Dales Divide.

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ton
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Dales Divide.

Post by ton »

anyone entered the Dales Divide.

heck of a ride. would make a nice weeks pottering tour for me.
redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

https://cyclethedales.org.uk/route/york ... _cycleway/ Is it this please Ton... sounds good and seems like a road bike might be needed. Prospect of visiting all the Dales sounds good to me. Am in dependent on dates and...
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whitestone
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by whitestone »

No, that's the Dales Cycle Way, the Dales Divide is a 630km ITT starting from Arnside (Cumbria) See this thread viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13721&p=169858
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redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

Aha... Ok. Thanks BoB...
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sean_iow
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by sean_iow »

I've entered, had the email to register for trackleaders yesterday. No gpx yet but there is a spotwalla page with the route on so I've a rough idea where it goes.
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techno
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by techno »

Yeah I'm in!
I am ITTing it as I'll be starting from Driffield which is the nearest point to me. But I will be setting off at the same time as the grand depart.
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thenorthwind
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by thenorthwind »

Is there a route (even a vague description) of this anywhere? Sounds interesting. I missed the thread first time round. Not sure I'd make the group start this year, but would bear it in mind as an ITT.

TBH Easter weekend in the Dales doesn't sound ideal timing, though I know it makes it easier for people to get time off work - the Dales always seems surprisingly busy with tourists these days but maybe it's just me, and I am used to Northumberland. It's for this reason that I've got a vague plan to have a go at the Lakeland 200 the weekend before (I realise that's probably the beginning of the school holidays, but quieter than Easter weekend itself surely).
techno
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by techno »

thenorthwind wrote:Is there a route (even a vague description) of this anywhere? Sounds interesting. I missed the thread first time round. Not sure I'd make the group start this year, but would bear it in mind as an ITT.

TBH Easter weekend in the Dales doesn't sound ideal timing, though I know it makes it easier for people to get time off work - the Dales always seems surprisingly busy with tourists these days but maybe it's just me, and I am used to Northumberland. It's for this reason that I've got a vague plan to have a go at the Lakeland 200 the weekend before (I realise that's probably the beginning of the school holidays, but quieter than Easter weekend itself surely).
From the latest email:
"About the route. The route is 600km long and has 9004m of climbing.

Starting from Arnside, on Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea, the first 40km is on a mixture of minor roads and pastureland bridleways and gets you to where you enter the Yorkshire Dales National Park. You are now in limestone country. Remote in parts, with moorland, barns, walls and lots of ancient routes from roman times and well used in monastic times for driving livestock from valley to valley. There is very little road until about 150km where the Dales spills into the flatter land of the Vale of York. It is then a mixture of bridleways and minor roads to York and the Minster at 220km and the real flat lands. Fast gravel tracks and roads get you to Scarborough at 300km and a ride along the shore of the North Sea. An immediate turn West is riding over the isolated moors of the North York Moors National Park. Tracks that are sometimes well made, sometimes not, both follow the ridges as well as dropping up and down the steep sided valleys. Much of this area is the Woodcock C2C area, a famous MTB ride. At 440km you drop suddenly into Osmotherly and out of the moors, back onto the Vale of York flatlands. Mainly on Sustrans minor roads, a spin across the flatlands gets to 490km and the start of the Yorkshire Dales again. Back onto those green lanes, drovers roads and bridleways the ride uses some of the iconic MTB tracks across Swaledale and Wensleydale then Ribblesdale and Dentdale before dropping out of the isolated dales at about 575km and a short ride back to Arnside."
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redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

Just realised what date... i probs wont be strong enough for this ywar and it also clashes with my chsroty ride... But will defo aim for it for next year.... BAM 2019 I suppose I shall have to embrace now (to ensure I've gained enough exp of being out there)...

Well done to Chris for organising such an event that easier for us MiddleEngland people to get to :-bd
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sean_iow
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by sean_iow »

This is the spotwalla tracking link, you can see the route on it.

https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=619

They'll be a trackleaders page as well but I don't think that's up yet.
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In Reverse
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by In Reverse »

techno mail wrote:Yeah I'm in!
:-bd The Andy count is looking good, as ever. :grin:

I'll be doing the GD, but not racing per se. Might even take a Spot, will be my first time.
redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

sean_iow wrote:This is the spotwalla tracking link, you can see the route on it.

https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=619

They'll be a trackleaders page as well but I don't think that's up yet.
So something like this. Being "not as" remote as say the BB rides and the HT550... Does that mean one could probably safely get away without taking a spot.

I dont think I could justify the purchase of a Spot/gpsPlan so would probably use whatever alternative gps system could be used by phone (normally use that Life360 which people off here edcuated me about). So would be thinking gps via phone and an oversized (22000mAh or more) Anker PB to keep everything charged and running nicely.

To have any chance of doing it within the suggested 4 days would mean I'd have to really get some big training in (hoping 2020 or did I already say that) over the course of the year...

