"...apart from the toughness and the challenges on the day it's got to be one of the best events I've ever done. I had a smile on my face when over 650 of us left the start & headed up the road to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, just to be part of something like this was special & then to finish in a good time, I couldn't have been happier."Mee too Adrian. Know where you're coming from. I used to be nervous at the start - now I'm just excited.
Fantastic blog here by Ed Edwards on the Retrobike forum. I'm not sure whether Jean Paul Sartre ever rode the 3 peaks actually. Or Kate Moss. But it's worth thinking of at times when your head's under pressure.
"I was feeling increasingly weary and the cut off was looking a challenge so to fortify myself I pondered about what Jean Paul would do (that’s J-P Sartre, rather than Jean-Paul who featured in my ‘O’ Level French textbooks). I found that this line of thought made my head hurt so instead focused on thoughts of Kate Moss’ charming bosom, circa 2001. As if by magic I was at the bottom of Whernside in one piece."This, my friends, is why I love the 3 peaks cyclocross. It's like a literature festival at the moment Ed's time of 6hrs 26 was a near time-cutoff thing, but just imagine missing out on writing like this?!
Read in full here on Paul's blog
"From Ribblehead I was a bit alarmed to see a rider in front of me on the wrong side of the road, blithely riding round blind bends in danger from on-coming traffic. Catching him up I realised he was foreign, Italian I think, so shouted that he needed to be on the left. He duly latched onto my back wheel sheltering from the headwind!"
"A personal target is to drink one bottle on this section and I force myself to do it. A few glances over my shoulder trudging up the steps to see if I could spy Al (@crossjunkie) but no sign as yet and I'm hoping he hasn't had a mechanical/puncture - last year he breezed by me on this ascent. Over the top and its onto my bogey section having punctured and mangled mechs here in the past. Each 'Peaks I think I ride more and more of the descent from Whernside but I still run the first section on the left as it seems both quicker and safer - as Clint says "A man's got to know his limitations" "
"After encouragement and flapjack from our enormous support team, I'm on my way to the Ghent, and munching a Torq bar because I said I would. As I start ascending the track, riders are hurtling down which is quite nerve racking....I've still got to come down there....but not yet. Higher on the hill, I see Steve...then Phil....then Mark....and it's uplifting to see them and the warmth of their greeting. Before long I'm on my way down, and it's great cycling. A lovely 'ski traverse' contouring decent above the path, with my Landcruisers holding their edge superbly, and then as we get off the steep bit I start cycling, and keep cycling, for the longest period off-road of the day. "
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| Mark Holmes |
"shockingly awkward descents, clicking cameras, warm sunshine breaking through, cries of "go the Belgians" and so to the finish still in one piece. With wincing triceps and sore palms I really knew I'd done something different"
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| Pic: © Ed Rollason 2011 |
"I was laid up all summer and the forced idelenss meant weight gain and no training. The plaster came off in August and apart from some limped training walks to the supermarket on the family holiday in Spain, I did my first proper bike ride on 1 September."Chapeau Phil - and so chuffed you got round after such crappy preparation
You'd have to be a real lover of mist and murk to get into these videos by a pssing walker (I'm guessing) uploaded to Youtube. Or... erm... an obsessive 3 Peaks Cyclocross lover
"Climbing Whernside was an uneventful slog, carrying the bike up the rocky climb, passing the injured Rob Jebb (2010 winner) en route. Checking in at the summit with GPS time of 2:15 it all seemed to be going well despite the conditions; who needs a grand plan glued to the top tube? The traverse across the top is high speed - as we encountered a long section of peat bog I felt the bike initially plane across the top but then start to cut into the soft soil. Speed only reduced gradually but handling plummeted to zero and I was thrown off spectacularly. It was a big crash and I was at first pleased to realise that apart from a sore head, I was basically OK... then slightly disappointed as I realised that the hardest part of the race was still to come"
I reckon I had 30 seconds of easy pedaling to the bridge then it all kicked off. Suddenly my cadence was in the 200rpm area as I fought tooth and nail to stick to the wheel in front. “F**k me we’re doing 27mph!” I heard. didn’t I know it. Within one mile I was at lactate threshold just trying to hold on. “A hill, a hill….my kingdom for a hill” I thought, anything to make the furious spinning stop. Less than five minutes into the race and I wanted to get off.
