Race is on, making myself proud and mega sunburn- My Struggle Dales experience.
Yorkshire - The largest county in the UK. Home to the humble Yorkshire pudding and its historic scenery, this area of natural beauty and rightly named 'God's own country' by the locals holds one of the UKs toughest Sportives, and this is my point of view from the 2023 addition.
Within the historic boundaries of Yorkshire are contained some the the United Kingdom's biggest areas of natural beauty and stunning moorlands spread across the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and the Peak District National Park. Home to long roads dividing endless fields of green and some of the toughest climbs in the UK, this hallowed county is a dream destination for many cyclists in the UK.
In 2014, Yorkshire was home to the grand depart for the Tour de France, over the 2 days an estimated 2.5 Million people crowded the roads, paths and every field possible to be part of one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and to date still the largest attended sporting event in the Uk. Since then, 1.2 Million people gathered for the Tour de Yorkshire in 2015 and many more for the 2019 UCI World championships in Richmond.
So, with so much sporting history and vast numbers of total strangers gathering for these events, what has a young Devon chef who rides a bike got to add to the cycling heritage of Yorkshire?
The struggle Dales. One of the UKs hardest cycling Sportives. With 175km and 2875m of elevation gain, this event takes in the stunning scenery of Yorkshire but also the brutal climbs that break up the green fields and sheep. The route includes the toughest 7 climbs the Dales has to offer including Park Rash, Malham Cove, Trapping hill and Two Stoops. Non stop and relentless, this sportive will be a test of power, endurance and fuelling.
And I'm going alone.
1 Week to go.
Taper week, 7 days till the event and its all about preparation and resting the legs. Carb loading to get the best out of my body and hopefully stock up the body stores of glycogen. (*see carb loading blog https://www.thecyclesanctuary.uk/blog/blog-post-title-one-5xlgz ). The plan was to do ride a steady zone 2 on Monday to Wednesday then off the workload and up the carbs in the second half of the week, however with Zwift cancelled and the weather turning for the worse, its been a slightly different start to the week.
Monday was a trip to Winslade to chat to Joe about all things Cycle Sanctuary and that is why my website here will be for event blogs and more personal blogs, and all things off bike with nutrition and performance will be on The Cycle Sanctuary blog site (Link above). Also whilst there, we chucked on a new chain after the old one was ready to be turned into some cycling art for at home. So, not much in terms of training but a productive day for the other cycling parts of my life and things progressing nicely in the new project and potentially business that I am becoming involved in.
Tuesday - something different, went all day without riding due to rain all day, so the usual house work and meal prep, then had a random urge to go for a run. Anyone that knows me, knows I don't run, in fact ive done 1 run in my life and that was an awful 3km suffer fest. So, I headed out for a 'off the cuff' 10km run, in my head mixing things up would be good for taper week, but 48 minutes and 50 seconds later I felt like I had just ridden the tour non stop without sleep. 100% time to rest up before the weekend now. Even still, I don't know if that is a respectable time for 10km.
Its go time!
Saturday, 4:30am. Alarms get snoozed and my bad rings me to wake me up. Good job too. The morning routine as normal, breakfast and coffee and time to depart Devon for Yorkshire. This is going to be a long one.
4 Hours later and the scenery goes from motorways and the Midlands concrete building blocks to open green fields and sheep on the narrow Yorkshire roads. Almost at Pateley Bridge, where ill be staying for the weekend, and the roads just open up and flow through the stunning Dales.
Its only a short stop though, as the power of social media has worked its magic again and I'm straight on the bike and heading out of Pateley Bridge and to Otley to meet Matt, aka The_Yorkshire_wheeler. The pre planned route treating me instantly to the struggles of Yorkshire, 600m out of the car park and I'm heading up Two Stoops, the final climb on the event on Sunday.
With 3km ridden and 210m climbed, this was a real eye opener to what tomorrow was going to involve. Taking it all in, I headed over the dales and down into Otley, quick snack and a coffee at a Underground Bakery and it was great to finally meet and put a face to the Instagram account of matt. Then we departed and headed back towards Pateley Bridge via Norwood Edge and loaded up the car to head to The Struggle Dales sign on. New jersey, new T-Shirt and race transponder collected and it was time to chill out and get some grub. A quick coffee with another Instagramer that is Marjorie Davison aka Mayamorgane then it was time to check in and shower and update this blog.
Food, Giro highlights and an early night. Tomorrow we will Struggle.
5am - Its race day. No, its event day, they are not allowed to call it a race/refuse to call it a race but more of a test of personal competition. However, I am going into this with one main goal. Go sub 7 Hours and get a gold time. Also to enjoy the event and take in more of the stunning views that I experienced yesterday.
So, breakfast is done, coffee is consumed. The short drive to the official start from the hotel is done and now it's time to focus. After checking the tyre pressures, a little drizzle of Silca SYNERGETIC lube and we are ready to roll, it's over to the start banner and with a small group of about 10, we are off. 7:30am and we are about to head into the beautiful but brutal Yorkshire Dales.
