Who’s signed up,never ridden grizedale,is it advisable to get there a day early to practice the course or will having a ride round in the morning be ok before the race?

I’m there, ridden grizedale loads and really looking forward to it.

Extra practice is always good 🙂

I’m in, as above, extra practice is always good, but if you’ve never ridden here before, grab an os map and go explore the bridle ways through the rest of grizedale and surrounding fells. You’ll be glad you did!
Avoid the north face!!

I’ve signed up (couldn’t make rd1 but doing 2, 4 and 5). I’m going to get there crack of dawn on the Sunday I think for practice. May try and get somewhere close by to kip the night before but will have wife and kids in tow…

Just a word of caution, the Windermere ferry will be out of action that weekend, and the Windermere/brathay marathon is on on the same day, so there are some road closures around parts of the lake. Best approach grizedale from the south, at haverthwaite, and drive up through Rusland to avoid the runners.

Not long now the weather looks mixed!

Any idea where the stages will be? Was hoping to sneak in a ride involving a bit of grizedale on Sunday and it would be good to avoid the scrum.

Getting excited here.

Martinhutch, I would have thought a ride somewhere else would be sensible, what with the marathon & the Enduro.

Why avoid the NorthFace? great trail yes you have to work on it but great linked up with other BWs,

Rich

Would a ride Saturday be OK, no closures in advance of stages?

The stages wont be taped on Saturday but we will have maps of the stages by then.

There’s more details about the road closures here

Was thinking about parking at the top car park (High Cross) and doing a loop involving Nibthwaite descent then away and back via iron keld etc, so just wanted to make sure they weren’t blocking off loads. Not planning to go over Esthwaite way.

Yep I’m entered, hopefully going up Friday and Saturday for a recce. I just hope my legs recover in time after doing the Fred Whitton last Sunday 😐 I heard the organisers have had permission to use some of the footpaths for the course. Apparently it’s easier to use these ( legal wise) for racing on rather than bridalways. Haven’t got a clue why this is but it’s what I was told at the last round.

That’s what I have been told as well which is a shame as the bridleways are amazing.

Does this mean there will be loads of stormtroopers pushing up hills on Friday and Saturday in the area?

Who is staying at Grizedale campsite?

http://grizedale-camping.co.uk/

Don’t think I’ll have the family in tow now so planning on getting there for 8ish Sunday morning and having a bit of practise/lots of rest in before the afternoons racing.

Looking forward to it!

philfive – Member 
That’s what I have been told as well which is a shame as the bridleways are amazing.

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That does seem a real shame! Only reason I wanted to do it as some of them bridleways are rocky and technical…Will they be using the trail centre now? 😐

1 stage is the last section of the NFT but all the rest look pretty good, stage 3 looks like a killer, Descent off Carron Crag, on to the black,small sprint then down footpath to visitor center.

Stage 1 getting announced Sunday morning as its only available for 1 day with a lot of it being on footpaths.

Stage 2 is from Moor Top (?) ‘ish on the NFT back towards but not all the way to the visitor centre.

Stage 3 from the very top of Carron Crag, through what I assume is a newly cut trail into the black DH, up the fireroad at the bottom and then swing onto a footpath (I guess) and rejoin the NFT near the short boardwalk section towards the end. Blast along the flowly trail back to the VC.

Section 1 is not being released until Sunday, as its on footpaths.
Section 2 basically the last descent of the nf trail, starting near moor top, and finishing about half way down to visitor centre.
Section 3 is the black Dh, with a new section added at the top from carron crag, and finishes on the bottom part of the nf trail final descent.
Going for a ride up there this afternoon to have a look I think.

Going up for a looksie this afternoon myself as well today and tommorow.

Some of the footpaths would make for ace course….I presume. Actually like the one used on the wild boar24 (one of the few good bits of that race) to get back over to the west facing slope

I have never been to grizedale but I just looked at the map and it seems that stage three is pretty much 200m verticle?

Stage 3 does look great, a lot of tree felling has been going on below carron crag, so be interesting riding the black Dh with no trees.
Not looking forward to stage 2 so much, always found it hard to ride fast down there. Think that’s where ill be doing most my practice runs.
Suns out and it’s actually warm, hope it lasts until Sunday.

Had a mooch about this afternoon, and although nothing is taped, stage 3 looks like it’s gonna be superb!

What are the conditions like at the moment? Will I regret taking off my High Rollers for an Ardent and Ikon combo?

Icons are a bit fragile aren’t they?
Ardent rear, HR front I’d say.

I’ll be running tubeless and it’s the EXO casing in the Ikon. I would run HR front, Ardent Rear but the Ardent is 2.4 and the HR a 2.3 and there is a noticeable difference in size.

Apparently it’s easier to use these ( legal wise) for racing on rather than bridalways

It’s illegal to take part in an ‘unauthorised’ race on bridleway. And I’m not sure there is any obvious way to get it authorised.

Unless stage one cuts across some BWs, sounds like there should be no bother to anyone looking to ride the normal routes on the west side of the forest on Sunday. Except maybe parking.

Well that was a great day out! Great waether, really well organised event, lots of friendly people riding, and stage 3 is the best 5 minutes I’ve had on a bike in ages!
Thanks to the organisers, marshals, and track builders.

samcamsdad – Member
Well that was a great day out! Great waether, really well organised event, lots of friendly people riding, and stage 3 is the best 5 minutes I’ve had on a bike in ages!
Thanks to the organisers, marshals, and track builders.

Second that. Great day ( well apart from coming off twice on the last stage :evil:) don’t know where I eventually finished ( was 12th in vets withe a few to come in) but really enjoyed it today. Although my dog didn’t, baying and barking at the start because he couldn’t come with me 🙂

Nice stages nice weather

I came off in practice on stage 2 being an idiot, looks like multiple fractures to my left wrist despite not falling on it or hitting it on anything…

fr0sty125 – Member
Nice stages nice weather
I came off in practice on stage 2 being an idiot, looks like multiple fractures to my left wrist despite not falling on it or hitting it on anything…

Ouch, healing vibes fella.