Marvellous reports. One of the maddest things you can do on a bike. You have to do it to understand the sheer insanity.
Conditions were relatively benign when I did it, but my favourite part was the descent off Whernside finishing with those brilliant steps. Worst bit was the road sections - I never found a wheel to follow and cramped massively every time I hit the tarmac (and I never cramp usually). Consequently I limped around.
Truly a unique and perverse event. Major kudos to Steven, Will and Daniel for getting round respectably.
3 Peaks CX 2016
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Stuart
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DanielMcqueen
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
It has taken me a while to get round to writing this, because I have been too exhausted.
I took my family with me and we spent the night in Haworth youth hostel. Nice, basic. All the restaurants we tried were fully booked so my last supper was fish and chips in the dusk outside the chippie, reflecting on how cold dark windy and bleak Yorkshire can be…
Checked the met mountain forecast which was now saying low risk of persistent hill fog, gales, heavy rain etc, and moderate risk of sunburn. However at 5am it was dark and raining hard. Set off from Hayworth and my last contact with the internet.
Arrived at Helwith Bridge at 6.45 and joined the crowd of early arrivers in the marquee waiting for sign on to start at 7am. 7am came and someone came and kicked us out of the marquee to queue up outside in the wind and rain. Glad I got there early as the queue rapidly grew. Had the obligatory inspection of my survival bag, mountain whistle and waterproof jacket and got my electronic dibber strapped to my wrist. Then I was free to go and dither about what to wear. No mobile reception for me so no consulting the met. But it was raining windy and cold, with little suggestion of blue sky. There was clearly persistent hill fog, and sun burn looked unlikely. Recalling mountain bike trips to the Dark Peak while living in Sheffield, returning wet to the skin in snow blizzards and on one occasion with a mate losing a toenail to frost bite I opted to increase the risk of overheating and reduce the risk of getting really cold and chose my Gabba and ditched the club jersey. I also realised how completely pampered I have been riding in the south. I felt ill prepared as I looked enviously at other competitors in the car park with their full length gloves and 3/4 tights.
Intermittent rain came down, the wind was up and I was anticipating a good soaking and freezing. Time went by and it was time to line up at the start.
The gridding was not what it is at a Central League Cyclocross race. There were 650 starters, along the road there were signs up 3 1/2 hours, 4 hours, 4 1/2 hours, etc… you were expected to grid according to your self estimated finish time. Few were following the rules… I climbed over the crash barrier into the road, somewhere between my official start place and the riders that I thought that I would be racing against.
I got a friendly send off from Damian, who was marshalling, and my wife and son, which took my mind off the rain clouds. We were soon off, and mindful of Steve’s previous experience of someone riding into him and knocking his rear mech off near the beginning I made my way to the right hand side of the road and moved up on the first 5k tarmac section to Horton in Ribblesdale. Will came up from behind and headed off to the front. The road narrowed and the bottlenecks started.
We were at the foot of Ingleborough now and I could see the ribbon of riders stretching up it. Pretty soon it was too steep to ride and gradually it narrowed down to one or two riders abreast. Bruce had given me a tutorial in bike carrying methods and how to most effectively block riders from overtaking, but soon it was just a matter of keeping the bike on my back, my helmet banging into the wheel of the rider infront, and bent forward by my saddle pushing my head down, and occasionally banging the rider behind with my rear wheel. Although achilles tendinopathy had been prevented me from doing any running in preparation I had done lots of core work for which I was truly grateful. I have no doubt that the back pain would have been very much worse without it. Some of the sections were over 45%, and I used the fence to pull me up much of the way. Getting to the top we were much more exposed to the wind, when I topped out I was nearly blown over by the wind. The top of Ingleborough was flat bare stone covered with boulders rocks and chips. The wind was very strong, the temperature had dropped to 6c, and it was foggy/drizzling. I felt very sorry for some people I saw bent over their bikes trying to fix punctures. The route quickly went off the plateau and out of the fog, the decent was so steep that I ran a lot of it. My metal studs were a mixed blessing here as they were slippery on the rocks. Plastic studs next time.