Difficult to comprehend this race really. It's unique. Did I enjoy myself? mmm... I'd say enjoyment is a strong word. It was an interesting journey in discovering new sets of aching muscles. The question is will I do it again? most definitely. I am eating my words as I was adamant that it would be a one-off.
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| Steve, left, descends to Cold Cotes |
"We climb. Now we're on grass, getting muddy, getting steeper. Then it gets really steep. Nothing really prepares a first-timer for the horror of Simon Fell, but this time I was more ready for it. I got my head down and plugged away, picking off places, alone on the right away from the mule train."He's also added some of his personal photos from the day here on his Flickr account
"And I was faster, I 'know' I was. The splits tell a different story - slower on the descents, slower on the road - but that is only half the picture. I flowed more, I took more risks that were calculated and that paid off. The mojo was there going downhill, something I had worked on all year."
"The climb up to the top of Whernside is almost completely un-ridable and relies on riders negotiating a series of rocky steps cut into the side of the mountain, following this competitors faced a long technical descent to the Ribblehead viaduct, with a very wet rocky track where many riders faced punctures and tumbles off the bike all the way down. It was at that this stage that John had lost count of the minor tumbles he was experiencing."
The first marshalls out on the course fade back into the mist and murk as I start to grimace my way back down Ingleborough. Arms embarrasingly locked as rigid as the chunky seatstays I’m bounced wildly down the hill. Less flow than the water beating me on it’s descent I feel like a shambles. The road can’t come soon enough. I’m not carving round the kinks and corners in the grassy singletrack, I’m pinballing in the slowest way you could imagine. I’m hating it. I need some sort of reprive, something to help remove the damp-through misery I’m starting to feel.
Lovely subtle mainly slo-mo build up at the start here from Warren Edmond on Vimeo
3 Peaks Cyclocross Race Sept 2011 from Warren Edmond on Vimeo.
"...not sure whether I was just knackered or trying to delay the inevitable rocky descent which you can check out as your trudging up as riders who have already got to the top are coming back down on the same track."
I had powerful brakes, bar-top brake levers and a very short stem. I suppose I was cheating. But it looked pretty impressive and was immense fun.
With Rob Jebb and Stuart Reid not riding this year, and no Noel Clough for the second year in a row, it was always going to be a hard year for Team Wheelbase.co.uk/Cannondale, and in many ways it went from bad to worse with Lewis Craven suffering a badly timed mechanical and my own feeble flailing on Penyghent.
But out with the old, in with the new. Steve Clark's third 3 peaks saw him mature with a very solid 13th place, and Tom Armstrong's debut ride - just 17 years of age - saw a fantastic win in the junior event. There may not have been any team prize or ornaments taken home to Jebb Towers, but it wasn't such a bad day at the office.
It's one of the most vocal cycling forums in the country, and will shortly descend into someone being derogatory about someone else, so go and check out the thread on the Singletrack site before it gets too negative ;-)
Watch here in a new window or below - wonderfully edited from stills and motion footage. Great work Gavin
Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race 2011 on Vimeo.
The going down off Ingleborough is gloopy, I never touched the brakes until the very last bit to Cold Cotes. Frustratingly twice my chain falls off. The chain tension is OK, how does that happen? At Cold Cotes (another 20 places up) I stop and tighten the chain, and swear a lot (sorry kids), and loads of people who I've passed now pass me.
Great geekwork by 3 peaks first timer Ian Alexander of Cheltenham & County CC here. You'd expect it a bit - Ian's a bike designer for Whyte Bikes so loves the detail. Check out this article on the Cyclist No 1 site.
Whyte were very fortunate to secure a set of the not-yet-released Hope Hydraulic disc brake converters to try out which means I should be hoping for rain and wet conditions to maximize any advantage these fantastic brakes are going to liberate.
