Having not been able to make the group start I decided that I would attempt an ITT. The date was chosen for me as some of the wife's family would be visiting from the USA and staying at the Brother in Law's who lives in Yorkshire - Mistake 1, check where you're staying is actually where you think it is. He previously lived closed to York so I assumed he was near Skipton, he actually now lives south of Scunthorpe. Being from the south I hadn't realised that even if he lived in York that this is not exactly near Skipton anyway
Monday morning, the day of the ride, I was all ready and packed by 07:55 and headed off for the 1 hr 45 min drive to Skipton, well according to Google maps anyway. Due to traffic conditions, a road closure and the weather I was finally parked up near the start and away by 11:00 so an hour behind my schedule before I was even going. I had made sure that I put my bottles on the bike before putting it in the car but hadn't packed any other water. It had been 3 hours since I left and was already on the way to dehydration. The Riders Cycle Centre was closed (I knew it would be before I started but didn't think this would be an issue) and it took me a while to locate it and I couldn't top up my bottles anyway. Mistake 2, bring spare water for the journey to the start and to stay hydrated before starting riding.
Garmin started I pedalled off following the purple line. I had my SPOT so the wife could keep a check on me. After half an hour I reached the edge of the National Park and stopped to take a picture.
I also checked spotwalla on my phone to make sure it was showing my location which it wasn't. I then spent 10 minutes trying to work out why. The tracking light was working on the SPOT but the webpage didn't show the locations. I gave up and peddled on but stopped twice more to try and fix the issue. I sent my check-in message and this worked ok but I couldn't work out why the tracking wasn't showing. Mistake 3, I wasted time checking the tracking page and trying to sort the issue when it didn't help my ride. I could of just pinged the check-in or looked at it later on when stopped to eat etc.
I had a laminated sheet with the locations of the pubs/shops etc. produced using the notes Bob had put in the YD300 thread (Thanks Bob) and when I made it to Pateley Bridge I knew there was a shop. I looked at my bottles and I hadn't finished the first one so rode on. I only have room for 2 x 500ml bottles so clearly I wasn't drinking enough. The drizzle at the start of the day and the faffing with the SPOT had obviously distracted me. As I wasn't drinking I also wasn't eating enough but I was so so pre-occupied with the SPOT and also starting late and worried about my self-imposed time limits that I wasn't concentrating. I had it in my head that I needed to be back at the car for early evening Tuesday to be back where I was staying for about 10pm allowing for the drive. This gave me only 32 hours to complete the ride. I was planning a 4 hour bivi so that only left 28 hours for riding. I would need an overall average of just under 7 mph to achieve this. As I was to find out I hadn't allowed enough time for the ride as this average speed was going to be difficult to achieve on the loaded bike on my first time riding in the Dales - oh and it's a singlespeed to up the difficulty level. I had lowered the gearing and could ride the early hills but the lower gearing also reduces the speed on the flatter sections. Mistake 4, I didn't allow enough time for the ride and was worrying about cut-off when I should of been just eating, drinking and peddling.
I got to the next point on my check sheet, Buckden, but it was now nearly 6pm. The shop was closed and the WC didn't have a tap as it has those combined soap/water/air things built into the wall. I was out of water and had only drunk 1 litre since 07:55 in the morning. Despite this I had managed to cover the 47 miles in 6hr 55 min so had averaged 6.7 mph so not far off my target. I pushed on (literally as the section out of the Buckden was soon too steep for my one gear) and tried to remain optimistic. I eventually crossed a stream and filtered some water to fill my bottles. This has a slight tinge to the colour and an earth taste that even berry High 5 tabs couldn't disguise but at least it was water. When I reached the pub at Askrigg (slightly off route) I managed to get my bottles filled with some better water. Bottles filled I rode on. Mistake 5, when getting my bottles filled I then just rode on. I should of stopped for a drink in the pub as well - pint of coke at the least and probably food. I was a bit worried as my bike was outside but I could of sat out with it and had something to eat/drink.
