[Closed] Three Peaks 2019

It'll be my 11th start.
So far I'm on 10 starts and 9 finishes so I need to get to double figures for both!

I marshalled last year it ended up being near perfect conditions - dry, not too warm, light breeze - so people were getting some quick times. Bet now that I'm entered it'll be torrential rain again...

Wow, good numbers! Any major tips or tricks you’d like to share 😅

I'm marshaling this year so I can have my first attempt next year!

I'm not doing it this year but do have a lingering regret around that. The different date meant it didn't fit around my running objectives.

Good luck, it's awesome.

This'll be my 4th. If anyone rode it last year there's a good chance I chucked your bike over a wall:

This was they year before I think so I'm not in it - but gives an idea what it's like. I remember standing on the edge of the Simon Fell drop waiting to see the riders come over the moor from Ribblesdale. And when they come they come fast - oh shit here they come! You don't want to be the guy that fumbles Rob Jebb's bike...

...yeah and the brought forward date means i'll have to be doing some riding on hols when I'd rather be surfing, which I could really do without, but hey. It's one of those highlight of the year things.

Wow, good numbers! Any major tips or tricks you’d like to share 😅

Ride your CX bike.
There is no magic bullet - people go up and recce bits of the course, I've seen people putting tape etc round a bunch of grass on Saturday night to mark where they want to take a sneaky side line the next day but really, you just need a lot of CX riding, ideally on similar terrain.

The weather and conditions dictate the time. Plenty of people go "oh, I'm going to try for a sub 4..." but if it's soaking wet and a howling wind, everyone will be 15 mins down on their "expected" time.

It is what it is!

That is brilliant.

The weather and conditions dictate the time. Plenty of people go “oh, I’m going to try for a sub 4…”

It's when you're aiming for a sub-4, and sprint madly onto the tarmac at Horton. having almost killed yourself multiple times on the PyG descent, before glancing down and seeing that you're on 3.58 and have a few miles of road left. You can lie in the gutter and cry...

I did it four times, I think - never a year without some sort of mechanical.

Didn't somebody post on here last year asking if he needed to take a map? 😀

In, first time. I'm bricking it, obvs, but I'm trying to use it as a catalyst to get properly fit for once in my life.

I know I said this isn’t a what tyre thread but...

60tpi vs 120tpi

I need these tyres for three peaks and the first half of cross season. 60tpi for the extra protection I assume and at my standard of non-elite racing won’t notice 120tpi anyway?

I’ve done it once and applied 4 maybe 5 times since with no luck. :-/ It was great. So hard. So intense but so much fun.

Broke my collarbone. 🙁
Was on the velodrome at Manchester (cos track riding is so like the Three Peaks...) and, at the end of one of the sessions, I'd slowed down and was just leaving the track. The front wheel slipped on something, twitched slightly and I was on the deck before I even knew it. Fell to my left from about the black line / Cote d'Azur mark and landed on the concrete on the edge of my left shoulder.

Lay there for a bit, kind of guessing what I'd done. Just me involved, at least I wasn't at the bottom of a pile of riders. Bike didn't have a scratch on it.

Anyway, once I picked myself up I did a couple of laps to sort of warm down a bit, try and compose myself. I'd have stayed in the session if it was a normal Derny session but we were doing Derny-led "points race" training so effectively bunch racing and I didn't want to endanger other riders.

Anyway, got changed, drove home and popped into Stepping Hill hospital on the way (this is now about 9.45pm). A&E was rammed, the receptionist said it'd be gone midnight before I was seen so I drove home, showered and went to bed. Next morning I got the train to hospital, was in triage and X-ray very quickly and sure enough, the last 2cm of collarbone is cracked. It's not major - just a displacement fracture - and actually is an almost identical break to my right collarbone which I did 7 years ago.

