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Was nice to meet Twinkly Dave at the start and get a look at the Ragley 29er. Anyone else do this ride today...
47 miles, 6300ft of climbing - it was never gonna be easy. Delighted with my time of 7hrs 46mins, thought I would be closer to 10hrs than 8.
Flew off at the start and did the first half in 3.5 hours. I was worried a) I wouldn't make it to the checkpoints in time and b) I would get lost on my own so I hung on to the shirt tales of some riders who were far fitter than me. Died at the half way point and had to push up the next climb to the bridge. Top part was the descent after Gordale? reservoir. Lots of 1 foot high "speed bumps" to launch yourself off.
Perfect weather for it and great to raise some money for a very worthy cause!
The MTL is a good ride out, been 5 years since i did the challenge, maybe i'll have ago again next year. Glad you had a good day. (Gorple Res?)
Gorple. that's the one. Top descent...
Did it today, and it hurt although I was well chuffed with 6hrs 55mins, did it in 7hrs 52mins last year so a significant improvement. What the hell happened at the start, everyone just went mental tried racing up the first big climb, I thought I was at the back at one point.
Puntured coming down that long descent you mentionned, was not happy, I never puncture and then went and got a snakebite. Fixed it quickly enough but it really messed up the descent. Was a bit too tired to enjoy it properly anyway, didn't trust myself to launch off the waterbars and land squarely.
Good all round effort, the memory of the pain will probably have worn off by this time next year and at least the weather was good, not much mud either.
Anyone got any times ?
It wasn't really a race, it was a challenge so I don't think there will be any published times. I know the winner did it in 4hrs 15mins which was 10mins slower than last year (course in reverse this year). I had friends with times ranging from 5hrs 50mins to 10hrs 6mins.
rockitman - Member
It wasn't really a race, it was a challenge
😆 🙄 
I love that cliche.
aye it were a good laugh, everyone seemed to be enjoying it and nice and chatty to boot
the gorple descent is just ace when the wind's behind you - proper drifting through the turns and floating off the waterbars stuff - goes on for ages too doesn't it 🙂
i may have been a bit optimistic using dry-lube on my chain though; i had to stop 3 times to relube it!
They published times and rankings last year (and the Harriers published results as well), I know it's not a race but part of the challenge for me is to improve my time from the year before but to put that into context I need to know where in the field I came (conditions were better this year for example).
Thought last year's fastest time was around 4hrs 20 mins, year before around 4hrs 2 mins.
I did this yesterday for the first time with some of the racing snakes from my club, I was happy to come in on my own at the back in 8 hrs 11 mins. Had a great day and a real tough ride. times for the lads I was with ranged from 5hrs 11 mins to 6 hrs 23 mins then me at 8hrs 11 mins! onwards and upwards!
Dave, same time as me in my first year (and that was with better ground conditions), so if I can knock 1hr & 15 mins off in 2 years there's hope for everybody. They key is definitely to pace yourself, if you try and keep up with the racing snakes you end up peaking far too early.
I was a bit worried when I arrived. Some of the lads looked superfit. One rider had triathlon bars on his bike as he didn't know how much of it was on the road, another had his name on his bike - always a sign of confidence - and did it in 4hrs 20 last year (did he win?). Thought I was gonna spend the day at the back on my own, but ended up in a "team" of 5 which was great. Bit of a chat, opening doors for each other etc...
rockitman - Member
I was a bit worried when I arrived. Some of the lads looked superfit. One rider had triathlon bars on his bike as he didn't know how much of it was on the road, another had his name on his bike - always a sign of confidence - and did it in 4hrs 20 last year (did he win?).
What was his name ?
you know his name hes done the loop in 4hrs 2 and 4hrs 20 and hes got a bad leg at the moment
Ahhh Ady, hope your leg's getting better.
These Thursday night rides are quite good now, was going to give you a call cause I reckon you dont need two sets of Stan's ZTR. 😉
You racing this Sunday, got one in Solihull and thats it for the road this year, thank f0ok.
Give me a call when you get a minute to talk about Stans
I did the challenge. Not done the loop before so it was all new to me. Had a bit of trouble navigating via the BW markers at speed and ended up taking several wrong turns. Also had no idea how to get off the BW and back to the school at the end of the loop and ended up getting quite lost for a bit there. Managed to flag someone down eventually when I realised I had absolutely no idea where I was going and got some directions to get back. My GPS had 4h32 all in all but I managed an extra bonus 6 km due to my wrong turns - bit frustrating as I wanted to see how fast I could have gotten round the 'official' loop. The GPS also reckoned just over 2000 m of climbing, that makes the climbs sound worse than they were though I think as there weren't any real big ones.
I know that it is a charity event but it would have been nice to have some direction back to the school at the end. Not being local I had no idea where I was going, a couple of signs ziptied to lamp-posts would have done the job.
One other thing, I stopped to speak to a horse rider at one point who was pretty angry about the two guys I was behind shooting past moments earlier and nearly having her off her horse. The horse was apparently very scared of bikes, while I think it is a bit stupid to take a horse that is scared of bikes out on a popular bridleway on a Sunday I don't think it does anything for the MTB community to have people inconsiderately shooting past in a CHARITY event - remember it's not a race.
Don't think I have ever opened so many gates on a ride before though!
One other thing, I stopped to speak to a horse rider at one point who was pretty angry about the two guys I was behind shooting past moments earlier and nearly having her off her horse. The horse was apparently very scared of bikes, while I think it is a bit stupid to take a horse that is scared of bikes out on a popular bridleway on a Sunday I don't think it does anything for the MTB community to have people inconsiderately shooting past in a CHARITY event - remember it's not a race.
I agree completely. I took the time to slow down for anyone else out on the trail but it appears a few people didn't.
I also got whinged at about gates being left open, which is fair enough, I did find quite a few left ajar despite not being anywhere near any other riders for much of the ride.
Oh, I think you're meant to get lost at least once on the route - I ended up back at the school coming from a completely different direction to everyone else after finding myself setting off for a 2nd lap by mistake!
Some of the guys at the front seemed pretty aggressive so I'm not surprised to hear her say that they 'shot' past her. I did warn her that there would be another couple of hundred cyclists on the loop but I don't know whether she took that on board or not.
RE - getting lost. My favourite was ending up in someone's garden with a patrolling dog after missing a marker that was obscured nearing the end of the loop. Their dog wasn't best pleased and was doing it's best to release itself from the weedy looking chain holding it back. Oh and trying to get directions from some locals who didn't understand my southern accent, it's FEE-ERNS not FERNS apparently...
if your still up north next week get the Grizdale challenge done its more of a race if you know what I mean and there are no gates ,also much better signed
I live in Leeds but still have a Southern accent.....
Will probably have a go at the Merida on that date. Another 'non-race' 🙂