A Hard Day In The Dales



13-28 Life-Saver

Sometimes you instinctively know when something is just right.  Equally, you occasionally know when something is all wrong, although our military outlook often tells us to 'drive on' regardless, only to find out later what we suspected all along!  Awake early this morning, I peaked through the curtains to see the trees blowing angrily in the blustery wind.  Over the last several months, Saturday and Sunday have been my days to put in the big mileage training rides, obviously adjusted to allow for the weather.  Good job I'm not cycling this morning I thought.  Good job I'm not taking on some big hills either.  Oh dear - I remember that half of the Riding4RAFA team including myself are entered into the Richmond Cyclosportive.  Just the minor matter of an 80 or 100 mile epic around the Dales on a route travelling through North Yorkshire, County Durham, and Teesdale with some of the most challenging climbs in the area.  The wind is blowing harder and harder as I have breakfast.  What could possibly go wrong?  Clearly, I have forgotten last weekend's pain getting up to the summit of a windy Tan Hill.  Memory is such a fickle friend!

However, in the garage is a new weapon - after fighting my way up the hills of the Dales last week on a 12-25 a new 13-28 sits waiting.  It looks huge, like you could peddle your way up Everest, or maybe that's simply wishful thinking.

The Start

Richmond Cycling Club are clearly well versed in organising this sort of event, their admin is slick and soon we are armed with a race number and timing chip, although with the wind blowing like it was, I was convinced I wouldn't be overly troubling the timing marshalls.  There's an entry of nearly 600 cyclists and what strikes me most is the sheer numbers of seriously expensive tackle including the sort of stuff the pros ride complete with corresponding pro team kit.  This is clearly more than a Saturday ride out for a bunch of MAMILs, but I'm hoping a lot of them are all show and no go......



The Stang

 Just 600 meters in and its clear that I haven't studied the route in much detail as we turn immediately up a sharp climb that is followed for some miles by those short, sharp steep little ascents that are designed to sap the strength and leave in in a mess later on.  The first big test of the day comes in the form of The Stang at just over 20km.  It's a long steep beast of a climb and worse, it's one of those climbs that you can see stretching out above you.  The climb starts as it enters a heavily forested area, shallow at first but it gets gradually steeper into long straight steep ramps midway through the forest with gradients of up to 16%, then turning into a twisty section and the steepest part of the entire climb with lots of 20% gradients before emerging from the forest onto a barren fell-land area where the gradient eases off towards the summit.  It hurts and the legs are bursting by the time I get to the top, just in time to head properly into the teeth of what seems a howling gale!  The wind really kicks in and its an effort to even get the bike to roll downhill at any sort of decent speed as I descend towards Langthwaite.  This doesn't bode well!



Approach To Tan Hill



The route drops down into Langthwaite where it joins the Reeth to Tan Hill Road.  I'm sadly familiar with this road as I had the pleasure of it's company a week previously.  I remember reading a guide on the net that described this climb as a 'humongous grinder'.  Probably right.  The main problem is that the climb is so exposed and the wind is howling straight down the route, making it a dire experience from the start.  There are 4 or 5 steep pitches thrown in for good measure which break the rhythm and get the legs burning.  It feels eternally long and finally the Tan Hill Inn hoves into view after the last very steep pitch.  Sadly, no scope for a well earned beer yet as I wait for the team to get back together on the summit.  Its taken a long time to get here today - mainly due to the wind, which now feels gale force on the top. 




Fuel Stop

 The descent from Tan Hill into Keld is difficult, dominated by an epic crosswind.  Its not often I've been on a 40mph descent when the wind has complete control of the front wheel.  We fly down the last few switchbacks and onto the first feeding station at Keld, where its a chance to fill up on pies, bananas and flapjacks.  Happy days.  A lot of cyclists are opting to ride the 50 mile route from this point because of the wind.  We decide to press on and will worry about the route when we get to Hawes.



Birkdale Common



The team regroup and set out together to take on Birkdale Common.  Once more I've failed in my map appreciation of the route and was assuming a relatively easy climb after The Stang and Tan Hill, but the road kicks up fairly steeply to start with…around 18% and I'm soon back in the lowest gear, out of the seat and grinding away again.  The climb settles into a much more manageable gradient for a time, before ramping up again.  I'm out ahead on my own now with no chance of getting out of the wind even for a few minutes.  A mini-peloton of RCC riders catch and pass me and I try to drop in at the back of their train, but they are moving pretty swiftly and soon drop me on the approach to the last climb to the summit.  The weather is rubbish now, raining hard and the descent off the top down into Nateby is fast and uncomfortable into the teeth of a howling gale and hailstones.  Nice.



Moorcock Inn



The route turns south at Nateby and I'm hoping that the wind is going to be more favourable. Wrong, its still blowing hard up the valley and its on to the climb over Mallerstang.  The headwind makes the ascent seem to go on forever and it was time to man up and give it big licks.  Despite the fatigue in the legs, morale is on the up as I keep passing other riders as I push onto the top.  The Moorcock Inn arrives and its time to turn south-east towards Hawes.  Finally after some 48 miles I get out of the headwind.  Not before time.  It's a very quick blast over the high speed rolling section and before long I arrive at the next feeding station at Hawes for more pies and bananas!  

More Pies Please!

Its taken a long time to get here due to the wind and as I wait for the rest of the team, my mind is made up - don't think we'll be doing the 100 miler today - I'll happily settle for the 80 miler due to the effort we've had to expend into the wind.  Fleet Moss and Park Rash can wait for another day.

Redmire to Bellerby

Wind is now behind us and its the last 26 mile blast to get into Richmond.  Stevie P and I get ourselves into a fast fighting twoship and we ratchet up the speed smashing through Askrigg and onto Bolton Abbey.  We then hit the correctly named Sissy Bank, which is short, sharp, but properly steep and takes any remaining energy out of the legs.  We make it to the top, then its full speed ahead down the Bellerby Range Road with the GPS indicating almost 50mph with a following wind on the fast bits.  We keep working hard and maintain the pace, catching singletons as we smash along the valley road and before you know it, Richmond is on us and the final timing marshall is there waiting to swipe us in.  We enjoy a relaxed few miles back into the start point and 84 miles are in the bag.

Big thanks to RCC for a great event, good org and slick admin.  Just a big shame about the rubbish weather, but we weren't the only team to switch to the 80 miler due to the wind, in fact a lot of riders opted to do the 50 miler after fighting their way to Keld.  A hard day to be sure, but valuable miles in the legs and some epic climbing practice.  Just hope the wind is kinder to us in a few days.