I’m feeling the usual nerve/excitement cocktail at the moment. It’s not the best of times to get much focused sense out of me. It actually helps to write things down a bit.
Feeling good about somethings and feeling bad about some… so here’s the list
A few recces have been taking place as usual. It's the kind of race that attracts you more and more as you do it (don't I just know it...) and it's a healthy thing to do in many ways. Just simply familiarising oneself with the basics of the hills brings a bit of comfort. For the connoisseur there is the working out of lines etc.
Alan 'Crossjunkie' Dorrington and Konrad Mannning went up for a fairly late recce on Tuesday. It's a good thing to do if you can spare the time, of course, because the weather's affect is generally a done thing by now.
Another year, nearly there
Kit laid out, checked all the spares
Checked tyres, spokes, links on chains
Bars straight, brake pads changed.
Dread this time though every year
Emphasising the tiniest fears
"Did I tighten that cassette?"
"What do I wear is it's not that wet?"
Strangely though it's somehow great
Knowing that by now it's too late
Training is replaced with rest
Drinking water, keeping stretched.
No more working on those lines
Hopping storm drains twenty times
No more pounding up Bull Hill
What's done is done - time to chill
2011 is going to be even more special than usual for me - and for my brother Phil. Both lovers of the 3 peaks come what may, some strange string of events has led to two of our cousins riding this year's race. Not hugely strange to most people, but basically eldest cousin Mark Holmes (right) has made a bit of an effort to get to Helwith Bridge from his home in Nelson, New Zealand.
His travelling round the world on a mid-life career break with wife Sarah has brought him back to his home country of England in September. Fitting in with Dave, Phil and friends in September - as you'll imagine - means one thing really. "You're welcome to come and stay, but you'll have to enter the 3 peaks cyclocross". That type of thing.
Luckily, Mark's a very active mountain biker down under and is up to the challenge, but has never ridden a 'cross bike until last week(!!). His digging deep experience as a former fell runner (not a shabby one either, completing the Ben Nevis race in '93 with me, as I recall)
To compound matters, and celebrate the family spirit - Mark's brother Adrian (still living in Blighty) thought he'd better join in as well. Occasional off-roader and cyclocross bike commuter, Adrian too has never done a cyclocross race - but will draw upon extensive mountain experience to put together a first good effort 'inside the time limit' as he modestly puts it.
Great times for my family, come what may.
Konrad's been featured here before, and taken a short break from organising the Rapha Supercross seried and is lugging his bike over three large hills. Bring on the obsession.
Read his article on the Rapha site here
"A goodly part of this unique race is spent walking up rocky mountain paths or near vertical grassy slopes with your bike perched on your shoulder. Hill reps have been done, mountains have been climbed, so bring on race day."
A great summary of what's to come in just under 6 days time here on the British Cycling website
"The big news is that last year's winner, Rob Jebb, who has won the event 8 times, is out recovering from shoulder surgery. In his absence Nick Craig who won in 2009 and was second last year will probably start favourite. However, Hope team duo Paul Oldham and Dave Collins, both returning to the race after missing it for several years, should also be in the hunt.Read in full here
Of the women competitors, the last two years' winner Renee Saxton is back, but may find it hard to retain her title with the return of four times winner Louise Robinson, who holds the women's record over the course, 3-39.33, considerably quicker than Saxton's p.b of 4 hours 18 minutes. Nick Craig's 2009 win showed that being a veteran is no bar to winning the race, so if Robinson is fully committed, she could just do it. Also likely to be in the frame is Isla Rowntree, another former winner."
Two or three rumours going around on Twitter that Rob Jebb's shoulder injury (sustained in the English Championship fell race at Whittle Pike on 31 July) is now threatening his ability to defend his 3 peaks cyclocross title at Helwith Bridge on 25th September.
Rob's injuries were serious but he's been able to continue training with his usual dedication. However, Rob will undergo a scan in the coming week and it will be determined then whether surgery is needed - and if so, when that surgery will be.
Needless to say, it's on until it's off, and I'll do my best to keep you posted.
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