Only about 10km later and I spent a little time riding with a guy (Who I later got to know as Mark), we were at a similar pace on the flats and then on the climbs that were steeper such as Hartwith Bank he would gap me and we would regroup at some point after the top, and on the longer climbs that I could get into a rhythm such as Greenhow Hill, I would pull away and again we would regroup. We didn't purposely stick together but after 40km we had naturally decided that we would ride this together or at least until one of us - probably me - blew up.
Sitting at a comfortable 28kmph, any idea of me just chilling and enjoying the scenery on this ride had now gone. I was committed, I was racing this event.
Ignoring the first feed zone, we cracked on and by this point on the flats we passed the solo riders that had left in the earlier start slots of 6am to 7:15am, and on the climbs we had passed the groups of club riders, and friends riding the event for the joys of doing it and not worrying about the time.
This being said, I wasn't chewing at my stem and I was taking in the stunning views the Dales had to offer, I mean how could you not, its a place of natural beauty. However, I was taking these views in whilst also chugging along at 45kmph on the flats, and this gets me on the Yorkshire roads, some of the fastest and flowiest roads I have ever ridden. Long descents, fast flowing corners, and cyclists everywhere, it was clear that the Dales were alive this weekend.
Ticking off the climbs like Malham Cove, home to many tourists, stunning views and the filming of quite a few Harry Potter scenes. And then we made the second feed zone, this time I needed to stop. Mark carried on because he was meeting his dad to refuel just before Park Rash. My Styrkr nutrition had been getting me along so well, a mix of Bars and Gels containing the carbs that I need, and I had enough for the rest of the ride. It was carb powder that I needed, and my homemade ones had now ran out, so I had to top up with the brand supporting the event - Maurten - and well, it was shocking. I always use my own homemade carb powder or Styrkr and I was now missing that. It had the carb amount I needed but the flavour and the taste was awful.
Park Rash was only 4km from the feed zone, so it was time to crack on. Passing mark, I took on the infamous Park Rash, 2.3km at 11%, maxing out at 25% on the two switchback turns. Also being the location for the event photographer, so it was Boost Bike Hub jersey all straightened out and sunglasses slotted into the helmet and then the climb hit hard - very hard from the village below. This climb was brutal but also enjoyable, having lost 14kg since October, I was taking in the benefits of being able to get comfortable on the steeper and longer climbs. And the view from the top of this climb, as I rolled into Richmondshire, was well worth the struggle up.
After taking the mega decent from Park Rash it was about 20 -30km of flat roads and I was alone, but flying. Still spinning at 35-45kmph I was feeling good, but the bottles were almost empty. But the last feed zone wasn't too far out.
5km from the feed zone and Mark was behind and gaining up on me, finally someone to do threw and offs with to the finish. With this excitement, I missed the final feed zone. Bottles now empty and only one Styrkr Bar left, me and Mark hit Trapping Hill and this is where things started taking its toll. Legs were feeling great, headspace is on top of it all, but the block headwind on the 7km long climb was zapping energy, that I couldn't fuel back into the body. Making it to the top it was across the Dales and then back down to Pateley Bridge before two stoops. Me and Mark dragged each other along the valley road and I led us and another guy Andy up the climb before they come past me with 300 metres of the climb left. I struggled but forced myself onto their wheel, and we cracked on and stayed together before it all broke up with 10km to go.
By this time, well to be honest way before this point, I knew that sub 7 hour was pretty much happening. And the final 10km I was solo as I dropped off due to more dehydration than anything else, the legs and the power numbers were all good just felt meh. Keeping the pedals turning and I rolled into the army barracks and I was the 5th rider back. I was stoked, considering I was about the 200th rider to leave the start. After chucking water down my throat and having a lay down, I headed to get changed before having some post event food and coffee, and checked the Live Results. Currently sat in 4th with a elapsed time of 6 Hours and 10 Minutes, my ride time being 6 Hours 4 Minutes, just stopped for 6 Minutes. I wasn't getting too excited though as riders leaving in the last time slot of 8:30am still had till 3:30pm to finish, so could drop me down a few places.
Fed and watered, I loaded up and headed off to meet another Insta icon that is Bec aka Bec_rides and someone who I have been talking to for a while in terms of riding on Zwift in winter with her crew and general chit chat. After a catch up and a drive back to the hotel, I checked the results and it was confirmed, I had finished 4th. What a ride and what a event, the views were stunning and the people and marshals etc all very supportive. It was time to let it soak in and get some fish and chips and a chilled evening.
After a good night sleep and some cracking dinner and breakfast. It was time to get out of weekend away mode, and head home. But on the way home, I stopped off to meet Steve at Velo21 to record the first part of a special episode of the podcast for the upcoming everesting.
I will be back, next year. The Struggle Moors is calling. But I can highly recommend this event, or even just riding in Yorkshire if you can. Meeting all the Instagram people that I wanted to meet for a while was great and having a ride with Matt around Otley and local areas were mega. And the fact that I try to do so much for Charity, doing this event was for me. I smashed my goal and I made myself proud. The changes I have made in my life and myself that I could see and other people tell me they can see, has now been backed by numbers. And I am feeling the best I have in years.
