Steve_b77 – some more tips for you, and others:

Tyres: 75 – 85 psi with heavy/touring inner tubes

Gears: aim for a 1:1 ratio, but 34 x 30 should be OK

If you’re creative, roll your survival bag up and strap it under the cross-bar to give you some padding

Don’t forget your whistle and waterproof

I don’t recommend sunglasses. They’ll either steam up, or get covered in mud, or both

Wear an MTB helmet and use the visor to stop mud splashing in your eyes

Do your helmet strap up tighter than normal as it’ll get shaken all over the place

Don’t strap the timing ‘dibber’ too tight near your wrist, otherwise it’ll dig into you

Carry necessary tools, pump and tubes – don’t expect any other riders to stop for you if you have a problem

If you arrive on a road section on your own and can see a rider ahead of you going about the same speed, do what’s necessary to catch them, and then work together

Watch out for rocks and stone water-channels on the downhills, particularly Whernside. It’s still possible to pinch-flat with 80psi in your tyres – you’ll be crying for your full-sus !

And don’t worry about the riders who get bike changes – they only do it to get faster bikes (with smooth tyres) for the road sections, and then change back again before heading offroad – tossers

The organisers and marshalls are brilliant – thanks them as you pass by, if you’ve got any breath left 😉

Have fun – it’s probably the only time you’ll descend like a maniac on rough rocky trails on a CX bike, and the scenery is stunning

Turned into a nice day for those still out there 🙂 First couple of hours weren’t so great, at least for those of us standing around. Hope everyone survived ok – looked like a broken collarbone (at a guess) and one or two broken bikes heading down off Ingleborough. Interestingly, Rob Jebb seemed to have about a 2 min lead already by that point but obviously didn’t hold on to it. Didn’t see anything to tempt me into doing it!

The random hill *looks like* the summit ridge of Whernside.

Double post

Well I had a nightmare.

All fine to the summit of Whernside, well on course for a sub 4hr.
A joint puncture and jammed/twisted chain on the descent cost me a huge amount of time to split, untangle & rejoin the chain, fix the puncture and when I got going again I was behind some triathlete who had all the descending skills and grace of a 3-legged donkey.

Then I had a front wheel puncture on the lower slopes of Whernside so ran to Ribblehead, got it all fixed with the aid of a friendly random person with a track pump.

Chain went again on the road section, the short steep climb so again I fixed that, another 5 minute delay.

Got to PyG, half wondering whether to just bin it off there but various friends hanging around there said go for it.
Got up PyG lane, easily 45 minutes down on schedule now, turned off on the footpath and the chain went again. **** it. Out of tubes, chain incapable of holding under any power so I fixed it, turned round and rolled down the hill and home without making the summit.

Gutted. But I guess that’s the luck of the draw and today wasn’t my day.

Richpips had a good ride, he did it on a fixed gear CX and took the fixie record off Samuri, also of this parish. I think Samuri had a 4.52, Richpips did 4.45.

This was his second attempt, he’d tried it fixed about 3 years ago and had a similar nightmare of mechanical problems and punctures. Samuri’s record had stood for 10 years, presumably because very very few people are insane enough to think about making an already ludicrously tough event harder than it has to be!

The rule is 35mm.

Kind of – on my bike!

Fitted the new version of Land Cruisers. Still 35c (says so on the sidewalls and everything) but looked twice the volume of the old style ones to me!

I couldn’t hear the briefing either, any sort of “briefing” via a megaphone on the start line was doomed to failure with that wind. TBH, I thought it was the safest start in years in spite of the weather. There was at least one Police moto, 3 NEG and 2 Lead Cars (normally there’s only been one) and the Police locked it all down so what little oncoming traffic there was had been stopped and held.

I was over on the right on numerous occasions and there were people much further right than me.

The neutralised section actually seemed to be more neutral this time round – fast enough to string it out, not so fast that it caused sprint-brake-sprint style riding. Well controlled I thought.

The marshals on all the junctions were superb. Excellent job.

top 25??!! Blimey. I’ve just missed crossing paths at the bottom of PyG lane (4:27, v50 fwiw. Just have to hold that sort of time for podium 6 years from now…)

Second go for me. Brilliant. Don’t think I actually did anything very wrong, apart from not ride fast enough. Downhills were a bit of a pootle (last year felt I passed loads of folk, this year opposite). Riding Ribblehead to Horton pretty much on my own was a poor idea. Hooked onto what I thought was a fast guy but he faded and disappeared, as did a couple of other back wheels. Thought I’d better keep going, heart rate through the roof, then blew up predictably on penyghent. With great age comes zero wisdom. But then with wisdom would come not doing the 3 peaks.

Mrs Kilo finished it a shade under six hours. Before doing it she said it was finish it and job done, don’t have to do it again, after finishing it wa s “I can do this to save time next year…” 🙂
Organisation seemed really good again, all the Marshall seemed to be doing steeling work.

There seemed to be quite a few trashed rear mechs out on the course.

there’s a strategy I’d not thought of – send my wife next year

Sub 5 hour finish here, which was my modest target. I’m curious about route choice off the top of Ingleborough though – everyone rides away from the route marker, which means a scramble down the hillside to the path. It’s more direct but the path looks rideable, maybe quicker, does anybody go this way?