Dales Divide 2021 Race Report

Intro

The Dales Divide is a 600km coast to coast (and back again!) off-road bikepacking adventure through the Yorkshire Dales & North Yorkshire Moors. It follows quiet back lanes, smooth gravel tracks rough hardpack field crossings & unforgiving rough-stuff bridleways – all the while taking in some of the finest Yorkshire vistas.

This blog has taken me a while to get round to. After the disappointment of my 2021 Dales Divide race, the resultant impact of my scratch; the frustrating 3 months of injury related inactivity that followed & 2021 debut ultra-distance season shattered, its been a difficult one to put words against. I was determined to lock away this disappointment & not to dwell on it, but with the 2022 race & indeed 2022 season upon us, I feel now is the time to address what happened; what went wrong, why & how to make sure it I learn from it.

Pre-race

The Dales Divide was to be my first ultra-distance bike race. I needed something to channel my focus after the Covid pandemic cancelled a planned career break & round the world cycle. I found myself putting in around 25 hours training per week on average & along with several big distance multiday rides. However all the physical training couldn’t overcome the nerves & self-doubt; have I got the right kit, have I got the right bike, have I got the legs – so many unknowns – it made coming up with any kind of strategy really difficult. That said, we’ve all got to start somewhere & the only way to learn is to do!

Arriving at the pub the night before, that car park could only be described as a festival of vans & bikes. Immediately I felt a sense of belonging, amongst a bunch of crazy other likeminded fold who would happily sleep in a car park before riding bikes some silly distance!

Race

It was crisp, cold morning on Arnside pier beneath a magnificent bluebird sky – the start of what would soon become a bright & warm spring day. The temperature swing & weather would become one of the main challenges over the weekend. It was fascinating to have a nosy round all the clean, shiny bikes & kit at the start line, there was a buzz of anticipation & excitement on the pier.  An array of everything from fatbikes, to hardtails, to full suss, to gravel bikes were present.

Chris Ellison – event organiser, Alex Pilkington – course record holder & provider of dotwatcher coverage, alongside Pat Hall – mother of the late Mike Hall opened the Dales Divide with a few words & set us off.

The first few km’s out of Arnside was just a mega train of riders jostling position on narrow lanes, it wasn’t long till we hit the first off road climbs & started streaming out more. The event started off pretty fast & I felt good, finding myself towards the front & then on the front setting pace with a bunch of 4.

Having recently moved as close to the Yorkshire border as possible (without actually leaving Lancashire!), I was very familiar with the sections around Ingleborough & Malham. The bridleways are rough, the climbs continuous, but the views fantastic! 

The four of us worked well, quickly clearing Malham Moor & the first 100km. Once you cross the divide & the rivers start flowing east, the route does become a bit uninteresting through York & Driffield with farmland crossings & just flat roads; however I found myself grateful for a bit of flat after the Dales. About 150km in after clearing the Dales I was caught by James Craven, we chatted for a while – he was more than happy for me to pick his brains about previous ultras & share his experience as we ticked over some fast miles. We parted ways in York to resupply & I didn’t see him again – no one did for that matter, as he powered his way onto a very impressive new FKT.

That evening got very cold, sub zero for a few hours. I really didn’t know what to do in terms of stopping. I wasn’t particularly tired mentally, but physically I was wary of pushing right through the night on my first ultra – or maybe I’ve just gone soft now my all-nighter uni days are long gone! I felt a bit conflicted before I started in all honesty, due to the difficultly in predicting how long a 600km off road would take with it being my first ultra. For that reason I packed a full sleep set up including bivvy, sleeping bag & pad – which I chose to roll into for a 2hours around 2.30am.

Resupply in Scarborough at 5am was tricky – turns out I found the only 24hr petrol station which was open, where others didn’t. I’d lost ground overnight with several others electing to forgo sleep & push for a one-er. By mid morning my decision had been vindicated as my faster riding speed quickly propelled me back into third, where I was before sleeping.

The North York Moors was as tough as the elevation profile suggested. That said, the amount of climbing favoured me – I hate flat riding – give me climb after climb all day long. The route had it all here, pristine gravel tracks across wide open grouse moors, yet bog crossings and other non-bike friendly obstacles too.

I ran out of water before getting to Osmotherly – a thoroughly unpleasant feeling & one I’d like not to repeat. This is where things started to unravel for me. My left knee had been giving me jip since mid morning – I chose to go for pain killers & ignore it, just a few flat km’s & I’d soon be back on familiar territory, not far off the finish. My mind was fixed firmly on the elevation around Swaledale & Cam Road where I figured I might’ve been able to pull back second.

One minute I felt no pain, next searing pain. No matter what I did I couldn’t find a comfortable riding position. Muscle aches had developed as a result of me riding lopsided. I hadn’t felt lopsided at all – surely this couldn’t all be down to a bent saddle rail. I tried again wrestling with my saddle, but to no avail. More painkillers might numb it for a few more hours, then I’ll just ride standing up I thought – so consumed with the race with little over 100km to go, on a section I knew very well. I got back on the bike and immediately felt it, that dreaded white pain which immediately signalled game over. I could no longer push down on the left pedal. I tossed my bike aside and slumped on the grass in both agony & disappointment – it started sinking in that this was not only my race over, but possibly weeks or months off the bike. All that hard work throughout winter was rapidly slipping away.

