This Sunday I have probably my hardest target ride of the year coming up. The Struggle Dales starts and finishes on my doorstep, and takes in 200km (125 miles for the luddites) of the Yorkshire Dales, going over some of the nastiest hills the organisers could find. After weeks of sunny, warm, calm weaher, the forecast has suddenly shifted to rain and strong wind.
It's going to turn what was going to be a hard day into a brutally tough one. The wind direction is about as bad is it could be, coming from the west. All the climbs are orientated either north or south (side winds) or west (headwind). Most of the climbs end up on the moors separating the dales, and there is very little shelter up there.
To go through the worst of the climbs in order (on the map climbs are indicated with a blue arrow, wind direction is the green arrows. Overall route is the red line);
- [1] - Bedlam - an easy start, 1km at 8%, but block headwind.
- [2] - Hartwith Bank - really nasty. 1.6km, averaging 10%, but with sustained 20% sections, and the tarmac is crap. Only positive is it's fairly sheltered.
- [3] - Greenhow - Again horrible, and will be into a full headwind. The first "big" climb of the day. Very steep at the bottom, and finishes up on the moors at ~400 metres. I've done this into a headwind before, and the final section was relentless. While there is a descent afterwards, it's very exposed, and will (again) be block headwind.
- [4] - Barden Moor - another short, steep ramp (1km at 10%). Tops out at 300 metres, and again exposed, and into a headwind.
- [5] - Malham Cove - the next biggie, heading upto 400 metres, and a prolonged drag at the top, with zero cover. I've done this with a strong sidewind (same as forecast for Sunday), and it was like cycling through soup.
- [6] - Park Rash - Famously hard. Often listed in the top 5 hardest climbs in the UK. A 25% hairpin right at the start, and then a sustained 15-20% section. Sidewinds the entire way, and topping out at 500 metres as you go from Wharfdale to Coverdale (which leads into Wensleydale). The later half of the descent will dive into shelter, and fortunately then a generous tailwind to Masham, allowing some recovery
- [7] - Trapping Hill - we go up the easier side, which is 3 steep ramps connected by some fairly easy drags...but once again into a full headwind with zero cover, and topping out at 400 metres. The descent is nasty...a serious of 20% hairpins, off-camber, as you descend into Nidderdale.
- [8] - Two Stoops - the final "big" climb, with (again) some sustained 20% ramps, leading up onto Nought Moor. The final run-in will be cross tailwind, but still bumpy.
The only "easy" bit will be between climbs 6 and 7...a flat'ish run along Coverdale and Wensleydale with a tailwind. The current rain forecast is more in the morning, but stronger winds in the afternoon. I suspect it's going to be 8 hours in the saddle (not including stops). The time doesn't really worry me, but what does kill me is steep climbs...most of these are steep enough that you can't just spin up them, you're down to 50rpm and grinding away, and that kills my legs. I'd really like the rain to piss off! And maybe a bit less wind.
Comments
25% hairpin into a sustained 15/20 sounds like a slightly more bollocks puke hill, which is 20% off road, an inconvenient gate then a mere 10% but on the loosest, most bollocks, just-about-ridable gravel in the Pentlands.
You should visit!
Anyway good luck with that collection of pain inflicters. Take the inevitable kudos as a twofer. Double 'dos if you will.
Well I survived.
The wind, however, was nuts. A lot of people went for shorter routes than originally planned (there were 200km, 175km and 140km routes, and about 90 people out of the 250 who signed up for the 200km went shorter on the day). I went off in the "enthusiastic" first wave at 6:30am. A group of 5 formed at the front, and stayed together until...Hartwith Bank, about 16km in. One guy tried an absolute flyer...like full sprint up this wall of a road. Anyhow, we went past him about halfway up, and never saw him again. I imagine he wrecked his legs, and crawled round the rest of the day. 2 of us went over the top of Hartwith Bank together (chap called Ian from York), and worked together for the next 100km, sharing the headwind and keeping a good pace. He picked up a slow puncture going over a cattlegrid on the descent off Malham Cove, and when we went up Park Rash, he dropped behind. I assumed he was going to swap tubes, so pushed on...which was probably a mistake. A 20km sort-of-flat section, with a mostly tailwind, and I probably should have focused on recovery rather than trying to gain time. Turns out Ian was about 2 minutes behind me...he'd put some more air in the tyre, and was pushing on to catch back onto me.
