I did the Enduro Saturday and had a great day, made top half of my age category (and overall) so was really happy as I rode pretty much as well as I could.

I also did the Sport on Sunday. Stage 1 was brilliant if not a little mucky.

Stage 2 was also really good till the woods, I passed so many people on their arse or just not knowing what to do. I’m not surprised people where turning back at the pub.

I didn’t make it that far as about 100m from the end of the muddy hell between 2 & 3 I ripped my mech off!

The wife did Intro yesterday and loved it, she managed 6th in her category and 135th of 337 overall, so she was well happy!

was expecting a message from you for a tyre change.

I was already late up having barely slept due to the rain/not wanting to get out of the tent, and you did spend most of saturday night complaining about that rear tyre.

Based on the weather forecast on thursday… I went for Mary/Rock razor. ;-(

My only other option* was double mary.

*Having learnt my lesson last year, I’ve discounted the shed full of exo and similar.

Some challenging conditions on Sunday. Helped out Mountain rescue with a rider with a broken leg on stage 4. Hence the hold and slight reroute for a period of time. Pretty wet and sloppy.

I took loads of photos and they are heading up to roots and rain now. My internet is naff so May take some time.

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event10500/2022-jul-29-ard-rock-ard-rock-enduro-swaledale/photos/filters/photogs2589/

, and you did spend most of saturday night complaining about that rear tyre

Very true 😂.

Was a bit of an anchor in the drier conditions. It didn’t need the insert I think.

Don’t suppose anyone knows who the photographer on stage 6 was in the little bomb hole type feature was? Save me a few hours searching for pics 😂

@FFJA is it the purple heather covered pics = ALC photography

Got 3rd in the OAP Sport race on Sunday 🤘🏻
Happy with that.

Did anyone track all 7 stages and can tell me the total climbing?

I ran my usual minion front ardent rear since life is too short to carry multiple tyre options. Was somewhat concerned setting off, especially after the cotic guys had a laugh at it but felt largely in control all day in the end!

@rsl1 My Garmin had the whole course inc transitions at 23 miles. 4272 feet of elevation.

Go with my Strava, sounds tougher 😜 25.8 miles, 4900ft.

Mine sounds even tougher (Garmin 830) 1,579m 🙂

What an awesome event and weekend! First time Ard Rocker and i thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I did the Enduro on saturday morning and finished 147th in Veteran class, mid-table as expected, with a total time of 26:45. Had a small victory amongst my two buddies, beat one on 2 stages and beat the other overall, which i have never done before.

Was a big day out on the bike, but not beasting myself up the hills meant i had enough in the tank to ride well (or it felt like that). A watered down Redbull was a happy boost at the end of stage 5 (or was it 6?!).

Tracks were mint. A nice mix of different terrain and styles. Really enjoyed the flow trails (5 & 6)… was mad to just brush the brakes from time to time rather than haul them on.

Had a few overtakes and was overtaken a couple of times.

Events village was well set out with plenty to see. Grabbed a couple of bargains and drooled over some nice bikes. I was in a motorhome, so was fairly self-sufficient, but food and drink didnt seem to be too overpriced.

Had a decent chat with Matt Jones and and gave Ben Deakin a ‘Ahoy Ahoy’. Got sized up for an Antherton… 470 Low is the size for me, just need to find 4k now?! 😀

I look forward to the mad scramble to get tickets for next year! Although, how does the Ard Moors compare?!

oh and my Strava says 24.89 miles and 5115ft of climbing (that data is from my Garmin Edge 830)

My Garmin had the whole course inc transitions at 23 miles. 4272 feet of elevation.

I did the sport on Sunday and mine (530) came up with 24.7 miles and 6066ft of elevation. The lads I rode with all had similar distances but all just under 5000ft, I’m guessing mine was wrong

Only slight disappointment (which I do understand) was just how sparse the expo field was by the time we got back after Sunday’s Sport ride. 90% of the show stands had almost or completely packed up, just the pizza van and a couple of others left in the food stall corner kinda thing.

Totally get it’ll have been a long weekend for everyone showing; but it takes the shine off a bit riding back into a largely empty field.

Minor snag on what was a belting weekend – first Ardrock but hopefully not the last.

Thanks all, duly converted to metric and slightly surprised the numbers are smaller than expected. Still one of my hardest days out though! Sounds like dknwhy took a cheeky shortcut…

Ha ha. Yeah, racing lines….

My Garmin is set to auto pause so think I lost a bit on the hike-a-bike.

Only slight disappointment (which I do understand) was just how sparse the expo field was by the time we got back after Sunday’s Sport ride.

I was happy to get a chicken gyros, they were 👌. My minor gripe is that there’s been no follow up vid for the sport, there’s vids for the practice day and the full enduro but not the sport. We had tougher conditions, we deserve a compilation vid!! 🤣

If we’re doing grumbles, mines the shit bit between stages 2-3. It’s slow in the dry as people can’t/won’t pedal along it, in the wet it’s pure misery! I’m sure there’s no way around it but I can still moan about it!

And where were you hike-a-biking??

Aye agree it was a shame things were being packed up. Shouldnt be allowed to until Sunday night?

yea the sport isnt really suitable for a vid though as its just going to be people carrying their bike and complaining about transitions 🙂

I carried up that steep bit between 4/5. Was fed up pushing the bike by that stage.

Agree about the transition between 2-3. It was wet and miserable on Saturday when I went through so can only imagine how rough it was on Sunday. Shame as it seems like it would be nice in the dry.

@dknwhy fair enough, I can see why you might carry up that!

