I'm planning on riding over, good training for the lakeland loop.

Enjoy!!

Was a bit wasnt it.  Dave's Gps read 36mls and 6500ft of climbing.  Bloody draggy, shitty, muddy fireroad climbing that will haunt me for a few weeks at least.

Good fun though and couldnt have asked for better weather.  The ice made things a bit interesting though.

I finished it which is more than can be said for 100 (25%) of the entrants

I REALLY enjoyed it.  One of the best enduro events i have taken part in and really liked the route even though the climbs were savage.  The reason so many dropped out is because they put 3 massive climbs AFTER the second passing of the visitors centre when most assumed they had finished at 31mls.  So with another 5mls to do and 3 massive climbs a LOT of people quit.

Weather was great and i felt amazing untill the last 5mls when i went pop.  TBH i had been pulling bigger gears than i should have at too slow a pace because i was being sociable so it was my own fault.  Reckon i could knock 1 hr off my 6hr time without even putting any extra effort in.

Oh and had a beauty of a crash.  Girl (Off here) crashed in front of me whilst flying down a descent.  She hit a icy patch and went down.  I realised straight away and had the choice of braking on same icy patch (Guarenteed fall) or hitting her.  I braked and hit the deck.  Bloody sore dead leg after that.

All in all, a fantastic event

It was a good event, and bloody hard.

Saying that though I thought the start may have been better planned to reduce the two major bottlenecks - if you start near the back and get stuck in these it can radically affect your time I bet.

Also, the split time point seemed to be completely pointless. Wouldn't it be better to have a split time check at the end of each lap? Not half an hour into the ride, and partway down a fast downhill.

The 'feeding zone' was a bit crap too compared with the GMBC - a small cup of dilute energy drink didn't do me much good.

If they could iron out those minor points I'm sure this event can go on to become really popular in future years.

Yes it was Kate.  She looked shaken enough Ally, i couldnt inflict me landing on her as well.

The feeding zone was a bit of a joke wasnt it.  I felt really embarrased having to put my cup on the floor because there werent even any bins.  I hid mine under some other geezers bike.

I did however take advantage of the gloves offer.  £30 gloves down to £10.  Bloody comfy gloes as well