3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross: No Gravel Bikes Allowed

It is the 3 Peaks Cyclocross Race. They run to CX rules amended to suit their event.  I seem to remember three official support points –  Cold Cotes, next to the viaduct and then the bottom of PyG – with rules about support in other places. So, think about it having 3 pits – seems reasonable for an event which is at least 3 times longer than a standard CX race. And I’m not sure why anyone is arguing against the rules – if you don’t like them, don’t do the race. There are plenty of other events.

For everyone moaning about the race being “exclusive”, two female first timers  from my (tiny, very much non BC-affiliated, non competitive) riding club have been offered places this year. I do raise an eyebrow at some of the more pernickety rules but it also feels like the organisers know what they’re doing.

Female riders are under-represented so more likely to be offered a place. Last year my sister-in-law said if I bought her a gravel frame, she would enter the race. I’m not saying I wanted to see her suffer but it was the best £300 I’ve spent (I didn’t say I’d buy her a new frame!) and yes she raced and got a sub 5 hour first time. My daughter was also a first time entrant last year both finished with no issues. No car support my wife biked round on the road to help out if if required but they didn’t need it.

Only if you think “gravel” is a fairly recent innovation. I bought my Kona Sutra in 2007 IIRC.

I was riding gravel on a road bike with CX tyres back in the 80s  We called it “roughstuff” but its whats now called gravel.  My dad was doing it on an SS road bike back in the 50s.  BIkes have been around since before tarmac so way back in the day everyone was riding “gravel”

There are plenty of other events that will allow non-cyclo-cross bicycles in.

I think this is the only bike race that takes in the Yorkshire 3 peaks and there is not another opportunity to ride the 3 peaks so the above statement does not apply to here.

I wouldn’t mind if there were but it seems very ad-hoc. One year a guy was going round with a cardboard cutout to a 35mm wedge to measure tyres but it was more a token gesture – so many riders with spare wheels and bikes that it’s easy to get a slightly wider tyred bike on a hillside somewhere far away from the gaze of any race officials. It’s an impossible race to fully enforce, it sort of relies on general good sportsmanship and a degree of respect for the rules and traditions.

I’ve done it with support and without.

Mechanically I’ve largely got away with it and never had to use the second best (by a long way) bike I sometimes had spare.

However food is the massive issue for me. You just can’t carry enough (or actually I think I stop having the mental capacity to get it out of pockets and bags). One year I was dying as I started climbing up Pen y Gent and someone I knew randomly had some bars ‘just in case’ and put one in my hand. I don’t think I would have made it without that!

Making the cut off at the top of Ingleborough the first year that I did it – also the crazy 2012 edition where the course was flooded and the dibbing stations loomed out of the slate grey mist like weirdly cheery sentries to Mordor – I think I was the most elated I’ve ever been on a bike. If I could do one peak in a 40 mile an hour wind, I could surely finish. I did and it is still one of my most memorable rides ever.

Agreed. That’s the most memorable one of them for me too. I was buzzing so much when I finished. Absolutely exhilarated and then went a bit hyperthermic!

Normal CX races have assistance only in 1 place , the pits, for one thing

One way of looking at. Another way would be that normal cx races have assistance every 6 mins or so.

3 peaks has always been a law unto itself. And plenty people want to be involved so I guess why not continue.

But is it really a race anymore? Like a lot of events I’d call it an elite race for 20 or 30 pointy end competitors financed by a mass entry free-for-all of no hopers there for the experience. I guess for the bulk you make a pretence about caring about the rules to make you feel part of the ‘race’ and to keep the land owners happy you’ve not turned it into a mountain bike event…….but you are just a cash cow.

Well yes but I suspect the poster meant ride legally.

Only Ingleborough has a bridleway up and that’s not the route most would ride.

A few answers to add to the queries here:

@thecaptain – the track halfway up PyG is also a bridleway, but I think it’s allowed as it’s also a track as far as the gate.

35mm tyres have been allowed for years – and note that the rules say ’35mm as stated’ – not all are equal 😉

There are murmurings among the race organisers about looking to bring in a one-bike-per-racer rule in future, which’d stop the file-tread bike swaps for the road sections.

I can see the argument for banning droppers, but it’s not that different using a seat QR, or even an Allen key to drop your saddle, so I don’t reckon it’s worth policing. Besides, I’d argue that dropping your saddle is as much a safety thing as a speed thing.

And talking of policing, I’d reckon that the further near the front you are, the more legit your bike has to be. A slightly flared bike that comes in 350th isn’t going to worry anyone.

I love the Peaks, this’ll be my 12th race over a 30 year stretch. I love that it still maintains a village fete feel – they only got a podium about five years ago! If it were in the US, it’d cost $500 an entry and be sponsored by Jeep. I think that if they want to keep the rules relatively tight, then great. There are other events out there, but really only one Three Peaks… 🙂

Yeah there’s a huge amount of crossover possible in terms of fitting road tyres or having gravel tyres on a road bike (my disc road bike will take 33mm tyres at a push).

That said, it’d probably break if I tried riding it down PyG so there’s an element of “you get what you deserve” if you try and use unsuitable bikes.

You’d have to do a LOT of comparison work with wheels and tyres for a gain of only 1 or 2mm in the real world of tyre width. Better off just buying a 35c listed tyre, banging an insert into it, filling it with sealant and getting on with life.