That transition is lovely in the other direction for about 3 weeks of the year when there’s no nettles and it’s dry! Sunday it was less than optimum (although it makes me feel a better rider seeing that other people fall off or pause on it not just me 😂😂)

Did the Sunday Sport with MrsReady, who only did 3 stages. Really good weekend on the bike, but my Suffolk legs really didn’t know what had hit them by the time I got to Stage 4! Started the day with Stage 6 because the Marshall told us it could be a long wait while the 2 Mountain Rescue helicopters picked up a couple of casualties – hope they’re OK!
Oh, and stage 2 really was absolutely horrendous!
24 miles and 4200′ – finished 68/308 for my group, but I know (or think?) I can do better – next year maybe?!?

@v7fmp ardmoors is great, smaller scale, and the campsite/base is in a windbowl 200m above the flat vales of york, so is proper windy, last year we stopped at a local YHA or B&B osmotherly, loads of riders their, 2 years previous we got hardly any sleep and tents rattling..

for those who dont like the transitions at ardrock you’ll love ardmoors, far tougher, i much prefer the riding too

the transition from the end of s1 back up the road and hill climb pretty much to level with s1 start and then a lovely moorland transition of 3-5 miles to s2, the one upto s4 is hell on earth, although last year i saw a few ebike cheaters headed back to base and up the easy route, rather than hike a bike on the shoulders for 150m up vertical steps/rock, and the end of s7 back to base is truely horrendous especially when wet [ardmoors 1369m and 36km]

final stats ardrock 1490m 40.69km 4hr20 moving time, 6hr total, set off 8am wave, sunday sport

ps. really enjoyed the stage2 transition, reminded me of crappy local winter rides in the pennines, but warm. i’d gone low pressure on a new assegai and DHR2 at 19/22 psi grip was pretty good for the pedal.

There was a Sunday vid last year. Agree the event pack up makes you feel a bit second class, one of the reasons Friday is the new Sunday.

Did the Sunday Intro, done it a few times and it’s just long enough for me. Seemed to be more people out of their depth this year than previous years.
After stage 4 reopened once the incident was sorted the Marshal sent about 90 riders down in quick succession. It caused havoc and I’m surprised it didn’t cause further incidents.
Overall another good weekend, did the demo loop a few times on ebikes which kept me off the beer a bit longer.

Rode the Sunday Sport, a memorable and wonderful day. The rain through Saturday night and Sunday morning didn’t inspire much confidence but both body and bike managed to survive the challenge. Enjoyed stage 1, some hairy moments but managed to stay on the bike and moving most of the time, bar a few holdups to let some riders move out of the way. Stage 2 quite the opposite, front wheel slide & crashed into rocks about a 1/3 of the way down. Made a decision to wear elbow pads that morning and so glad I did as I took a hit to the forearm with the pads soaking up the majority of the impact. The mud was horrendous, definitely need to ride more through winter slop to improve skills. Stages 3 and 4 were excellent, as were stages 5 and 6 but I was flagging quite a bit by then. Stage 7 was also brilliant, hit the final drop and finished in the top half.

This is the fourth time I’ve been and ridden and I’ve never seen as many people pushing up transitions as I did this year, many at least half my age! And those were the road climbs & gravel road sections, not just the steep push up to 2 and also out of 4.

It is deflating getting back to a half empty field, thankfully there were some pizzas left and the beer cans stall hadn’t packed up and gone. I really could have done with a shower though. Stayed another night and woke up to glorious dry weather on Monday morning. Food queues are shocking. That is something that needs sorting as it appears to have outgrown the allowed resources. A 2 hour wait for a shoddy burger or pizza on the Saturday night with hungry kids in tow is definitely not one of the highlights. Allow more catering to sort the food and drink queues please!

Problems aside it’s still a great weekend. The camping & spectating with friends and family, riding those trails, seeing old and new faces, all adds together to make it a brilliant weekend!

I can highly recommend the gyros stall, fast service every time I’ve used it 👌

@richardkennerley unless your in the Que for 20 minutes and then they say its now cash only…

I can highly recommend the gyros stall, fast service every time I’ve used it 👌

They were £5 when we had them at the café (very nice too), pretty sure they were £10 on the stand but I had consumed a few recovery beers and they may have been bigger.

Some good pics and commentary on https://www.pinkbike.com/news/race-report-ard-rock-enduro-2022.html

Photos are uploaded and tagged.

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event10500/2022-jul-31-ard-rock-ard-rock-swaledale/photos/filters/photogs2589/

Also putting a few of the many on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg3qPKONQ_N/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

First time doing ardrock, Sunday Sport for me, weird/nightmare cramp like never before on the transitions but won the grand vet male. Chuffed with that.

Oh and missed the podium due to bike wash queue!

Bummer. I don’t like seeing empty podiums. Understandable if you’re driving home 200 miles but a real shame if you’re doing ‘admin’. Lots of my mates cramping despite not normally getting it.

Edit and congratulations on the win! Tough day.

@leesaunders good effort mate you was 1minute faster than me and I was 3rd. I had a mare on 5 which is probably the easiest stage lol
I also missed the podium and wondered if you got a chairing trophy?
I should chase it up really.

‘Let’s have a look what you could have won’

My mate winning Bully’s Special (second) Prize from Sunday Grand Vets last year. He did Saturday this year but relishing the glory of the podium so he may be back to Sunday next year. Watch out!!

Hello to anyone who we might have met during Ard Rock 2022. I think we can all agree it was an amazing event! We’re already planning for next year 😀 Not sure if we spoke to many STW readers, but we put together the following video from the event with a couple of bike checks in there. Let us know if you see yourself !

The organiser got on the podium with me, I was offered the chance to grab someone from a non existent crowd but thought it would give my piss taking friends and family the chance to comment on there only being two people in my race, which they did without prompting!