Some people flew past me but I was not prepared to take that risk. Soon enough I was back on my bike, hard boulder strewn tracks which I was often forced off to ride off path through the peat and sphagnum, which concealed all sorts of front wheel grabbing hidden pits. There were quite a few bogs that I tried to ride through, sometimes successfully, other times my front wheel would disappear down into the bog and I would stop abruptly, dismounting into water. Once I went over the bars and landed on my face in a bog. I was dazed after that and it took me a while to get back up to speed. After a while I stole a moment to straighten out my handlebars. As we came back down to the valley floor the fog was left behind and the temperature rose from 5c to 11c and sunshine. Damian appeared again and cheered me on, which helped me to feel more human.
Next was about 10k of tarmac in direct sun. I reminded myself that I was racing and upped the effort, but I lost more places than I gained. I was starting to feel a bit overdressed. Anyway I was soon at Whernside. Jesus, trudging up those limestone steps, I started to cramp in my quads which I found alarming at that stage in the race. I tried to move up the queue and gain some places but it just was was not going to happen. I never thought that walking up steps with a bike could be so tiring. Soon we entered the persistent hill fog and the wind picked up. I moved over to the lea of a dry stone wall and it was relief to be out of the worst of the wind. The temperature duly dropped to 5c and the wall came to the end. More riding across the top of the peak. Soon I was going along another boulder strewn single track on the top of Whernside along what looked like a cliff edge into a fog filled abyss. I started to feel vertigo which made it even harder to pick a sensible line between the rocks and boulders and deal with the cross winds and ride at speed.
Thankfully the track left the edge and descended. The choice was between riding the deep gully and riding the steps. I opted for the gully, but I had lost my nerve and made frequent stops and miscalculations, and plenty of just running down hill with my bike shouldered. I started to feel cramp in my hamstrings. Soon it levelled out into a fast gravel path with stone bordered drainage channels running across diagonally every 10m or so. Some people were flying past taking these at speed, but I was feeling too broken for heroics. I could enjoy the riding though. There were a couple of streams to ford and then the Ribblehead viaduct was in view. Fast gravel paths and no boulders, abysses, rock lipped drainage channels. Just fast riding off road.
Another tarmac section. I tried to catch up with a group but could not summon the strength, I picked up a few places and then Pen-y-ghent. Cheered on by wife and son I turned on to the rocky track feeling quite good and found that I could pick up quite a few places. There were plenty of bystanders shouting encouragement which helped. The views of the ravine were breathtaking. The gradient gradually increased, and as I repeatedly tried to jump on my bike to overtake some of the people walking it, only to fail and have to dismount, I wondered if it would have made that much difference if I had followed Astrid’s advice and swapped my 36 chainring and 28 cassette for 34/32. After 100m more the gradient had picked up and it was irrelevant. Will passed me on his way down.
Most of the assent of Pen-y-ghent was in sun, but the top, once again, was in persistent hill fog. The temperature fell to 5c again, but the dibbers were in sight, and soon I was on my way back down again though peat and sphagnum with no particular track. I passed what initially looked like two men having sex, but turned out to be one man on his back with his legs in the air with another man holding his ankles, presumably something to do with cramp. I was feeling a bit light headed and possibly delirious. Tired and reckless I fell off a couple more times, including rolling sideways down the hill with my bike, still clipped to my feet, passing over my head and onto my other side. All soft and more comic than painful. Back on the track with the end in mind I started racing some of the others descending, fighting for places. To my surprise I passed Steve on his way up. Riding downhill into the sun on a wet stoney track the sun reflecting off the puddles was exhilarating. I started to race harder with a couple of riders. Then down hill on a stoney section I lost control and fell hard on my side. It took my breath away and I was too stunned to remount for a bit. I straightened out by bars for the second time, banged my shifter straight and set off, this time cramping in my inner thighs. I got to the bottom without further mishap, other than losing some more places. I could see that my rear mech was well out of line, but fortunately I had locked out position 1 on my cassette and my jockey cage was clear of the spokes. Back on the final stretch of tarmac I was determined to gain any places I could. There riders were quite stretched out at this point and I managed to overtake one person riding a flat rear tub. My quads and inner thighs were both cramping. I took a couple more on the last straight into Helwith Bridge.
