Another week and another recce ride completed, for the second time things went well without too many major problems.

A 6am pickup at Padge’s and we were on our way up the M6 to Shap, Today I was hoping to do the 60miles over to Richmond via Tan Hill and the sky was clear with a slight SW wind which would be a nice push along the way.

It was the first time I was using my Spot Tracker and it proved to be a great piece of kit, enabling Padge to track my progress and avoid missing our planned meeting spots. This is one of the times when these things come into their own, being able to contact friends for help, or even emergency services if life threatening, at the touch of a button and as they use GPS networks they work in 99% when out in the wilderness and not 0% like a mobile.



The first section was on roads and I was making good progress, climbing up and over Bank Moor and through to Kirkby Stephen. From here the long drag up the side of Kaber Fell and Tan Hill began.



Fortunately it was not as bad as I thought it would be and I was soon enjoying the singletrack of the Pennine way as I dropped again, this time toward Keld. The lovely views round the valley lifted spirits as I approached Gunnerside and then it was time for the other big climb of the the day.

The first 15min of which was a scramble up a very steep grassy bank which turned into a gravel climb up Whitaside Moor to Apedale Head and then the 40mph+ drop off Harkerside Moor into Grinton and past the Dales biking centre in Fremmington.



All that was left was to track the route of the river Swale into Richmond and the job was done, the only problem at this point was the farmer at Applegarth who took a disliking to me following the OS map and he tried to drag me through a barbed wire fence to dispute the point, he definitely got out of the wrong side of bed today!

So now I only have the first section to recce, from St. Bees to Coniston which I hope to do a week on Saturday, hopefully the weather will stay nice and dry as the trails are getting more drier every day, this weekend sees the World Cup at Dalby so I’m going over for the day with Lil RT to chill and take in some of the atmosphere.

Coming together nicely.

At last my new team bike has arrived, A shiny new Anthem x3, I have stripped some of the parts and replaced them for lighter ones.

I have fitted my Scottoiler and put my heavy duty wheelset on, these are fitted with Schwalbe Nobby Nic double defense tires which should be ideal for ripping through the Lakes and Moors where sharp rocks can easily destroy sidewalls, more so when the ride is 210 miles across some of the most scenic and brutal terrain in the country.

Only one month to go and a recce from Shap over Tan Hill on Saturday will leave only the first section in the lakes to do, time is running out fast but hopefully everything will fit into place.


I also bought a Spot Tracker so I will have eyes on my progress all the way, log on Here to see how things are getting on during the event, It will also be on from about 8am this Saturday.

Here is part two of the Moors section recce ride,
　
The Tuesday following the bank holiday Monday I set off to finish what I’d started. This time the sun was lighting up a glorious blue sky, the only downside was the 50mph winds that had been forecast!

I began with the climb up onto Urra Moor, the views from the top were beautiful with a clear view for miles around, the going was good once on the tops and I made good time to the first meeting point at Westerdale.

The techy moor land, heather lined single track sections were impossible to ride due to the severity of the wind, now hitting me full force from the side
From there it was up towards Rosedale Head and a very slow road section into a head wind as I turned towards the South and a good blast across Glaisedale Moor, down to Egton bridge and along the side of the railway (complete with steam train) to Grosmont.


This next bit hurt… a lot, the 33% climb out of Grosmont was as hard as it looked and seemed to last forever, Padge was parked about half way up awaiting my arrival, camera in hand in a hope of getting a good ‘pain’ shot , I did not disappoint.

I’m not looking forward to that next time.


Crossing over the main Pickering to Whitby road I remembered the fast rolling tracks along Sneaton High Moor, what I was treated to was instead a mud bog with many line choices and no chance of clearing the quagmire. Time to start walking again, surely it can’t be this bad come May can it???


I knew the end was getting closer as I crossed the coastal road towards Scarborough and shortly afterwards I was at the mast above Ravenscar over looking Robin Hoods bay. A really fast descent followed which lost stacks of elevation and spat me out onto the disused railway which was to take me all the way to the finish, a real nice way to end a good day in the saddle.
All that was needed was a big mint choc chip ice cream and Padge to push my bike back up the silly steep climb from the landing in Robin Hoods bay.

A day of two halves

Good Friday, not a good day. I headed off to recce the last section of the C2C from the A19 all the way to Robin Hoods Bay, the weather was good if cold and all was looking well.

Padge dropped me off and I kitted up ready for a good 8hrs in the saddle. That is when I found out that my pc had tried to kill both my Gamin computer and my Memory map Adventurer, the night before I had been frantically trying to load the route to both devices as the PC froze, the garmin had no route and the adventurer had no power in the batteries, needless to say, I forgot to pack a paper map(something I instill into everyone at any opportunity)

So there we go, I managed 15mls in 1hr 40 which makes it the worst recce yet, I going back to hopefully complete the other 45ml on Tuesday.

I just hope it means I have had all my problems before the big event so I have none whilst doing it.

Good news to follow the bad, on the way back on Friday I called in to the shop to pick up my new team bike, a nice shiny Giant Anthem, hopefully just the weapon for the endurance events we have lined up for this year. I just need to swap over some of my light weight parts and fit the Scottoiler and we're ready to rock!