And now we've got a weekend of amazing weather and I can't ride. Almost certainly out of the Peaks too but I'll make a call on it next week. as it's my left shoulder, I can actually still carry a CX bike - the problem is going to be the quite high likelihood of falling onto something sharp and rocky. Like Whernside.

Not long now! Got everything ready as I can, can’t wait! As it’s first time just gonna do my best to not get carried away and keep it smooth 👀

Looking like a chance of rain on Sunday so there should be some slip slidey fun. First time in but ridden the area a lot, so know what to expect. Just hope the bike stays in one piece (me too) Number 250 FWIW.

Was supposed to be driving up there tonight but Mrs kilo’s Achilles has borked, we were doing hill walking in Kerry two weeks back and I was faster up the hills and she was in pain so she’s scrubbed from three peaks. Hope you all have a great race!

I'm heading up to 👀

I've done 1999, 2000 & 2017.

It's one of the best, most daunting, hurtful, fun, trudges on a bike that you'll ever do.

Fantastic low key event, run well, huge numbers these days & I think it has live tracking nowadays.

Enjoy.

Mrs isn't well so scrubbed yesterday. At least somebody else will get to ride. Noticed they now have on the day reserve riders to fill up any no-show spaces.

Hope everyone had a good ride - weather was looking good but forecast keeps changing.

Yesterday was cak here but it cleared out around 8pm and today and tomorrow are forecast fine but light rain early doors and later on in the afternoon on Sunday.

Good luck everyone!

Going up to watch, probably on Pen y Ghent. Where's the best place to park? I've heard there's a field in Horton you can park in? Plan is to be in Horton to watch the start go past, then walk up Pen Y Ghent and be ready on top for when the leaders come through.

Or would I be better off parking in Helwith Bridge with the rest of the race traffic?

Watch out for the camera van, usually parked at the stone works in Langcliffe or far end of Horton village

Watch out for the camera van, usually parked at the stone works in Langcliffe or far end of Horton village

Don't think they'll be any worry about setting it off by the time I get there!

Driving up from daaan saaaf early tomorrow- number 178 and 179 Team Chasers' Collective!

We'll be in bright blue ridiculous skinsuits- feel free to shout at us.

Going up to watch, probably on Pen y Ghent. Where’s the best place to park? I’ve heard there’s a field in Horton you can park in? Plan is to be in Horton to watch the start go past, then walk up Pen Y Ghent and be ready on top for when the leaders come through.

Or would I be better off parking in Helwith Bridge with the rest of the race traffic?

If you're not directly involved with the race, avoid Helwith Bridge at all costs. They operate a 1-way system into it and any traffic going out has to go all the way along to Austwick. It gets very congested.

Horton is probably the best alternative but be aware there'll be the usual Three Peaks walkers parking up all over the place too. The field is just over the double bridges out of the village on your right, think it's about £3 (honesty box) for all day.

Update on my collarbone is I'm going to give it a go. Been on the bike a few times including the CX and it's fine - usually only sore for a bit afterwards - so I reckon as long as I don't go insane trying to race for a time I should be able to get round it reasonably comfortably. Heading up there tomorrow afternoon once the toB has been past my house and I'll try and get a short ride in late afternoon, just check the bike and me for full oeprational readiness!

I'm up there supporting some mates.

You do know you're all completely bonkers doing this, right? 🙂

How will first timer Lachlan Morton fare Sunday?

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Excellent!

I keep on meaning to enter... it’s definitely on my bucket list.
Nice one qwerty, means we might get a decent “mini”movie to watch. Being a Morton bros. fanboy,this makes me happy.
Glad crazy legs’collar bone not too bad.
Good luck all.

Meh. Drizzly grey claggy shite weather. 🙁

Shame, yesterday was gorgeous, had a nice spin up and down PyG lane. Saw Nick And Lachlan Morton coming down it as I was going up. Nice sunset.

And now this damp drizzly crap.

Good luck to all doing its been about 5yrs since I did it and I vowed never to do it again... except I’m considering entering next year.

