Etape Du Dales; which way is harder?
bam49
Posts: 159
I know a good few peeps on here have ridden the Etape du Dales sportive in Yorkshire - I have ridden it four times myself, but not since 2010..
Has anyone ridden the 'normal' direction and then ridden it the other way round as it was set up this year - and could say which way is harder ? They are going to keep the same direction for 2019 and I was thinking of entering it again.. Only snag is - if it seems harder than the usual direction (which is hard enough), then I might not bother..
thanks
Has anyone ridden the 'normal' direction and then ridden it the other way round as it was set up this year - and could say which way is harder ? They are going to keep the same direction for 2019 and I was thinking of entering it again.. Only snag is - if it seems harder than the usual direction (which is hard enough), then I might not bother..
thanks
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Comments
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Which way is the wind blowing ?0
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It seems a bit silly to enter a very hilly event, but not bother if it's harder... I guess the all point is to do it because it is harder...
Don't know if it's harder... the climibng is the same, the roads are steep both ways. Buttertubs is probably harder, the rest is probably the sameleft the forum March 20230 -
Fleet Moss definitely harder0
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ugo.santalucia wrote:It seems a bit silly to enter a very hilly event, but not bother if it's harder... I guess the all point is to do it because it is harder...
Don't know if it's harder... the climibng is the same, the roads are steep both ways. Buttertubs is probably harder, the rest is probably the same
The thing is ugo - I know how hard it is in the regular direction, if as the website claims, its even harder the other way it might be too much.. Especially as I have not ridden it since 2010 - and I'm not even riding on the road yet since fracturing a hip in an RTC in April.. I was thinking of entering to motivate myself and have a goal/target for next year . Does my concern still seem silly ?
I have never bothered with the Fred Whitton, figured the Etape du Dales was hard enough for me..0 -
bam49 wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:It seems a bit silly to enter a very hilly event, but not bother if it's harder... I guess the all point is to do it because it is harder...
Don't know if it's harder... the climibng is the same, the roads are steep both ways. Buttertubs is probably harder, the rest is probably the same
The thing is ugo - I know how hard it is in the regular direction, if as the website claims, its even harder the other way it might be too much.. Especially as I have not ridden it since 2010 - and I'm not even riding on the road yet since fracturing a hip in an RTC in April.. I was thinking of entering to motivate myself and have a goal/target for next year . Does my concern still seem silly ?
I have never bothered with the Fred Whitton, figured the Etape du Dales was hard enough for me..
re. too hard: it's the same amount of climbing... what stays in your legs is exactly the same. Turf moor will be downhill... that's a long 20% slab that you rid of... Tan Hill will not be with 20 mph wind in the face... that's not bad... Coal road is hard both ways... Fleet Moss south side is not exactly easy... I nearly capsized at the hairpin... the only one with is harder is Buttertubs.
More importantly, if you don't risk to fail, what's the point in doing it? Doing things which are well beyond comfort is the all pointleft the forum March 20230 -
appreciate that - maybe I will go for it then, entries open on Nov 18th I think..
Still not doing the Fred though 0 -
bam49 wrote:appreciate that - maybe I will go for it then, entries open on Nov 18th I think..
Still not doing the Fred though
FWIW I find the Etape harder than the Fred. In the Fred you know you have to go up n climbs... but the in between is fairly flat. The Etape doesn't have much in the way of flat... and it's typically windier.
Climbs in the FWC are steeper, but there are bigger cassettes around these days.left the forum March 20230