Finally into the funnel and the finish line. I knew that dismounting called for special care in order to avoid a major cramp. Then it was over. I wondered through the enclosure and saw Will who was already changed, Steve arrive and it was time to load my bike, change, shower and go home.
I don’t know how Will and Steve managed to drive back. I lay and ate and dozed in the back of the car while my wife drove.
The next three days I felt tired, stiff, sore and bashed up. I would not describe it as fun, but like Stuart said, it is the maddest think you can do on a bike and hardest thing that I have done on a bike. I can’t wait to do it again. Only a year feels like too long.
I took my family with me and we spent the night in Haworth youth hostel. Nice, basic. All the restaurants we tried were fully booked so my last supper was fish and chips in the dusk outside the chippie, reflecting on how cold dark windy and bleak Yorkshire can be…
Checked the met mountain forecast which was now saying low risk of persistent hill fog, gales, heavy rain etc, and moderate risk of sunburn. However at 5am it was dark and raining hard. Set off from Hayworth and my last contact with the internet.
Arrived at Helwith Bridge at 6.45 and joined the crowd of early arrivers in the marquee waiting for sign on to start at 7am. 7am came and someone came and kicked us out of the marquee to queue up outside in the wind and rain. Glad I got there early as the queue rapidly grew. Had the obligatory inspection of my survival bag, mountain whistle and waterproof jacket and got my electronic dibber strapped to my wrist. Then I was free to go and dither about what to wear. No mobile reception for me so no consulting the met. But it was raining windy and cold, with little suggestion of blue sky. There was clearly persistent hill fog, and sun burn looked unlikely. Recalling mountain bike trips to the Dark Peak while living in Sheffield, returning wet to the skin in snow blizzards and on one occasion with a mate losing a toenail to frost bite I opted to increase the risk of overheating and reduce the risk of getting really cold and chose my Gabba and ditched the club jersey. I also realised how completely pampered I have been riding in the south. I felt ill prepared as I looked enviously at other competitors in the car park with their full length gloves and 3/4 tights.
Intermittent rain came down, the wind was up and I was anticipating a good soaking and freezing. Time went by and it was time to line up at the start.
The gridding was not what it is at a Central League Cyclocross race. There were 650 starters, along the road there were signs up 3 1/2 hours, 4 hours, 4 1/2 hours, etc… you were expected to grid according to your self estimated finish time. Few were following the rules… I climbed over the crash barrier into the road, somewhere between my official start place and the riders that I thought that I would be racing against.
I got a friendly send off from Damian, who was marshalling, and my wife and son, which took my mind off the rain clouds. We were soon off, and mindful of Steve’s previous experience of someone riding into him and knocking his rear mech off near the beginning I made my way to the right hand side of the road and moved up on the first 5k tarmac section to Horton in Ribblesdale. Will came up from behind and headed off to the front. The road narrowed and the bottlenecks started.
We were at the foot of Ingleborough now and I could see the ribbon of riders stretching up it. Pretty soon it was too steep to ride and gradually it narrowed down to one or two riders abreast. Bruce had given me a tutorial in bike carrying methods and how to most effectively block riders from overtaking, but soon it was just a matter of keeping the bike on my back, my helmet banging into the wheel of the rider infront, and bent forward by my saddle pushing my head down, and occasionally banging the rider behind with my rear wheel. Although achilles tendinopathy had been prevented me from doing any running in preparation I had done lots of core work for which I was truly grateful. I have no doubt that the back pain would have been very much worse without it. Some of the sections were over 45%, and I used the fence to pull me up much of the way. Getting to the top we were much more exposed to the wind, when I topped out I was nearly blown over by the wind. The top of Ingleborough was flat bare stone covered with boulders rocks and chips. The wind was very strong, the temperature had dropped to 6c, and it was foggy/drizzling. I felt very sorry for some people I saw bent over their bikes trying to fix punctures. The route quickly went off the plateau and out of the fog, the decent was so steep that I ran a lot of it. My metal studs were a mixed blessing here as they were slippery on the rocks. Plastic studs next time.