Where can you hire a nice light CX from?

Rob Jebb won. Lachlan Morton did a great ride, he got 4th.

I took it quite steady and in fact I could feel the lack of miles in me. 4.33 with one puncture (rear wheel which I hadn't had time to convert back to tubeless). In some ways it was quite relaxing not putting any pressure on myself to "race" it but it was interesting on PyG, I knew from the stream of riders I was easily 30 mins down on what for me would be an "expected" schedule (4hrs or so).

Still, I had fun, didn't break myself and I got round. 🙂

Driving up from daaan saaaf early tomorrow- number 178 and 179 Team Chasers’ Collective!

We’ll be in bright blue ridiculous skinsuits- feel free to shout at us.

So was that you I was talking to on the descent of PyG or your team-mate? I was on the blue Specialized Crux, black top.

Thoroughly enjoyed that and did 3.54 so really happy. Cramped during a forced dismount on Ingleborough, after that it was a case of damage limitation with the cramp, I've been suffering bouts all week so I knew today was going to be testing. Great support from people around the course, lot's of shouts of bloody hell another Belgian!
What did make feel better was seeing the leaders come down as I was getting to the footpath turn off on Pen y ghent. Bike set up for me was OK although discovering a wobbly crank arm at the start wasn't helpful!
I'll be up for another shot next year methinks!

4:29, about what I should have expected not having been on the xbike for a month, stupidly swapped knobblies for landcruisers yesterday for something to do, over-hydrated (i.e stopped for an off-piste pisse on whernside), that was after doing a full-on sumersault off the side of the track. Took to pen-y-ghent to get any kind of descending head on (the only people I passed on ingleborough descent were fixing mechanicals pretty much, which is not how it should be and put me in a slow line up whernside. I could go on. Oh, I have.

Anyway there's clearly still an itch. So the plan in lie fallow next year, prob marshal the year after or call in a favour year after that for v60 glory. Trouble is there are some pretty fit sub-4 hour v60s...

Yeah that was me! I did a 4:34 with a 9 minute puncture on the descent, pretty happy with that! I took it easy on the downhills as was just enjoying the race rather than chasing a time- the atmosphere and crowds were amazing.
What an event.

4:24 here. I was enjoying the descents a bit too much, then had a big off on Whernside onto some rocks, and had to ride a flat tyre down to Ribblehead and grab my girlfriend's bike, complete with pannier rack and trailer hitch. Then the cramp really kicked in, and I ended up being one of those completely broken people you see going up Pen-Y-Ghent as slowly as possible. It didn't disappoint though and I'm very tempted to head back for another go next year.

ob Jebb won. Lachlan Morton did a great ride, he got 4th

I thought that was a really impressive ride from Lachlan, his first 3 peaks and presumably he didn't get bike changes like Jebb & co.............

Mr Agreeable - was that a silver Tubus style pannier rack and homebrew rear mudguard? I did wonder when I saw you at the finish 🙂

I was tasked with swapping bottles on a mates bike at each of the bottom dibbing spots, 3:22:06 earned him 25th.

Another great event.

Well done all.

I may have forgotten how much hurt it caused me in 2017, so may consider another bash.

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mick_r, that's the one. You know your racks!

Our friend finished a few minutes before - he commented about a proper WTF moment when he passed you going up pyg 🙂

I marshalled it, so am in it next year. It was a great experience, stood on Whernside for for three hours grabbing muddy wrists/dibbers and having people dripping all over me 🙂

Can't stop thinking about it and I'm already nervous. I think it's the descents which I am most nervous about. Only 54 weeks of training left!

Is it too soon to start the Three Peaks 2020 thread 🙂

Mick

http://3peakscyclocross.org.uk/photo-gallery/

Loads of photos, more albums going up all the time.

The EF Education First / Rapha video is up now:

I get a whole half second or so of screen time too!