Three Counties Challenge

McBain_v1

Is anyone else riding this? I haven't signed up for the "full-fat" 120 miler - after my dismal performance on the Cheshire Cat I know that I need to do a lot more work before I'm ready to deal with something that long over hilly terrain; consequently I have wimped out and gone for the 63 mile / 100km route :oops:

Anyway, just wanted to know if I am going to be "Billy No Mates" or whether there might be some more from the C+ crowd there on 5 July 2009 :?:

LeighB

Yes I’ll be doing this event; I’ve entered the 120 mile ride. I have ridden this event twice and you should not be disappointed. The 120 mile route is excellent with nice quiet roads and a few good climbs. I have never ridden the short route but have used parts of the course for training rides and again the roads are quiet and the climb up from Dent to the back of Whernside (I think it is called Kingsdale but am not sure) is a good little climb.

T.C.

i've entered , hope to get more miles in though, i'm now on my new bike van nich, see you there

popette

yes, think I'm going to do this one - good timing in relation to the Etape. I'm going for 120 miles - come on McBain, you can do the full fat. I see the max gradient is 25% - what's that hill like then?

I've never cycled that far before 8)

LeighB

[/quote] I see the max gradient is 25% - what's that hill like then?

The whole route is quite hilly so here is a brief description of the main hills.
The first bit of a hill is Hutton Roof, this is easy not too steep.
After the first stop at Dent village you ride about four miles and turn up 'the coal road'
this is a hard climb that sets off very steep past Dent railway station then keeps climbing
for a mile or so, if you are not used to hills this is hard work.
The next climb is Buttertubs, this goes up at a steady rate and is not so bad.
After going down Buttertubs you go over to Nateby this section goes up and down and is quite
exposed and can be hard work but you are rewarded with a good ride down into Nateby.
From the second stop at Soulby to the stop at Wateryeat the road goes up and down but no big climbs.
After the Wateryeat stop you have a few nice miles down the side of Ullswater but then are faced with Kirkstone Pass.
When you reach the foot of Kirkstone you have done about 100 miles and this climb is pretty hard, its steep and there
are no flat bits to rest on, you have to keep working all the way to the top.
From Kirkstone to the finish you have about 25 miles and this has a few small hills that will feel like mountains!
I am local and ride on these roads regularly so many of the smaller hills do not register with me, if you live in
a flat area they may present more of a challenge. The route is in my opinion excellent with fairly traffic free roads
and though hard work the climbs are all rideable given a reasonable level of fitness and suitable gearing.
My bottom gear is a 36 small chainring and 26 cassette.
If you look on the Cyclosport site Mark Harding did a very good preview of the ride.

popette

Thanks for that LeighB - Just looked up the ride preview. I think I'm going to have a few weeks rest from Sportives now so this will be the next one I do. I'm a bit worried about 120 miles and how much that will take out of me but I have 15 days to recover for the Etape so it should be ok.

LeighB

I would not be too worried about the distance as long as you go at a sensible pace, as with any ride the intensity of effort makes a big difference to how you feel at the end. I did ‘Le Terrier’ this weekend and thought its ‘only’ 80 miles so went out at a good pace then suffered on the last 20 miles as the hills were relentless, it was not the distance but too high a pace for the first 50 miles that were my downfall. You should be ok on the Three Counties if you set off in good time and don’t go wild at first; all the climbs are ride able with non of the crazy steep stuff that you have on the Fred Whitton. If you get to Soulby (about half distance) and think you have overstretched yourself you can cut off back to base via a shorter route.

LeighB

PS what gearing have you got on your bike?

popette

Hi LeighB
I've got 34x27 as lowest gear, which has got me round the sportives I've done so far.
I know what you mean about pacing - on the bikeradar sportive, I really went for it and finished 100 miles in 6hrs 40 - it wiped me out for a few days. Weekend just gone, I did the polka dot challenge but really focused on keeping my HR down and forced myself to go at my own pace on hills, even if that meant getting dropped - despite the truly horrendous conditions on the day, and it taking me 8hrs 23 mins, I seemed to recover much more quickly.

LeighB

Should be ok with 34 x 27, I have done this event twice with 36 x 26 and its been ok. I went over the 'Coal Road' section training a few years ago on a 40 x 25 and that was hard work on a hot day!

T.C.

i don't want to be cheeky, i've booked a hotel in the start village, is it ok to ask them if they can keep your water bottles cold, powerade etc

LeighB

I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask but it may depend on how early you want to be setting off. You don't want your drinks too cold as it takes energy from your body heating them up when you drink them.