I struggled a bit with navigation at about 60 miles across the section above Carperby. I think I should of stayed along the ridge but I was following the puple line as close as I could an there was no track on the ground and it ran diagonally up a slope and seemed to end at a stone wall. Looking at it afterwards should the line follow the bridleway? I went back and forth for a bit before pushing up the slope to re-join the course at the 't' of New Pasture. The yellow line is the supplied gpx for the route.
The section directly after this also had me riding up and down and the line seemed to be between the two bridleways. I carried on to Castle Bolton where my crib sheet indicated a WC so I could get some more water. I had also planned to cook my noodles for dinner here. The tap on the WC said 'Not Drinking Water' so I filtered it and hoped for the best. Does anyone know if this water is actually ok? I was also being attacked by a swarm of midges so headed on hoping that the higher ground would have enough breeze to keep them at bay. I assume they were midges but they seemed unaffected by Smidge, landing in it as I tried to apply more. Maybe there are other small flying annoying insects, perhaps a swarm of gnats.
I did eventually get into a location with enough breeze to be insect free and cooked up my noodles. I rode on with thoughts of a 4 hour bivi and the getting the ride finished the next day. By 10:30pm I was getting tired and I decided I would bivi at the next likely spot. Luckily I found a spot of flat grass which even had a fence to lean my bike against. It was now gone 11:30 but I was set up and in my bag by midnight. I'd only managed to cover 75 miles which in my mind was a failure as I'd wanted to get at least half way round on the first day. Looking back at it now, covering 75 miles with 10,000 ft of ascent in 12.5 hours, overall average of 6mph, on a loaded singlespeed (weighed just under 50lbs) in an area I'd never ridden before seems ok? Perhaps I'm just telling myself this to salvage some pride
Alarm set for 04:00 and I was asleep in moments. I did wake in the night as I was a bit cold but I was soon back to sleep. The alarm went off at 04:00 on my phone but I snoozed twice and eventually got up at 04:20. By the time I'd cooked my porridge, had a 3/4 cup of coffee with the last of my water and packed up it was gone 5am. Despite being next to a stream I didn't filter any more water. Mistake 6, I should of set the alarm on the Garmin as I would of had to get up to turn it off, it's too easy to snooze the alarm on the phone as it's in the bivi bag with me.
I hadn't been riding for long before I reached the Dales Bike Centre. I rode straight past at first as they were obviously shut, but looking over the wall I spotted to toilets sign and rode back. It was whilst trying the toilet door I spotted the 'Drinking Water' sign by the outside tap
With new enthusiasm I attacked the following climb, well until past the first tarmac section when it then got too steep for my gearing again. It had been raining since about 05:30. When I got to Gunnerside Hush the effort of carrying the bike down over the wet rocks in SPDs did little to improve my mood and I was still constantly working out finish times based on average speeds. At the current rate I wouldn't be back at the car before about 05:00 Wednesday morning 
When I got to the next point on my crib sheet at Gunnerside I stopped at the toilets to get out of the rain and way up my options. There didn't seem to be any except keep peddling so back into the rain and on I went. I stopped at the shop at Muker but only to look at the closed sign in the window. I think it was only about half 9 so perhaps they open later than this. It had been raining for some time but I only had my jacket on. I couldn't be bothered to get my over-trousers out of my seat pack. By half 10 I was getting very cold and finally had the sense to stop and put on more clothes. With my wind-proof added under my jacket, over-trousers (Alpkit Parallex and very impressed) and my tough bags over my gloves I was now correctly dressed for the conditions. I had left it far to late to layer up and really struggled to undo the buckles on the seat pack as my fingers weren't working properly. I had to have a word with myself at the side of the road for being so stupid as to get that cold. Mistake 7, I should of put on my extra clothes and over-trousers before I got too wet/cold.By now my general mood was low. I kept looking at the overall average speed for the day but I could only manage 5mph which meant I would have another 18 hours of riding to get to the finish. When I got to Bainbridge I took refuge in a bus shelter and decided my attempt was up. I text the wife to let her know as she'd worry I was off course (the tracker had started working after the first couple of hours the day before despite not changing anything) and then I had to work out how to get back to the car. The wife called me to see if I was sure about quitting and that it wouldn't matter if I didn't get back until Wednesday but I had made my decision - besides, if I had then continued as she'd encouraged me it would be outside assistance and unethical
