Author Topic: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18  (Read 3197 times)

Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« on: 26 March, 2018, 12:09:48 am »
I went and checked the route yesterday - it's still utterly gorgeous, and it was a decent day with light winds and only a couple of showers. Bloody hard work, though. The roads are a lot rougher, and I've tweaked the route in a couple of places to take this into account, but apart from a different finish it's mostly the same as last year: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27091715

It breaks down to an easy start and finish on mostly decent roads, with all of the hills in the 200 km from Boroughbridge. And such hills. It's a grand tour of the Dales and a brief hit of Cumbria and Teesdale.










And it's BRM, for anyone looking to pre-qualify for next year's PBP.

PS I forgot to add the essential ride info - it's piss-easy to get to the start by train (direct trains to Northallerton and Thirsk from London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and lots of other places), and there's free* camping before and afters.

There's also food at the start and finish - Mike has threatened to get the barbecue out this year, and Roy has said he'll make his dhal soup again, which was gorgeous (and vegan - I doubt the BBQ will be). I'm working on arranging a cake mountain to dwarf last year's, and most importantly, if you're staying over, there's a massive after-ride party with lots of beer and music and I may even arrange some awards this year (if only to save me having to make a speech, which I apparently did last year).

* Free with the chance of me shaking a charity bucket at you, as Mike is letting us use his farm for nowt, in exchance for the proceeds from the event going to a charity of his choice - which is the Alzheimer's Society. But there's no obligation.

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #1 on: 27 March, 2018, 03:35:17 pm »
Superb Dean! That ride was a brilliant route, I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon.
@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #2 on: 27 March, 2018, 07:21:09 pm »
300k and geet hilly - can't imagine anyone not liking that?
Sunshine approaching from the South.

First time in 1,000 years.

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #3 on: 27 March, 2018, 11:31:07 pm »
Superb Dean! That ride was a brilliant route, I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Aye, you too, Dave. You doing the short rough one or the long rough one?

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #4 on: 27 March, 2018, 11:33:26 pm »
300k and geet hilly - can't imagine anyone not liking that?

It's OK, Dave, I'll let you swap to this ride if you prefer. It's actually not that hilly (for the Dales). When I rode the route with the organiser of the Dales Grimpeur (in the calendar again this year BTW), he frequently pointed at a junction up the fellside and said "the Grimpeur goes up there". For the most part, we don't Go Up There. But it's still the Dales.

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #5 on: 27 March, 2018, 11:39:54 pm »
PS I forgot to add the essential ride info - it's piss-easy to get to the start by train (direct trains to Northallerton and Thirsk from London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and lots of other places), and there's free* camping before and afters.

There's also food at the start and finish - Mike has threatened to get the barbecue out this year, and Roy has said he'll make his dhal soup again, which was gorgeous (and vegan - I doubt the BBQ will be). I'm working on arranging a cake mountain to dwarf last year's, and most importantly, if you're staying over, there's a massive after-ride party with lots of beer and music and I may even arrange some awards this year (if only to save me having to make a speech, which I apparently did last year).

* Free with the chance of me shaking a charity bucket at you, as Mike is letting us use his farm for nowt, in exchance for the proceeds from the event going to a charity of his choice - which is the Alzheimer's Society. But there's no obligation.

mr ben

  • Some routes may be arduous.
    • ramblings and randonees
Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #6 on: 07 April, 2018, 09:47:05 pm »
This one is highly recommended if you are looking for a 300 km; camping the night before and after and train stations nearby, also close to the A/M1, so fairly stress-free logistics and a very accommodating HQ.  Yorkshire Dales, Howgills, and the moors over to Teesdale make for a beautiful and varied ride.  Challenging but not ridiculous, it was a first 300 for me and I lived to tell the tale, which is here if you're interested: http://www.sloeburn.co.uk/?p=1049.  I'll be wielding a stamp this time so hope to see some of you en route.
Think it possible that you may be mistaken.

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #7 on: 30 April, 2018, 07:52:44 pm »
What a fantastic ride!

A great weekend, with a very welcoming HQ. Camping before and after the ride made logistics very straightforward.

Its a tough route, but very rewarding and I kept telling myself to look at the views. Great motorhome control at Litton, lovely Ham and Cheese sandwiches with Branston pickle, and great homemade flapjack.

Many quiet roads, and it was great cycling out of Orton towards Brough along Sunbiggin Tarn, there was nobody about! Didn't get a lot of favours from the cold northerly wind. Managed to see the winner of the 3 Peaks Fell race approaching the finish at Horton.

At the finish all riders were greeted with cheers and cowbells, followed by beer and soup!

So thanks to Deano, Mike and everybody else for making it a memorable weekend...also thanks to VC167 gang, what a friendly bunch!  :)

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #8 on: 02 May, 2018, 12:06:13 am »
Thanks, Marcus - I think I caught a blurry shot of you somewhere.

