A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

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lune ranger
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A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by lune ranger »

Always check the gpx….

What happened then? Meg kicked ass and trounced Andy (Roobell7) and me. Pete(68) set off touring.
The weather started off poor - drizzle/rain and lots of low cloud and got better. Except when me and Dave were crossing the Bog of Despair. Just as night set in the flag came down. Not what you want when crossing 2km of waist high tussocks. This shouldn’t of happened. We should have paid heed to the Private Drive, No Public Access sign.
I should have checked that the route I made in Strava went into RideWithGPS intact. It didn’t and a two crucial points it made a mess of the route.
Mea culpa, I apologise.
So what should have been a little bit of light BB200 style annoyance turned into a 2km slog. For some reason the route got taken off the bridleway I did 2 years ago that involved a bit of tussock hopping and got strung accross 2km of - and I sh1t you not - at times 6ft high tussocks, boulders and swearing.
The turn off the Granite Way cycle path at a bridge was also at the wrong bridge so couldn’t be done.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
I got round in 23h10min. As for the others, I can’t say. Meg was way faster - all I saw was tyre tracks. I left Andy in the Bog of Despair and I think saw his lights 20km further on, behind me on the third bit of open moor.
I got to try a few things for the BB. A hard plastic Sawyer filtering water bottle that goes in a bike cage. It’s a bit harder to drink through than a normal bottle but was great. I drank way more than usual. Taking the opportunity to fill the bottle whenever it arose. The bottle rarely got near empty and there was no pumping or flapping around. Because I couldn’t put electrolytes in the potter I used PH sweat salt tablets and PH1500 as a loader. I felt well hydrated throughout and had no cramping.
In addition I’ve made up my mind that I won’t be doing the BB300 but will stick to the 200. I don’t think I’m fast enough of trained enough. If I stood any chance I’d need to keep moving the whole 36hrs with no time for rest,something I’m not ready for.
If you ignore the route sub standard deviations I thought the route and ride were great.
Dartmoor 200 will come again next year with the the glitches ironed out and be all the better for it.

https://strava.app.link/az5zRNuuGjb
Last edited by lune ranger on Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Good work all :-bd
May the bridges you burn light your way
jam bo
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by jam bo »

The turn on the granite way, you have to go about 200yds past the bridge, and then double back up a track up the edge of the siding. You can cross the bridge directly if youd taken the track direct beneath sourton tors rather than dropped to the granite way.

I can’t see the other bit you mean on the RWGPS track. The section between Peter tavy common and holming beacon was alway going to be difficult but probably as dry as it could have been.
redefined_cycles
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by redefined_cycles »

Good work Luke and co... See, you really should've just taken em all through the forest and then the 45mph stream...

So sad I missed out :lol:
lune ranger
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by lune ranger »

Forest section was fine. Fast and flowing - no bush whacking required.
The river that was thigh deep when we did it had a bank of stones across most of it, barely got wet feet. The streams on the moorland section were both rideable.
Much drier this time, which was good otherwise it would have been easy to disappear in the Bog of Despair!
If you are going through hell, keep going.
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In Reverse
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by In Reverse »

Dave :lol: :lol: :lol:
redefined_cycles
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by redefined_cycles »

lune ranger wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 8:48 pm Forest section was fine. Fast and flowing - no bush whacking required.
The river that was thigh deep when we did it had a bank of stones across most of it, barely got wet feet. The streams on the moorland section were both rideable.
Much drier this time, which was good otherwise it would have been easy to disappear in the Bog of Despair!
What's wrong with Bush Whacking. Bog trotting and tussock hopping are so out of date :grin:
lune ranger
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by lune ranger »

jam bo wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:53 pm The turn on the granite way, you have to go about 200yds past the bridge, and then double back up a track up the edge of the siding. You can cross the bridge directly if youd taken the track direct beneath sourton tors rather than dropped to the granite way.

I can’t see the other bit you mean on the RWGPS track. The section between Peter tavy common and holming beacon was alway going to be difficult but probably as dry as it could have been.
The granite way turn should have been as described.

The bog trotting was on the central section. From Prince Hall Hotel and the Dartmoor Training Centre. We went via Moorlands farm straight across Cholake! Rather than further south across Cholake Head/Royal Hill.

The Merrivale section was fine… in context!
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jam bo
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by jam bo »

Ah, I see it now. I’ve only ever done it from the tor royal end along the conchies road. When I first found it, I though this is vaguely exciting, until suddenly it wasn’t.

Some of the openstreetmap round that area is pretty questionable. I’ve been stung before by ‘paths’ that don’t exist on the ground. That one is marked as a permissive path if you dig into the OSM editor.

With the granite way one, the path along the bottom of sourton tors is a good track and then you drop down through a gate directly to the bridge in question.
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Roobell7
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by Roobell7 »

redefined_cycles wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 8:01 pm Good work Luke and co... See, you really should've just taken em all through the forest and then the 45mph stream...

So sad I missed out :lol:
ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr

Just for you Shaf :grin:
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Roobell7
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by Roobell7 »

In Reverse wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:55 pm Dave :lol: :lol: :lol:
I wondered where the Dave came from :lol:
lune ranger
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by lune ranger »

Roobell7 wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:33 pm
In Reverse wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:55 pm Dave :lol: :lol: :lol:
I wondered where the Dave came from :lol:
:oops: Not great with names - despite you wearing a jersey with it written on.
Sorry
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Roobell7
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by Roobell7 »

200km and 5,000m of accent/decent. Is a drop bar bike a sensible choice? Well I made it round and enjoyed it :grin:

ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr
Good for this bit

ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr
Less so here

ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr
Luke demonstrating how to cross the river by stepping off the stones at the deepest part. I also got me feet wet at that point.

ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr
Who needs lights, with an iPhone11 and a full moon?

ImageDartmoor 200 ITT by Andy Wright, on Flickr
So close. But then an hour before I was 25km out and hoping to make it in under 25 hours

Short write-up on the Anyone Playing Out board viewtopic.php?p=273107#p273107

Now, if only there was another event coming soon with the same profile :cool:

Andy (or Dave if you prefer)
redefined_cycles
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Re: A Bog Too Far - Dartmoor 200

Post by redefined_cycles »

Oh wow... thatnks for them pics Andy (Roobel?). That river crossing (luke stepping in) was where I did my first ever river crossing... Twas scary (and deep)...

Them stones in your other pic isn't the 40mph stream. Thankfully he missed that bit out :-bd
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