UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

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giryan
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UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by giryan »

So, I'm beginning to seriously look at doing TD, and I would quite like to get out and do some riding on as similar terrain as I can before hand.
However I live in Warwickshire so long steep mountains, and forest trails really aren't that easy to find :)
I went to the Peak District and did some of the Pennine Bridleway in August, which was hard work, but from the look of videos/pics I've seen of TD, not that similar.

I'm planning a ride to Cannock Chase soonish to camp, a trip of about 50-60 miles along some sustrans routes.
I might be able to squeeze in some time off before the end of the year, and while its bound to be horribly wet and cold anywhere in the UK, I'm not sure it will be that much worse than I could potentially expect at some point on TD.

Almost everywhere I can think of that would have the steep hills/mountains don't really have long unrelenting climb after climb which I suspect would be some of the most taxing physically?
Would Scotland be my best bet?
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ton
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by ton »

don't know about TD terrain, but one of the best rides I have done was a weeks tour in Scotland, based on riding as many loch side tracks as possible.
most seem to have a landrover track up one side of them. Loch Lyon and Loch Ericht were fantastic, and adding Glen Tilt and the Gaich made for a stunning weeks riding.
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voodoo_simon
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by voodoo_simon »

I'd be saying time on the bike is the key factor, although I've not done the TD, so could be talking rubbish. The terrain will greatly vary on the TD, so I would very hung up with that focus as such.

I entered into the rovaniemi 150 this year with only half a day done in my fat bike in the snow. I know you want to get your training as close to the real thing as possible, but for a 2000 mile race, time of the bike will be king *

Going to a family event? Get your wife to drive and you cycle over, just obviously leave earlier. Popping to the shops, then load up your bicycle for some resistance training. Friday night normally spent with beers, knock it on the head and Cycle (double training points here :-bd)

Also, train when you dont feel like it. You'll have low points during the race, so if you can train when your tired, don't feel like eating etc (without going into burnout), then go out then. Some people will only train when they feel good (I.e after a long, lazy Saturday breakfast) and then when they get tired, can't function ( I love sleeping and this is my biggest downfall, anything after 930pm and I'm mentally in bed :roll:)


*just my opinion, so I could be talking rubbish
Last edited by voodoo_simon on Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ianfitz
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by ianfitz »

there a long stretch of forest track and rideable terrain in rays borders 350 route. There's also a lot of tough hike-a-bike on other parts!

The section between moffat and spithope bothy would be up your street. I just trimmed the gpx and that bit is 175km with 3350m or 108miles and 11,000ft. You could get a pretty tough weekends training in if you rode from moffat to spithope bothy then did the return leg the next day!

happy to share the gpx if you pm me an email address
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Scattamah
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Scattamah »

The forest trails on the Tywi Ton 100 route reminded me a lot of the northern section of TD. Get your mitts on the 200 version as well and give 'em both a go. If you'd like company out there, I'd be interested in riding that again - quite enjoyed it the first time apart from the boggy/grassy bits towards the end.

Greetz

S.
jameso
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by jameso »

Voodoo_Simon is right. fwiw I did all my training in the Chilterns and along the Ridgeway, much of it on tarmac on the bike I used for the TD but with slick 2.0s on, the only time I went further was to ride past the Ridgeway and then do a 3 day loop into S Wales. Hardly taxing terrain, the time on the bike and effort you put in will see you through. Riding open trails like that needs no specific skills really.
Local terrain is obviously more easy to get to and riding almost every day, even if it's an hour really slow after dinner well into the dark, or a 30 mins recovery spin on the turbo, that'll help more than re-creating the endless miles of forest or county road. Don't get bored of that before you've even started : )
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by jameso »

... and a plug for the Dirty Reiver 200 in the Kielder area - perfect timing for a big ride in June and should be a good route for a Divide racer-to-be.
giryan
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by giryan »

Thanks for all the answers guys!

