“We live on an island, everyone should ride across it at least once!”
So say the folks behind the new Frontier 300, a coast to coast event organised between the folks at Lyon Outdoors and those other folks behind the Dirty Reiver – and sponsored by Salsa. Which might give you a bit of a clue what the Frontier 300 will be like:
300Km, coast to coast, 10 forests, 20 gravel sectors, 30 hour time limit. The goal, is ‘Brunch on the Beach’
From the organisers behind The Dirty Reiver, this new event traverses the Northern Borderlands from the west coast of Scotland to the east coast in Northumberland and is far from your traditional ‘coast to coast’ route.
While tackling remote gravel trails, fire roads and quiet lanes riders will pass through ten unique forests and experience some of the UK’s finest gravel riding wilderness. With a high point over 550m, swooping descents and even a section of hike-a-bike, this promises to be a memorable day on the bike in keeping with Salsa’s Adventure by Bike ethos.
Starting on the beach from dawn on Saturday the 13th of June, there will be solo and relay categories with all riders aiming to reach the finish in time for the ‘Brunch on the Beach’ afterparty on Sunday morning.
Entry fees will be £95 for solo riders and £90/rider (£180 per pair) for pairs/relays.
If that’s whet your appetite and you’re wondering how you can organise the weekend so it fits between Elsie’s birthday party and Fred’s swimming lesson, you should know that the event starts in Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway (not too far from the Dalbeattie trail centre) and ends in Druridge Bay, Northumberland, which looks to be stunningly beautiful and well worth the pedal.
There will be camping available at either end, and a range of suggested options to help you tackle the logistics:
Option 1 – Get dropped off collected by a willing friend or family.
The organisers are putting a supporter package together which will include a map of notable points along the way for folk to offer support to riders but also to explore the area. Think castles, a monastery (!) and the finishing beach which is pretty stunning.
Option 2 – Only applies to people riding as a pair.
There will be 4-5 points along the route where riders can “hand over the baton” so to speak which would also allow the first rider to then drive onto the finishing area.
Option 3 – An optional extra package
Starters drive to Carlisle and park at the football ground just off the motorway. A coach will take you to the start with your bike in a bike box or bag, and then bring you back to Carlisle from the finish, together with your bike back in its original bike box. It’s anticipated this will cost around £25 each way.
Entries open on 1st January and full information can be found on the website. If you need a little more #inspo to get you in the mood for some #adventuregravel, #type2funmaybe and #dirtydropbargoodness then check out the event’s Instagram.
It is not a race but an epic, supported ride from the west coast of Scotland to the east coast of England. Your aim is to get to the Salsa Beach Party – Frontier style!
It starts on Saturday 13th June. Your aim is to get to the Beach Party by Sunday 10.30am.
300km! With 4,600m elevation gain.
A gravel bike with a good range of gears and disc brakes is the ideal machine for this route. 38mm or above tyres for extra comfort, though a good ‘cross’ tyre would suffice. MTB style clipless pedals and shoes are a must (definitely not road shoes and pedals!) as the section of hike a bike is short but quite steep.
