Not strictly a bikepacking route, given it's doable in a day, but I've been working on a route based on our cycle club's various weekly gravel ride routes and having ridden, tweaked, and re-ridden over the past 6 months or so now have a final route which I'm calling 'Mint Gravel'. It's a 160km loop around South Lakeland, Cumbria with ~4000m of ascent and is approximately 50% off-road.
There's no reason it can't be broken up into an overnighter, but if you fancy a long day out and FKTs are your thing, my own inaugural ride time of over 16 hours stood for barely a few weeks before the second completion came in at 12 hours 38 mins.
Lazarus wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2023 11:12 pm
How all weather ( mud boggy peaty i can handle getting wet )is it given its likely late October before I can give it a go
I've ridden all sections of it in all seasons and to my mind, there's nothing too bad that goes on for more than a few metres. There can be the inevitable boggy bit on some of the grassy fellside tracks and muddy patches on otherwise hardpacked trails, but no long slogs through the mire.
And rocks can be slippery when wet, but you knew that right?
Lazarus wrote: ↑Wed Sep 13, 2023 11:12 pm
How all weather ( mud boggy peaty i can handle getting wet )is it given its likely late October before I can give it a go
I've ridden all sections of it in all seasons and to my mind, there's nothing too bad that goes on for more than a few metres. There can be the inevitable boggy bit on some of the grassy fellside tracks and muddy patches on otherwise hardpacked trails, but no long slogs through the mire.
And rocks can be slippery when wet, but you knew that right?
33c gravel tires in a road bike... is that gonna be overgravelled!
redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 12:27 pm
33c gravel tires in a road bike... is that gonna be overgravelled!
You've sometimes just gotta run what you brung, but I reckon that'd be pushing it for too much of the route to be enjoyable. I find it's often the sections of a ride where you think you'll get away with it that catch you out with a pinch flat or worse, rather than those bits you can tell are sketchy and so you pick a line more carefully.
That said, the 'worst' bits aren't that much worse than what you'll find coming down Whernside or Pen-y-ghent at the 3 Peaks Cyclocross so if that's your thing …
You've sometimes just gotta run what you brung, but I reckon that'd be pushing it for too much of the route to be enjoyable. I find it's often the sections of a ride where you think you'll get away with it that catch you out with a pinch flat or worse, rather than those bits you can tell are sketchy and so you pick a line more carefully.