YorkshireDales300

[Ian]

At 5pm today, only four riders had finished. Of 19 starters, 9 bailed so at most there will be 10 finishers.

Nice attrition rate, befitting of the hard route that it is

[ianfitz]

I'm just home now. It was a tough old route! Or at least the bit I managed to ride. Many many thanks to Stuart, firstly for planning such a tough but great quality route, secondly for making us so incredibly welcome at the cycle centre. I would have happily moved in!


the weather was not too helpful, I really struggled in the heat on saturday day time, as it started to cool off I perked up and about 30 minutes later had an unspectacular crash which I was unharmed but my bike cartwheeled down a steep gully and split the rear brake hose and snapped a seat post bolt under my saddle. managed to bodge a repair and trundle the c. 70km back to the campervan at skipton.

stuart - if you haven't already found them you will find a a couple of bottles of leffe (one is in the fridge!) as a small thanks from 'team sheffield'

[Mark E]

Thanks a lot for organising this Stuart and being such a good host on Friday night. Unfortunately, I didn't get all of the way round this time, bailing at Kirby malham where the road down into skipton was much more inviting than the road up to Malham! As Ian says, there are a couple of bottles of leffe for you as a Thankyou for your hospitality. Hope to see you at a ride soon
Mark

[whitestone]

I got back in a total time of 34:56. As my first ITT it was something of a baptism of fire, wind and water. Lovely weather yesterday until the wind picked up. Got really bad cramps on Great Pinseat to the point that as soon as i got on the bike I'd be screaming. It eventually settled down. Bivvied at top of Fleet Moss. This morning was grim - high winds and persistent rain - cleared out though no less windy by about 1400. Strava - https://app.strava.com/activities/335029417

By the time we left Riders Cycle Centre there were 12 finishers out of twenty starters with one still unaccounted for.

[Ian]

Right back home now. That was a long day! 3:30am start at the top of Dent Dale, 12 hours riding, then 7 hours driving with a few stops to make a 12:30am finish in Brecon

Ride uploaded to Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/335149135

Stuart has created a great route - proper hard, but virtually all rideable (but not singlespeed...).
Huge thanks for pulling it all together and creating a venue to start from - great weekend all round

Congrats too to Stuart C who was first home. Only took two hours kip, nice

Now to bed

[stucowp]

That was probably not the best event to start my ITT career , however it was great fun and I guess the training bivvy rides and WRT helped me be more prepared.

Had a really grim spell from muker to the top of buttertubs its fair to say I don't think I'll ever go up there that slow again, cam Gill road must be one of the longest ascending bridleways in the country it was endless..... And the only section I hadn't ridden. Phil the lad that was riding with me had a liitle "off" coming down to Horton, so we bivvyed at Horton train station at 1am had food by 1:30 asleep by 1:31! Up at 3:30 breakfast and riding by 4:30am, it stayed fine until around 5ish and then was horrid all the way to the bottom of barden moor and then got nice for the run in to Skipton.

In all a top event and doesn't seem to have put me off doing the highland trail in the future just yet!

Great to meet so many people off here even though I've only been lurking mainly you've been great for inspiration and information!

Another stuart to add to the list of Stuart's on here already!

[whitestone]

Stuart: what are you doing up at 5 in the morning

A bloody good ride there. We (was riding with Simon L from Buckden) got in to Dales Bike Centre about half an hour after you left and Stu said you and Phil looked like you were flying.

On long events like this there is always one tough period where you are down and there's still the rest of the challenge ahead but as Churchill (Winston not the ruddy dog) said: "If you're going through hell, keep going!", mine was the section over Great Pinseat Cath was watching the tracker and wondered what the hell was going on - bloody technology there's no hiding place you can't even have a bad patch without people knowing.

[Ian]

That Roman road section was horrible - too steep, loose and windy. I stopped for food in Muker, then endured the horrible push up Buttertubs into a stiff headwind, then hit the Roman road. By the time I got to the top of Dent Dale, my resolve to push on to 200km was broken. I scanned the route on the GPS and saw the steep bridleway up Whernside and decided sleep was a better choice. That was 11pm - 175km. Set alarm for 4am, but rain woke me at 3am, so I packed up and started riding.