Some people flew past me but I was not prepared to take that risk. Soon enough I was back on my bike, hard boulder strewn tracks which I was often forced off to ride off path through the peat and sphagnum, which concealed all sorts of front wheel grabbing hidden pits. There were quite a few bogs that I tried to ride through, sometimes successfully, other times my front wheel would disappear down into the bog and I would stop abruptly, dismounting into water. Once I went over the bars and landed on my face in a bog. I was dazed after that and it took me a while to get back up to speed. After a while I stole a moment to straighten out my handlebars. As we came back down to the valley floor the fog was left behind and the temperature rose from 5c to 11c and sunshine. Damian appeared again and cheered me on, which helped me to feel more human.
Next was about 10k of tarmac in direct sun. I reminded myself that I was racing and upped the effort, but I lost more places than I gained. I was starting to feel a bit overdressed. Anyway I was soon at Whernside. Jesus, trudging up those limestone steps, I started to cramp in my quads which I found alarming at that stage in the race. I tried to move up the queue and gain some places but it just was was not going to happen. I never thought that walking up steps with a bike could be so tiring. Soon we entered the persistent hill fog and the wind picked up. I moved over to the lea of a dry stone wall and it was relief to be out of the worst of the wind. The temperature duly dropped to 5c and the wall came to the end. More riding across the top of the peak. Soon I was going along another boulder strewn single track on the top of Whernside along what looked like a cliff edge into a fog filled abyss. I started to feel vertigo which made it even harder to pick a sensible line between the rocks and boulders and deal with the cross winds and ride at speed.
Thankfully the track left the edge and descended. The choice was between riding the deep gully and riding the steps. I opted for the gully, but I had lost my nerve and made frequent stops and miscalculations, and plenty of just running down hill with my bike shouldered. I started to feel cramp in my hamstrings. Soon it levelled out into a fast gravel path with stone bordered drainage channels running across diagonally every 10m or so. Some people were flying past taking these at speed, but I was feeling too broken for heroics. I could enjoy the riding though. There were a couple of streams to ford and then the Ribblehead viaduct was in view. Fast gravel paths and no boulders, abysses, rock lipped drainage channels. Just fast riding off road.
Another tarmac section. I tried to catch up with a group but could not summon the strength, I picked up a few places and then Pen-y-ghent. Cheered on by wife and son I turned on to the rocky track feeling quite good and found that I could pick up quite a few places. There were plenty of bystanders shouting encouragement which helped. The views of the ravine were breathtaking. The gradient gradually increased, and as I repeatedly tried to jump on my bike to overtake some of the people walking it, only to fail and have to dismount, I wondered if it would have made that much difference if I had followed Astrid’s advice and swapped my 36 chainring and 28 cassette for 34/32. After 100m more the gradient had picked up and it was irrelevant. Will passed me on his way down.
Most of the assent of Pen-y-ghent was in sun, but the top, once again, was in persistent hill fog. The temperature fell to 5c again, but the dibbers were in sight, and soon I was on my way back down again though peat and sphagnum with no particular track. I passed what initially looked like two men having sex, but turned out to be one man on his back with his legs in the air with another man holding his ankles, presumably something to do with cramp. I was feeling a bit light headed and possibly delirious. Tired and reckless I fell off a couple more times, including rolling sideways down the hill with my bike, still clipped to my feet, passing over my head and onto my other side. All soft and more comic than painful. Back on the track with the end in mind I started racing some of the others descending, fighting for places. To my surprise I passed Steve on his way up. Riding downhill into the sun on a wet stoney track the sun reflecting off the puddles was exhilarating. I started to race harder with a couple of riders. Then down hill on a stoney section I lost control and fell hard on my side. It took my breath away and I was too stunned to remount for a bit. I straightened out by bars for the second time, banged my shifter straight and set off, this time cramping in my inner thighs. I got to the bottom without further mishap, other than losing some more places. I could see that my rear mech was well out of line, but fortunately I had locked out position 1 on my cassette and my jockey cage was clear of the spokes. Back on the final stretch of tarmac I was determined to gain any places I could. There riders were quite stretched out at this point and I managed to overtake one person riding a flat rear tub. My quads and inner thighs were both cramping. I took a couple more on the last straight into Helwith Bridge.
Finally into the funnel and the finish line. I knew that dismounting called for special care in order to avoid a major cramp. Then it was over. I wondered through the enclosure and saw Will who was already changed, Steve arrive and it was time to load my bike, change, shower and go home.
