views, jelly legs and aching bones – I experienced it all during my twoday adventure in the saddle.

Following the route that Sir Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and other stars of cycling are expected to take next year was an experience I will never forget.

Yorkshire is basking in the glory of its chance to be showcased on the world stage for the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart.

Split into two stages, the first will see elite cyclists from across the globe tackle the challenges and take in the beauty and splendour of the Yorkshire Dales, historic cities and industrial centres.

Stage one, confirmed for Saturday, July 5, will start in Leeds and take riders through Skipton before heading into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, though Wharfedale, Bishopdale, Wensleydale and Swaledale, then back via Ripon towards a fast finish in Harrogate.

Stage two, on Sunday, July 6, starts in Sheffield, taking cyclists on the edge of the Peak District National Park, through Huddersfield, Keighley and Harrogate before the finale of the Yorkshire stages in York.

As a regular mountain biker, and having done a lot of cycling in the North York Moors National Park and Yorkshire Dales with my father, it was an opportunity to test myself on at least part of a Tour de France route.

I thought it might actually be easier than off-road routes, having been dragged through deep bogs and wet moorland many times in the past while on day or weekend- long biking trips – and as my father had undergone a knee replacement operation earlier this year, I thought it would be a fairly relaxed and fun ride.

Discussing our route, we were more interested in stage one, but I thought even taking a full weekend would perhaps be a bit ambitious for us to complete 190km, so we decided to cut out the section between Leeds and Skipton to avoid city traffic and the A65.

On the other side, we decided to finish in Ripon rather than Harrogate to keep off the busy A61.

This left us with 130km, to ideally split evenly over two days. This placed our halfway point in Muker, Swaledale, but because the village has only a few small guesthouses and is on the Coast to Coast route, finding accommodation proved impossible, especially as there were four of us – my dad, Mike, his wife Stella, me and my boyfriend, James.

Therefore we had to push on another 12km to Reeth to stay at the Black Bull pub – making our Saturday challenge a gruelling 80km, before a more gentle 50km the following day.

On the Saturday morning, we set off north along the B6265 Grassington road.

The first village we went through was Rylstone, before passing through Cracoe and Threshfield. The going was steady, but the traffic was busy at times, which was a little unnerving, although, of course, the only traffic for the Tour riders will be support cars and bikes.

After Buckden we reached our first killer hill. I was starting to feel the pressure because we had agreed to meet a photographer at noon in Asygarth, and we still had 20km to go in 90 minutes.

But even with this in mind, I couldn’t stay on my bike on the brutal Kidstones Bank.

This would be a great area for spectators, with lots of space in fields on either side of the road, and I can imagine this first major climb will be packed with cycling fans wanting to see riders sweat it out to the top.

The descent into Bishopdale was a great reward, a long straight road with amazing views across Bishopdale and Wensleydale, and helped us catch up on lost time to get to Aysgarth only half-anhour behind schedule.

We had an hour’s break for lunch, which Stella rightly decided was a mistake because our legs would have to get used to moving again, and as we were now riding into the wind, the stretch into Hawes was tough-going.

We stopped again at the foot of Buttertubs Pass. Dad had been trying to convince us it “wasn't too bad” and that on this side of the dale it was a nice, steady incline.

“It’s easy – you’ll get up no problem, “ said James, who had been sailing along with ease all day.

There was hardly any traffic, so I could weave side to side, which often works when I’m doing a long or steep incline, but about twothirds of the way up my legs turned to jelly. I had to admit defeat.

Dad did his best Bradley Wiggins impression and made it to the top – there were walkers coming in the other direction and he wouldn’t be seen dead stopping for a rest.

Again, there is a lot of space on either side of the road for spectators, so it is another section fans will enjoy, but it was an effort to even push my bike up, never mind ride.

It is difficult to find “the top”

of the pass because it levels out, which lulls you into a false sense of relief, and then hits you with more, shorter climbs, before the big descent – which actually includes a couple of climbs on the way down, so riders will have to change gear quickly unless they have the leg power to go from highspeed downhill into an incline without losing pace.

Again, the views looking down into Swaledale were spectacular, and the ride to the bottom was exhilarating, even though I disobeyed the boys and applied my brakes for most of the way. I just like the idea of keeping my teeth if I fall off. Dad, who loves to pedal down descents in what seem to be an attempt to break speed records, said the crash barriers on that stretch would have to be addressed.

“Normally, crash barriers are bad enough, but at least you can slide along them, but along Buttertubs Pass the barriers are wire with sharp metal uprights,” he said. “Tour riders will reach 50mph and if they went into the barriers at that speed they would be certain to hit an upright. Often, Tour organisers put thick padding around road signs, so I’m sure that will be the case here.”

From Muker to Gunnerside, in Swaledale, the road was probably in the worst condition of the entire route. It had recently been resurfaced, but still had quite a lot of gravel at the sides.

We managed to drag our tired bones to Reeth before rewarding our efforts with hot dinners and pints of juice.

Waking up the next morning, I thought my legs had turned to stone.

The first climb came early on, and although the Tour de France riders would not have had much chance to recover from the Buttertubs Pass, I felt better once we got moving and I managed to climb above Grinton without much trouble.

I had the first puncture of the outing though, which proved problematical because James had hurtled ahead with our spare inner tubes, so I had to keep going by repeatedly pumping up the tyre until he came back to see where I was.

We were aided by a tailwind to the top of the dale before an exciting descent into Leyburn. From here, the Tour will go through towns and villages that will be packed with tourists – and businesses are sure to do a roaring trade.

The road became busier, so we often had to ride single file and it was fairly up and down, but Tour riders will be able to get up a good speed as they make their way to Harrogate. After passing through Masham, West Tanfield and North Stainley, it was almost disappointing to reach Ripon.

Despite being exhausted, I had loved the thrills of the descents, the scenery and passing – or being passed by – scores of fellow cyclists who were probably doing similar rides.

The overall consensus was that the weekend had been fantastic, that fans and riders would be treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience next summer – and that the Tour will certainly lead North Yorkshire to be ranked as a top tourist destination for cyclists and noncyclists alike from around the world.