[Ben98]

then hit the Roman road. By the time I got to the top of Dent Dale, my resolve to push on to 200km was broken. I scanned the route on the GPS and saw the steep bridleway up Whernside.

I did this half way up the Roman road, a baaad idea to look ahead, that bridleway only helped my decision to scratch, had I not id still be riding.

[whitestone]

What was the pub like in Muker? The service in the Kings in Gunnerside was really slow: 50mins from ordering to the food on the table

I think most people bivvied somewhere between the top of Fleet Moss and the climb up on to Whernside.

[whitestone]

I think I've got most of the riders who've uploaded their ride to Strava: http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/?ut ... wT1TX8Ew== If you scroll through to around the 15hr mark you can start to see where people bivvied out. Also evident is just how far ahead Stuart Cowperthwaite and Phil were at that point.

Ian, I see you went up to the top of Arten Gill so looks like you didn't have the final, final route which missed that bit out

[Richard G]

Just saw Ian's on Strava. What a monster ride.

[whitestone]

Written up initial thoughts along with kit list http://bobwightman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/ ... cream.html

[yorkshirebiking]

http://riderscyclecentre.com/?p=2802
YorkshireDales 300 results.

[Ian]

Ian, I see you went up to the top of Arten Gill so looks like you didn't have the final, final route which missed that bit out

Hmm, weird. I was sure I uploaded the correct route as a deleted the previous "final" version deliberately. I wasn't the only one though. At least four people came through the top gate where I bivvied. One chap was bivvied under the viaduct at the bottom of the track too.

Who was the chap who got out as far as Ribblehead and bivvied in the woods. Was riding a Moots?

[ianfitz]

Ian, I see you went up to the top of Arten Gill so looks like you didn't have the final, final route which missed that bit out

Hmm, weird. I was sure I uploaded the correct route as a deleted the previous "final" version deliberately. I wasn't the only one though. At least four people came through the top gate where I bivvied. One chap was bivvied under the viaduct at the bottom of the track too.

Who was the chap who got out as far as Ribblehead and bivvied in the woods. Was riding a Moots?

That's mark evans mje25 on here.

[Mark E]

Hi Ian, I think it was me you saw in the woods early on Sunday morning. I bivvied just before the ribblehead viaduct and then set off about 3.30ish. I didn't finish in the end and bailed out in Kirby Malham.

Beaten to it by Ian F!

[Ian]

That was a good ride to Ribblehead then. You can't have got much sleep if you set off at 3:30?

[whitestone]

Hi Mark,

I think you passed Stuart and myself bivvying at the top of Cam High Road at about midnight so (based on my times) you'd have got to the Ribblehead area around 2am so you can't have had much sleep at all I had to stop where I did as I was losing concentration and the descent to Newby Head is fast and occasionally loose so not the best combination!

Good to chat to you early on and on the slog up Buttertubs - hope the pint in The Rose and Crown in Bainbridge tasted good

[Mark E]

Hi Bob, I came past you and Stuart just as you were setting up to bivvy. I felt ok at that point so pushed on and, as you say got down near to ribble head at about 2ish. I set my alarm for 4.15 but the rain woke me early so I got up to carry on. I really struggled to get going at any reasonable pace on Sunday and scratched in Kirby Malham. It was good chatting to you early on and up Buttertubs-I'd definitely of walked that if you and Stuart hadn't been there!

[Mark E]

Oh, and the pint I had before butter tubs went down very well!

[whitestone]

I had a lager shandy in Gunnerside, nicely refreshing and different from the pop I'd been grabbing occasionally up to then.

One thing -post ride wasn't so bad for us locals, either partners picked us up or it was a short drive home. Must have been hard work getting back if you live further afield. Glad I had yesterday booked off work

[Ian]

A few words from me: http://ianbarrington.com/2015/06/30/yor ... dales-300/

Also includes a kit list so you can see what i didn't carry

[FLV]

Nice write up Ian. Good effort on the ride too.

[ootini]

Great write up Ian.