I don’t know how Will and Steve managed to drive back. I lay and ate and dozed in the back of the car while my wife drove.
The next three days I felt tired, stiff, sore and bashed up. I would not describe it as fun, but like Stuart said, it is the maddest think you can do on a bike and hardest thing that I have done on a bike. I can’t wait to do it again. Only a year feels like too long.
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Last edited by DanielMcqueen on Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Stuart
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Brilliant stuff. Clearly demonstrates how this is a totally different proposition to 1 hour around a muddy field in Kent or Essex.
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OwenWilkins
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Brilliant write up Dan. Really captured the sheer lunacy of what you guys have done. I can honestly say, after reading that, I have no desire whatsoever to enter this 
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Steve Hanks
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Quite, thanks for writing that and very well written it is too.OwenWilkins wrote:Brilliant write up Dan. Really captured the sheer lunacy of what you guys have done.
Whereas, I kinda feel I'd quite like to have a go. Are mountain bikes acceptable?I can honestly say, after reading that, I have no desire whatsoever to enter this
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Chris Clague
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Absolutely not. They only grudgingly accepted discs on CX bikes...
Another excuse for n+1
Another excuse for n+1
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StevenDrew
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
There's a film doing the rounds featuring an interview with Paul Oldham who won. He talks about how in each segment of the race you're on a machine that is totally unsuitable. You're on the road section and want a road bike... you're descending and want an MTB... you're climbing on foot and you actually don't want a bike at all. Just about sums it up really.Steve Hanks wrote:
Whereas, I kinda feel I'd quite like to have a go. Are mountain bikes acceptable?
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Stuart
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
And yet, weirdly, cross bikes are the only machines that are half way suitable. A road bike is completely out of the question and I seriously doubt an MTB would provide much advantage on the descents as its all about staying upright and avoiding the bogs and ditches. And there's no way you'd want to carry an MTB up a 45 deg grassy slope with just tufts of grass to grab to stop you sliding back down.StevenDrew wrote:There's a film doing the rounds featuring an interview with Paul Oldham who won. He talks about how in each segment of the race you're on a machine that is totally unsuitable. You're on the road section and want a road bike... you're descending and want an MTB... you're climbing on foot and you actually don't want a bike at all. Just about sums it up really.Steve Hanks wrote:
Whereas, I kinda feel I'd quite like to have a go. Are mountain bikes acceptable?
Anyway, as Chris says, its strictly proper CX bikes with no flat bars, suspension or any of that malarkey.
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TamalaMcgee
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Having been in my element on the Dirty Reiver I am now looking at this, probably won't do it but looking, you know... but it may be beyond me in terms of technicality.
Will B - how does it compare to Dirty Reiver? There was nothing in Dirty Reiver that troubled me, I felt it was more about endurance than anything else and repeated power intervals for hours on end. There was that one mad rocky descent that was fast and so bouncy you could hear rocks hitting rims but it was straight and not really that steep so I was fine but from photos 3 Peaks is very very different?
Will B - how does it compare to Dirty Reiver? There was nothing in Dirty Reiver that troubled me, I felt it was more about endurance than anything else and repeated power intervals for hours on end. There was that one mad rocky descent that was fast and so bouncy you could hear rocks hitting rims but it was straight and not really that steep so I was fine but from photos 3 Peaks is very very different?
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StevenDrew
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Go on, have a go!
Having said that, I think I might head to an Eastern League grass motorway race this year.
Having said that, I think I might head to an Eastern League grass motorway race this year.
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TamalaMcgee
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
i note entries open 1st June...
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DanielMcqueen
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Steve I am sure that you would enjoy the 3 peaks moreStevenDrew wrote:Go on, have a go!
Having said that, I think I might head to an Eastern League grass motorway race this year.
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StevenDrew
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Re: 3 Peaks CX 2016
Central League have just announced their draft calendar and Stanborough Park is first up on this weekend. One of my favourite courses!DanielMcqueen wrote:Steve I am sure that you would enjoy the 3 peaks moreStevenDrew wrote:Go on, have a go!
Having said that, I think I might head to an Eastern League grass motorway race this year.