Well spotted and thanks to the original poster for bringing it to the forefront :wink:
redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

* I meant Ton...
techno
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by techno »

redefined_cycles wrote: I dont think I could justify the purchase of a Spot/gpsPlan so would probably use whatever alternative gps system could be used by phone (normally use that Life360 which people off here edcuated me about). So would be thinking gps via phone and an oversized (22000mAh or more) Anker PB to keep everything charged and running nicely.
I've been looking and there's some really reasonable hire deals around. Which is what I'm gonna do. I likewise can't justify the cost of a purchase but think my wife would appreciate the peace of mind of me taking one.
For example: https://www.globaltelesat.co.uk/spot-tracker-rental
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techno
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by techno »

In Reverse wrote: :-bd The Andy count is looking good, as ever. :grin:
:grin:
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whitestone
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by whitestone »

There's the SPOT lending/borrowing thread - viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12193

Unsure as to whether to do this or not - it's my birthday that weekend :-bd Looking at the route it looks like borderline gravel/MTB as there's a lot of road but the off-road in the Dales (at least) might be "interesting" on anything other than MTB.
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Asposium
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by Asposium »

sean_iow wrote: This is the spotwalla tracking link, you can see the route on it.

https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=619
Thanks for posting the route, gravel bike it is most certainly is.

Gravel bike be a little "interesting" on the more technical sections; however, make up for that on the road sections.
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sean_iow
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by sean_iow »

I don't know the area but looking at what little information there is at the moment my summary of the route is

Flat-ish road sections -> Yorkshire Dales -> Flat/rolling roads to coast-> North York Moors -> Flat/Rolling Roads -> Yorkshire Dales

So a singlespeed mountain bike is probably the worst possible thing to take :roll: I've got to decide on the gearing, I'm currently thinking a higher ratio than I used on the BB300 as there's the same amount of climbing but in twice the distance... but that will mean the Dales will be hard?

I have ridden in the Dales before, once, and I used a 32/20 gearing on a 650B bike. It wasn't low enough for the steepest bits but I found it too low for the flater bits across the tops once up high, if that makes sense. So perhaps a higher gear is better as I'll still be pushing on the ups but will cover the flat bits quicker. My current thinking is 34/18 on a 29er, for reference I used 34/20 on the BB300 which was actually a higher gear than I took on the HT550. If only there was some way to alter the gearing of a bike 'on the fly' so I could vary the gearing as I go along? :lol:
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thenorthwind
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by thenorthwind »

Thanks for the route advice - will definitely bear this one in mind, but probably not this year.
techno
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by techno »

sean_iow wrote:I don't know the area but looking at what little information there is at the moment my summary of the route is

Flat-ish road sections -> Yorkshire Dales -> Flat/rolling roads to coast-> North York Moors -> Flat/Rolling Roads -> Yorkshire Dales

So a singlespeed mountain bike is probably the worst possible thing to take :roll: I've got to decide on the gearing, I'm currently thinking a higher ratio than I used on the BB300 as there's the same amount of climbing but in twice the distance... but that will mean the Dales will be hard?

I have ridden in the Dales before, once, and I used a 32/20 gearing on a 650B bike. It wasn't low enough for the steepest bits but I found it too low for the flater bits across the tops once up high, if that makes sense. So perhaps a higher gear is better as I'll still be pushing on the ups but will cover the flat bits quicker. My current thinking is 34/18 on a 29er, for reference I used 34/20 on the BB300 which was actually a higher gear than I took on the HT550. If only there was some way to alter the gearing of a bike 'on the fly' so I could vary the gearing as I go along? :lol:
what hub you using? could you make it a 2 speed, fit a gear for the flats along side the off road gear? or is that cheating.
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sean_iow
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by sean_iow »

That's cheating :smile: Most events stipulate that you have to ride the route on the same ratio throughout. It is what it is, it's my choice to take a bike with one gear so I'll just have to suck it up. I'll wait until I've got the gpx and can analysis the climbs in my mapping software to decide on a ratio.

Looking at the route on spotwalla I was surprised by how much road there seems to be? When I heard about the event I imagined it being mainly off road and it mentions the HT550 and TD... but my first look it's more TCR than HTR? We go over junction 47 of the M1 which will be a first, I've never ridden across a motorway junction before. On the Island the nearest we have is half a mile of dual carriageway and most of that is either a 30mph or 40mph limit :lol:
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Mike
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by Mike »

Wanted to do it but im at work so will be looking to have a go maybe once the event has taken place. Will give a rough indication of timings also on how long it wilk take to get around. And i really cant be bothered with all that SPOT (hairy dogs balls) malarkey and cost!! :0)

Looks a great route!!
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by fatbikerbill »

@sean.

My email (as I read it) specifically said you had to start and finish using the same ratio.

Nothing about what you have during the event :-)

But I'll be geared anyway.
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sean_iow
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by sean_iow »

fatbikerbill wrote:@sean.

My email (as I read it) specifically said you had to start and finish using the same ratio.

Nothing about what you have during the event :-)
That's some careful reading of the rules... your not a boss at an F1 team are you? :lol:

Since yesterday I've been looking in more detail at the route from the info I have so far. The spotwalla mapping is a bit misleading as it shades all tracks and roads the same. I've spent a few hours trying to trace the route onto my OS mapping by following the spotwalla route and it's much more off-road than I thought, it looks a cracking route :grin:
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redefined_cycles
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Re: Dales Divide.

Post by redefined_cycles »

So is that a 'thumbs up for the plenty of offroad8ng and lack of roads and dangerous roads' sort of thumbs up... from the fatbiker crew?? Wouldnt want to be spending so much painful days in the saddle for a substandard route :-bd :smile:
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