I’m not riding this year but loved it last time.

The one thing I got absolutely right was dropping a stash of food and drink at the bottom of the PyG lane. Was a big morale boost when I got to it (as I’d had a major mechanical on the road after Ribblehead).

I also did far too much work on the road after Ingleborough and dragged a big group to Whernside.

Remember – it’s supposed to be fun!

What works for me:

The smallest lightest most minimalist CamelBak you can get. In it goes a 1L pouch of water, pump, 2 tubes, gas can and multitool. I hate using a saddle bag on the 3 Peaks, it just rattles around and hits me on the back of the head when I shoulder the bike.

Occasionally the organiser tell you to carry a waterproof if the weather is looking particularly rubbish but it can be worth popping a shell jacket in there anyway – if there are any problems and you’re forced to retire it can be a long cold walk!

The bike has a water bottle of energy drink and I pick up another bottle at Ribblehead. Mount the bottle on the seat-tube, not the downtube. That way it’s much less likely to be ejected and doesn’t get in the way of shouldering the bike.

Back pocket has 3 gels (one per hill!) and sometimes a bar but generally I find if I fuel up well beforehand I can cope for 3.5 – 4 hrs or so on 3 gels and then just have lunch when I get back.

The orange survival bag gets wrapped up and taped under the top tube/seat-tube junction as padding for shouldering the bike.

It’s well worth recce-ing the road start, knowing where the hills and pinch points come. The start is chaotic. Like a road race multiplied by 10 – except that a lot of riders have never ridden in anything more than a race of 60 so having a group of 600 confuses them. There is always:
one big crash
two big tyre blowouts
many thousands of mis-shifted crunching gears
a lot of squealing brakes and it’s here that you suddenly find the massive difference between rubbish cantis on carbon rims and full hydraulic disc brakes!

But other than that it’s fine. 😉

I’m not racing this year but I’ll be up there watching. Enjoy and good luck!

I haven’t done it since ’02 but it used to be a flat-out start, well over 20mph. 🙁

You haven’t done enough of this. Nobody ever does enough of this. 😉

Enjoy.

Yeah,
Crapping it but will try to enjoy it!

I’m in, having been on the reserve list – so only had 3 1/2 weeks notice instead of the 12 weeks training I managed last time. Still really looking forward to it.

Found a dropper post to borrow too!

The start is chaotic but not all that fast if you are used to racing. However, there is always incident or two due to numbers and the various pinch points so keep alert. If you deserve to be near the front you have plenty of time to move up on the road section so don’t stress too much about your position on the road.

You will be walking up the hills not running.

Use the road sections to eat and drink. If you have support get them to hand things to you before you go on the road. Make every effort to get in a working group on the road. IT can be quicker overall to drop back if there is a group behind you. Saves energy for the off road bits.

Pipe lagging – I did it once without and regretted it.

If you are riding unsupported I found a small backpack better than bottle and saddlebags as the terrain takes its toll.

You probably won’t need that many clothes – you should be a little chilly on the start line. Most years I’ve needed nothing other than a summer jersey for warmth.

Pace yourself don’t get caught up in the madness to be fast on the first hills.

There are no prizes for riding. It is a race to the finish. It is often quicker to carry on climbs and really hard bits. A broken wheel or pinch flat will cost you more time than the few seconds to jog the real dodgy bits.

Landcruises are needlessly heavy. You won’t get thorn punctures you’ll get pinch flats from rocks. I’ve always gone on std intermediate/dry tyres (SB8s) and pumped them up to 60-70psi.

Pump up your tyres hard.

Smile for the camera and enjoy yourself. It really is one of the best races out there.

OP to be honest if you’ve done all that it will be fine.

Start is fast, everyone lies about their finishing times so get there early if you are going for a time and want to be near the front. don’t dress too warm it’s a fast race and you are only up high briefly. It’s quicker to fell run through parts of the bog coming down ingleborough than it is to get stuck in a queue riding round it. marginal gains and all that. Watch the driving between ribblehead and penyghent its nuts. dont race the belgium singlespeeders on the road they will still beat you. if you figure out how to ride the steps off whernside let me know. breath in the atmosphere going up penyghent lane its amazing.

Mrs Kilo is doing it for the first time. I think the pre race nerves will increase over the next few days but she’s done a lot of walking up hills with a bike on her shoulder and is usually a bit of a diesel on long tough events so should be ok. She’s going camleback rather than bottle cage, it;s quite tight with a cage on a 48cm frame. Landcruisers fitted and a new bike bought to replce the rather heavy boardman crosser she had.

I think she’s looking forward to it but she does seem to swear at me a bit when the race is mentioned- something about puting her name in without explaining the full story of the race 😀

Dont get on the front for the start unless you are planning on being in the to 10
you will just embarrass yourself and get in the way.

pump your tyres up hard 60 psi
try get in a group on the road sections, and sit in, better to keep your energy for the hills

enjoy it and remember its a race not a sportive.

Don’t sit in. Work together. Roll through and do shorter turns. No one likes a passenger and if everyone sits in you grind to a halt.

2nd the getting in a group on roads, roll through so everyone takes a turn and it’ll go much quicker. as mentioned, you’ll fail to get a turn from the fell runners on the road, so catch them on the decent and drop them like a stone.

If one wants to go and see some of the race (and give the wife some support)would chucking a roadbike in the back of the van for me to cycle from the start be a better choice rather than trying to drive?

The mrs is using a hydration pack so should be self sufficient for food and water so it’s not a support role as such.

Yes, it’s dead easy to ride round and spectate/support, I’ve done it a few times. Just watch out for the actual competitors and don’t get in the way. Don’t try and drive, there’s never anywhere to park and some of the behaviour of the drivers as they hurtle round trying to park and desperate to unload bikes/wheels leaves a lot to be desired!

Unless you’re running tubeless,weigh about 5 stone or have mega floaty skills that will be too low to avoid pinch flats. Grip isn’t an issue but pinch flats very much are. I put 85 psi in mine.

I’d struggle to get 60psi in my griffos’ 😮
Maybe Limus are for the day 🙄

As is I did more trianing over the weekend, I got off the bike maybe ten times and I pushed it for about 200mtrs up a really stiff/steep crumbly rock strewn path where I shouldered it for the last 75mtrs.

Clearly I’m well set up for this mammoth rideout 😐

Nice one – I had no idea what to expect last year and started close to the back (partly because I’d had an extra half hour in bed, but still) as I couldn’t figure out what the deal was.

http://grit.cx/competition/2015/09/one-sunday-in-yorkshire

Good luck to anyone who’s going.

Have to keep off this thread now – I’m hoping the Mrs doesn’t see that article; “the descent where riders break legs and heads….” 🙂

Yeah be careful, kilo. That’s the drop off Pen-y-ghent, it’s rocky and fast. I’ve double punctured thete but the reason I wrote about broken legs and heads is that in different races I’ve seen a bloke with nasty head injuries being attended by paramedics and another who had apparenyly broken both ankles. (Although being pre-internet that was just written in a mag months later…)

Yeah be careful, kilo. That’s the drop off Pen-y-ghent, it’s rocky and fast.

I’ll be fine – I’m not racing the wife is 😀