25 starters and 24 finishers on the 300. I asked the riders if they'd enjoyed the headwind from Tebay to Middleton, and you wouldn't believe some of the responses I had. It always seems to be a headwind up Shot Moss after Brough, especially with 220 km in your legs.  Well done, everyone - no one was pushing the time limit, though I think the massive piss-up and rousing reception at Mike's farm caught a few riders by surprise.



I've clagged all the photos below, some from the start of the 300, and some from the after-ride party - so it's a mix of riders from all three events, helpers, and well-wishers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30024450@N04/albums/72157666457595807

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #9 on: 04 May, 2018, 10:10:03 am »
A big thanks to Deano for an excellent day.......and night.

I deferred my comments till I had calmed down a bit as things did not go right for me on the day and I had stopped swearing a bit but everything that went wrong was of my own doing or out of my control.  Last year, I was apprehensive about the ride whether it would be easy or hard, and found it hard.

This year, I was apprehensive again based on my level of fitness low due to a chest infection that I would struggle more on the bits that where hard last year, especially that hill just after Brough, (Stairway to Hell), but despite it being head wind up it, it was easier than last year. It was the bits that I had forgot about that was hard.

My first problem was, I had forgot to change Garmin mounts on my bike, so my Dakota 20 had to be taped to my bars. But I only had enough tape to do it once and with a possible battery change about 12 hours into the ride, I may have to change batteries. So a visit to a hardware shop in Ilkley was needed. Then rather than backtracking to get back reroute, the Garmin kept crashing. So I asked a woman how to get back onto the road the other side of the river. I do not think she knows the difference between a bike and walking boots, but she gave me directions to a footbridge down a steep climb carrying the bike followed by a hike across a field. And as I walked I saw other riders sail past on the road in the distance, luckily, no one saw me to wave and wonder what I was doing.

Back enroute, at a roundabout to the West of Ilkley, I could have joined the route there. It was also the point where I saw a near miss with a cyclist and a car. A girl, not on the event had just overtook me, she was turning right, indicating right, correct position on the road and I'm just a few yards behind going right to. A car came hurtling past and as the girl started turning, the car turned to the left knocking her arm forward and nearly bringing her down. The car then took the first exit off the roundabout. The inside lane was empty, why had the car not used it to turn left instead of overtaking us. Speaking to the girl, she was a bit shook up with what had happened.

At Litton, puncture, my seventh in seven weeks. Walked a couple of hundred yards so I could eat and fix puncture at same time. Brilliant control. Think I ate to much for that climb shortly after it.

Ribbleshead, heard a loud cracking, thought it was a girls jacket tapping on cars as she walked past them, jacket flapping in the wind. But when I got away from all the hustle in that area, it was my bike making a loud cracking noise, bottom bracket going, only fitted it on Wednesday. Hell, had to coax the bike back to the finish with no undue pressure on the cranks.

Chaos on the new road at Scotch corner, been meaning to disable "remain on road" for years so with a lot of guesswork got onto where I wanted to be whilst the Garmin tracked down the A1 and other roads.

Rained climbing out of Brough, perfect, kept me cool, but then froze on the descent due to the windchill.

On Monday, stripped the bottom bracket down and rebuilt it. Bike still cracking. Checked the rear hub and cassette for tighteness, still cracking. Rechecked it again, discovered the rim had cracked in a few places and also suspected the hub was not right. Change of wheel, everything sorted.

When I was driving home, Bristle put Gromitt into his place and told him that he is not replacing him on rides. Incidenttaly,  our lass loves Gromitt, so Bristle said, "he's yours then" so it was a happy ending.

Will I be back next year? Well I cannot recall saying never again and cannot think of anything better to do.

And to round the things off, a very big thanks to Mike and family and all the helpers without such a "premier" event could not take place.


Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #10 on: 06 May, 2018, 07:26:29 pm »
Loved this event this year but I am having a year off audax this year, so possibly in 2019.
Organiser of Droitwich Cycling Club audaxes.  https://www.droitwichcyclingclub.co.uk/audax/

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #11 on: 09 May, 2018, 11:38:34 pm »
When I was driving home, Bristle put Gromitt into his place and told him that he is not replacing him on rides. Incidenttaly,  our lass loves Gromitt, so Bristle said, "he's yours then" so it was a happy ending.

A bit of context is probably required: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=92632.msg1908726#msg1908726

(Shame the video isn't working, it was brilliant).

More context: last year, I was bullied into making a speech, and this year I decided instead to hand out awards at the point in the evening when speeches were being made and people were a bit pissed. Most Ludicrous Mechanical, Best Haircut, Worst Excuse for DNF-ing, that kind of thing. Bristles (and zacklaws) won the award for Best Mascot, and the prize was a cuddly Gromit toy, complete with welding goggles.

It was a good night.

Re: Beyond the Dales We Know 300 - Saturday 28/04/18
« Reply #12 on: 20 June, 2018, 06:40:30 pm »
It appears that the video has started working again somehow. So Bristle is now happy and rubbing it in with Gromit that he is still an international film star. And also the fact that he has got a 600 K prequalifier done and gromit wont be going in 2019 as he has done nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EehlhiHm9SY