Kielder looks vaguely exciting, it's been a long time since I've been to the borders so it could make a really lovely trip :)
I noticed the Dirty Reiver 200 topic, I'll have to look into it.

I go to spin classes 3-4 times a week which are short and intense, and I'm borrowing a turbo from my best friend too, but actual miles on the road will count for more, it's my long term endurance that I'm less sure of,
But I've booked in to do the Rawlinson Bracket sportive in feb which is 113km up and down some of the steepest bits of hill around here, http://www.the-rawlinson-bracket.co.uk/the-route/
And I'm doing a 4 hour spinathon at the end of the month, which will be an interesting test of maximum effort. :)
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Scattamah
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Scattamah »

Bear in mind it's extremely rare you max out on the TD. Most of the time, consistency is key, coupled with low sleep and low faffing during resupply.

Dammit...you're making me feel the need to find a corner and ho myself out to afford to go back for another crack at it.

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S.
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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

I would say just concentrate on time on the bike, rather than trying to hone your skills on specific terrain. None of TD was particularly taxing technically. Washboard is the most challenging thing I can think of, and it's hard to find that over here as people don't drive 6 litre V8s along gravel at full throttle all the time like they do over there.

Things I concentrated on were riding early (without coffee). Riding hungry, without taking too much extra food, on long rides. Riding in rain, riding in the dark. I also overcame my fear of cows before I went (got charged by a herd when I was a teenager). I also spent a couple of nights camping outside Banff beforehand to acclimatise to being in bear country.

Some stretches of road could be considered boring, I found the key was to get really tired, and let the vibration of the washboard bring on some hefty hallucinations.

Oh, and get used to midges. The 30 odd mosquito bites on my dick from taking a piss on the road out of Kremmling still haunt me, but probably not as much as Morgan who took a dump on the side of that road!

Also, thinking about it, I was never actually bored. Just losing my mind a bit, and sometimes a little homesick.

The tail end of Montana was stunning
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jameso
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by jameso »

^ Great pics. Anyone who says the route is dull or boring as 'it's all fire roads' hasn't been there. As Matt Lee said, "Mom nature puts on quite the show for those watching."
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Dave Barter
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Dave Barter »

MUST NOT LOOK AT THOSE PICS........
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Alpinum
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Alpinum »

jameso wrote:^ Great pics. Anyone who says the route is dull or boring as 'it's all fire roads' hasn't been there. As Matt Lee said, "Mom nature puts on quite the show for those watching."
I'll have to remember that - all of it. Goes well with so many things... wise words.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

The 30 odd mosquito bites on my dick from taking a piss on the road out of Kremmling still haunt me
I'm impressed that there was room.
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ScotRoutes
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by ScotRoutes »

I think that was a subtle boast
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Scattamah
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Scattamah »

jameso wrote:...Anyone who says the route is dull or boring as 'it's all fire roads' hasn't been there...
+10 :)

In the flick when Matt says "it's freakin' beautiful out here"...he's not lying. The Basin in all it's empty glory is stunning...better than the hills IMHO.

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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I'm impressed that there was room.
I was actually referring to myself, as I am a dick.

The basin really is an amazing place, we got the Aurora Borealis as we crossed at night too. Then Mustangs running alongside us the next morning.

I've been messing about with some mapping stuff recently, threw this together earlier, nice to see the route with topo.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/167 ... e-topo.jpg
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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

Dave Barter wrote:MUST NOT LOOK AT THOSE PICS........
ImageUntitled by gabes mak, on Flickr

The singletrack down from Richmond Peak is so great, just hope there isn't snow on it. We cleared the downhill part in 15 mins, I think it took chickenlegs a good 2-3 hours with snow.
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by jameso »

… you hear some of the veterans talking hokey-like about ‘transcendence’ and all the philosophical mumbo jumbo. The suffering can put you on the roller coaster real quick-like. Perspective, emotional equanimity, rational, sensible thinking are key to not letting the roller coaster sap your mojo. Dave Harris refers often to “mojo”. I’m not sure if he’s using the 'personal magnetism’ definition or mojo as 'magic’, but for the Divide you need some of both kinds to fill the seemingly endless hours of fireroad. You need to 'like being with yourself’ and, you need those magical moments. Mum-nature has just the show to get you through if you’re paying attention.
I mis-quoted him. This is the full quote, from a thread on bikepacking.net that got me thinking about the ride. There may be similar terrain in the UK but it is the scale of the whole thing and what it does to you mentally, good and bad/challenging, that would be hard to re-create.
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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

Nail. Head.