Scratch

Its important to understand what went wrong & why, to learn from it & prevent it happening again. I came off about 50km into the Dales Divide ride, climbing a bit too enthusiastically & aggressively up Twistleton Moor. An inconspicuous rock caught my back wheel on a technical rocky climb – the kind I’d always clear without kit on my bike – I fell & the impact twisted my saddle out of position. No bother, I fettled it back to where it should be & carried on, determined not to loose ground. Shortly after, a rider behind asked if my saddle was alright – he noticed it was slightly bent. I hadn’t felt anything, so I left it – the first checkpoint wasn’t far off, I’d suss it out there. Turns out I’d bent my saddle rail & 5minutes of wrestling couldn’t rectify it. Again, I was determined not to fall too far behind – I convinced myself it would ‘be reyt’ as I hadn’t noticed any issues. This was at 75km.

Whichever way you slice it, the 600km Dales Divide is objectively a long ride. When things are marginally out, it amplifies over that distance – especially when pushing hard in a race. I guess I had my head so focussed on winning – at the time of the incident all I could envisage was my dot bouncing first. On your first race, when leading out in front and feeling strong, perhaps it’s understandable. But I should’ve known better – it’s certainly much easier to say that looking back after enduring 3 horrible injury-ridden months.

Thoughts

I drafted this on the weekend both the Highland Trail & Hell of the North West kicked off. It was a wet one. A little part of me was glad. Yet deep down my underlying thought was ‘what if’; what could’ve been on my debut year in ultra distance racing. I have a lot of regret. I sit here dot watching all the other rides going around the UK & further afield this weekend, wondering what could have been. What if I hadn’t got injured on Dales Divide. What if I’d listened to my body more that day & scratched earlier. What if I’d fixed the thing that I knew was the root cause of my problems. If only I’d not been riding so aggressively & opted to push up that technical climb. I wouldn’t have come off and bent my saddle & ultimately ruptured my quadricep tendon through patella mal tracking.

But personal reflections & disappointments aside, I have to say a huge congratulations to James Craven on the win & new course record – fantastic riding. But equally, if not more impressive, were those who continued to battle the horrendous storms & atrocious weather on day 3 to complete the Dales Divide, they showed incredible mental resolve. The diversity of entrants to these events is what makes ultra-distance riding such a special community; ultimately everyone is only ever racing against themselves. We all set off with individual goals – those who aim to win, those who just want to enjoy the route & those whose sole aim is just to finish whatever it takes – and to continue battling that weather on day 3 to the finish is deserving of the utmost commendation!

Kit

I definitely overpacked – a full bivvy, sleeping bag & pad is little overkill for the sake of two hours sleep when trying to compete on the front of a bike race. Truth be told, I hadn’t expected to find myself so far upfront. I had expected to be sat mid-pack, just ticking over – had I known this before the race, my strategy would’ve been somewhat different. Not knowing what I was really capable of over such a distance, I should’ve maybe tried to avoid getting caught up on the front – the excitement definitely got the better of me at 100km, forgetting the route was 600km. And since I was carrying more kit, especially multiple layers too, probably meant I was expending more effort to keep up on the front.

Kit faffing is the ultimate enemy; if you’ve packed it, you either find yourself using it or find its just in the way of something you do need. There’s that many gates to stop at, the temptation is always to faff with layering. The time of year means the temperature swing is large; its hot uphill & cold downhill, then its freezing overnight & +15 during the day. What do I need vs what can I live without is something I feel better at answering now having done the race.

The main thing I learnt was that you cant really carry enough water on these races – especially where resupply becomes a little more tricky on off road races. Again, more strategy & knowledge of my own ability would’ve helped alleviate this.  

Bike set up

So, onto the debate about which bike to bring – I’m going to start by saying there isn’t a right or wrong bike – as was evident on the start line! There is however a right & wrong tyre. For some reason a lot of people seem to fall into the trap of thinking this is a gravel race – its absolutely not. The terrain is a mixture of mountain bike & road; a typical gravel bike excels at neither of those things. You can get away with a rigid mountain bike – a rigid mountain bike & gravel bike are not the same thing, despite whatever the cycling industry tells you!

I don’t believe suspension is a necessity, you can absolutely do it without; Neil Black finished second on a rigid bike. However its my opinion that rigid bikes only accelerate fatigue – but this is personal opinion. The harsh Yorkshire Bridleways through fields of hardpack mud & rocky doubletrack really do bounce you all over the place. The bottom line is where bigger volume tyres will excel off the road in terms of comfort, speed & puncture protection, they’ll slow you down on it – but equally the route is around 65-70% off road in terms of time, so its really just one big compromise.

Whilst 9000m climbing over 600km doesn’t sound all that bad, some of climbs are both steep in gradient, continuous & technically difficult in parts; if you want to ride them, you’ll need appropriate gearing on a bike that will be carrying kit & fatigued legs.

I took my steel tourer that I’d turned into a monster cross bike with 32t chainring, 11x 42t cassette & 27.5×2.1 tyres (I didn’t own a mountain bike at the time!). Whilst it worked, I do think 29inch wheels on fast rolling XC tyres are the tool for the job.

So for me, I think choosing a bike that will perform off the road in more important; wide range gears & clearance for at least 2inch tyres. I reckon there is more to be gained from having front suspension than not having it, if only in terms of comfort & bit of extra confidence from the slacker head angle on the downhills. There are also some rumoured changes to the route for the 2022 edition; so who knows what bike will be best!

Looking forward to 2022

The 2021 event itself was fantastic, full of incredible likeminded bike riders. The route equally brilliant. The best of Yorkshire riding. A massive credit has to go to Chris & the team who organise this free event. 2022 looks to be an equally exciting affair, with some rumoured changes to the route & a start line of over 100 riders with some really strong names in there. The start date is also two weeks earlier & over the Easter bank holiday – so a little less daylight & the Dales might not be quite as dry – however I cant imagine it’ll be any colder than last years overnight freezing temperatures! Roll on 15th April…