The effort came back to bite me, and when we turned into the headwind after Masham, heading towards Trapping Hill, I absolutely went off a cliff, and was creeping along into a block headwind. Ian quickly caught, and dropped me. I cramped up about 2/3rds of the way up, had to stop and stretch my leg out, and was desperately downing gels to try and get a second wind. I caught Ian again as he stopped to put more air into his tyre at the bottom of Two Stoops, and together we crawled up this final climb. Now it was his turn to head into a dark place...he ran out of energy, and was flagging for the last (rolling) 20km. He was out of water, so I gave him a spare bidon (I'm a camel, I drank 2 bottles across the entire ride, and had refilled at the one feed station we stopped at), and gave him a friendly wheel as we went through a load of roads I knew pretty well. We rolled into the finish together, deciding not to try and sprint it out. We'd both gone through a really shitty phase that day, and both happy to finish.
End result was we were first 2 finishers, 7 minutes ahead of anyone else. Chip time of 7h33m (which includes 5 minutes stationary at the feed stop). My "goal" was a Gold time (under 8½ hours), and my default secondary goal of "top 5% of finishers". At this time (yes, they are still coming in, and I'm writing this at 8pm) there are 160 finishers, and I'm in 2nd place (Ian started just after me, and caught us at some roadworks...doh!). So target met there.
Garmin and Strava tell me this was the hardest single day ride I've done (based on "Relative Effort"). For comparison;
This probably explains the dark time I had on Trapping Hill...it's pretty rare for me to ride my own legs off, I tend to self-regulate to a surviveable pace. The steep hills, and wind also would play a factor.
Glad it's done, looking forward to a couple of easy days. I've been slowly eating everything in the house that may or may not contain calories. Trying to stay awake until 9pm at least. I'm quite proud that I've managed to clean/dry my bike already, rather than let it rot in a wet condtion for a day or two.
Jesus Christ, well done. I'm just reading this now but wish I had yesterday - it would have given me more impetus for getting my arse onto the bike for my little 20km loop to Pangbourne and back.
To compare Hartwith Bank with my hardest climb.
Hartwith: Elevation Gain: 145m, Avg Grade: 9.6%, 1.51km
Alpine St: Elevation Gain: 21m, Avg Grade: 8.5%, 0.24km
And after 16km...
Coming 2nd in such a massive race (even if you are a local) is epic and nearly an HOUR under your target time too! I'd say you smashed your targets. And cleaning the bike too - that's astounding!
Will you do it again? What's the next big ride for you?
Gill asked the same. Possibly not. Partly as I approach stuff like this as a "challenge ride". I've used this as an impetus to get out and do longer rides in this area...something that I hadn't done much of in the first year as I was still getting used to all the extra climbing. In 2024 I did 3 rides over 160km (100 miles)...one was in Mallorca, and one was a very flat group ride. By May 2024 I'd only done the Mallorca ride.
This year I've done 4 already...this and 3 "prep" rides (including another epic solo in Mallorca) specifically training for this event. I've also done some back-to-back long days (100km+ and hilly) in order to build up my endurance. I know this sort of stuff really helps me get ready for a long and hard ride...but it's also time (and energy) consuming. I'd say I've had 10 weekends of viable outdoor riding this year, and 4 of those have had specific rides to prepare for this event. Now it's over I have a lot more freedom to pick what rides to do, and no pressure to go long/hilly all the time. I tend to find once I've done a challenge ride, I feel no incentive to repeat it (take RideAcrossBritain, for example...took me a decade to go back, and then only when the route was significantly changed to spice it up). The only time I'll go straight back is when I genuinely think I could have done better (for example Reading Half, where the first time I did it I was 18 seconds off 1h30).
What I may do next year is volunteer to help, and then (if possible) do a shorter route as a non-full gas ride.
Struggle Moors Gravel, however this is going to be very much a get-round as a target, no aim for position or speed, as it's my first off-road event. I'll ride home after (about 50km, pretty flat). Prep for this will be less intensive...after work rides on tracks etc, and leaving the weekend for club rides and generally enjoying myself.
Longer term, I have an outline for a big adventure next year as part of the "oh fuck I'm 50?" celebrations. A multi-day bikepacking ride involving a passport is on the cards.