It's not an easy experience, but then, easy is boring. Adversity, uncertainty, risk and fear all made it a really fascinating journey for me. The most interesting thing for me, is that I feel like it's still going on, I have little flashbacks here and there, and it has changed my outlook on a lot of things too. All sounds cliched I guess, but maybe not to those who've done it.

I can't wait to go and do it again.
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Scattamah
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Scattamah »

mountainbaker wrote:I can't wait to go and do it again.
Did you get that feeling immediately afterwards? Or did you have the "feck that - I'm never doing it again" and then a month or so later you missed it dearly?

And yeah - Whitefish Divide, Red Meadow Lake and Richmond Peak in 2014 were all tough work with the snow/rain. I was so surprised to clear all 3 in such short time this year. That little fork on Richmond Peak where you split left wasn't really visible last year (I bushwhacked from the high line vertically down to the trail in the end).

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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

I'm saying this from the point of view of someone who's never ridden it but ... don't forget that the actual camp side of things is important too. I once took some chaps out who had put in a year of really tough training and were well prepared physically but a month before the 'off' realised that they'd never actually done any overnight trips, hadn't fully tried out their gear or ridden loaded.
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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

Scattamah wrote:Did you get that feeling immediately afterwards? Or did you have the "feck that - I'm never doing it again" and then a month or so later you missed it dearly?
It's taken a while. When I got to Brazos Ridge (just into NM) I was at the point of "I just want this f**king race to be over", and I rode the whole of NM with only one sleep over 3 hours. I just wanted to be done.

Now, looking back on it, I guess like so many trips that involve hardship, discomfort etc, you tend to forget those little things and see what was good, fun and interesting. I don't dwell on the mosquitos on the hike-a-bike up Fish Lake ATV trails, they were really horrible, but then, 10 minutes later we saw a wolf stalking a pronghorn, that was way more fun!
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mountainbaker
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by mountainbaker »

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I'm saying this from the point of view of someone who's never ridden it but ... don't forget that the actual camp side of things is important too. I once took some chaps out who had put in a year of really tough training and were well prepared physically but a month before the 'off' realised that they'd never actually done any overnight trips, hadn't fully tried out their gear or ridden loaded.
You have a good point Stu, it's good to be comfortable sleeping anywhere. Not much can prepare you for the feeling of big wild animals being around (bears, mountain lions etc), except for tiredness. Like jameso said a while back, by the end of day 3 you can sleep on a fence, so it gets easier for sure. I actually only bothered putting my tarp up once, and often just slept in my emergency bivvy with no sleeping bag. That was nearer the end of the race though, as I was only stopping for a couple of hours at a time.

Also, riding the bike loaded is pretty important I think. You need to be in control on some of the faster gravel descents and able to handle the weight. Riding gravel at nearly 50 mph is great, but you don't wanna come off!
giryan
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Re: UK terrain like the Tour Divide?

Post by giryan »

Really good point on the camping front Stu.
I definitely want to try something different to camp in. I know I can never expect a 1 person tent to be spacious, but the way the tent is it was very close to my face and it was a bit claustrophobic. So I'm really interested to try out bivvying or a different shape of tent.


Oh, and yeah, downhill while laiden was yes, interesting, there were a couple of bits on the peaks that were vaguely exciting/worrying fun, but also showed I really needed more preload on my forks, they were bottoming out, and the tyre would touch the handlebar bag too. :(
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