I changed the maps on the Etrex to the garmin route-able ones but couldn't manage to get it to find Skipton using the search. When I had sorted out my paper maps I had marked these with the pubs etc. and also put a waypoint every 10 miles which shows up on the prints. These had come over to the gpx when I imported the pubs/shops so I found the 10 waypoint and set this as the destination, bicycling and locked to roads. I figured if I got to the 10 mile mark I'd be able to follow the original route back to start. A new purple line appeared and I set off. This immediately headed up hill and then I was back on a familiar off road track from the outward ride the day before. I think as the track is a green lane (byway) the garmin still calls this a road? Strangely, without the time pressure I was now enjoying the riding again even though I still had a fair way to go. I later managed to work out how to add a waypoint manually and then changed my navigation to this to guide me back to the start. The ride to the car was uneventful although the B6265 back in to Skipton was 'interesting' with lorries passing me at great speed with little spare room! I made it back to my car just after 3pm.
Lessons learnt (I say learnt but I knew most of these already but failed to put them into practice
)Take plenty of water - spare to drink on the drive to the start. When filling bottles drink at the same time and then top the bottle back up.
Allow enough time for the ride. I should of worked out a realistic time for the ride and allowed for this. I had it in my head I'd ride it Monday/Tuesday and be back at the Brother in Laws in time for a beer Tuesday night without taking into account what time I'd get started or how long it would take me.
Put waterproofs on before getting soaked. I made a last minute panic purchase of a Lowe Alpine Mesa belt pack from my local Blacks as I didn't seem to have room for all my stuff on the bike but didn't want to take a rucksack. I had my jacket (Alpkit Gravitas - again I was impressed with this) in this pack but I should also have put the over-trousers and mitts in there for easy access. These are all lightweight items so would be ideal in the belt pack.
Timings - I should of got an earlier start. My late start meant I missed to opening times for the few shops on the first section of the ride. I also think that some of them might not have been open as it was a Monday/Tuesday? Certainly I didn't notice any of the cafes being open. I think this ride is best done over Sat/Sun with an early start on the Saturday and a effort to make the Dales Bike Centre before closing?
Looking back now I enjoyed the ride, but at the time I was too concerned with getting round in an impossible time limit. This affected my approach and mood throughout the ride. Next time I'll allow enough time and also I'll have some idea of the terrain. Driving back to the Brother in Laws after the ride I was even thinking that maybe I should put gears on the bike. I'm deeply ashamed of these thoughts now and apologise to other single-speeders for even thinking this
I do need to reduce the weight of the bike, but I did use all of the kit I took with the exception of first aid kit and bike repair/puncture stuff so trimming the weight would be tricky. I had planned to bivi so took the tarp/poles/pegs. I would leave these behind next time to save a bit of weight.If anyone is interested my strava is here
https://www.strava.com/activities/1081952848
Sean
Edit. Just looked and in the end I covered 135 miles with 17,242ft of ascent. This works out at 5.9mph overall (excluding the bivi time) but I made up some time on the ride back to Skipton as I can average 10pmh+ on flattish roads even on the ss. It was only 5mph on the Tuesday up to the point I quit.
This and a quick spin on the Friday once I got home was enough for me to get 3rd overall for climbing for the week on the Bearbones Strava Club so not a complete failure
and I now have a better idea of achievable speeds and what riding in the Dales is like.
