Etape du Dales anyone ?

[Captain Beaky]

Has anyone else here signed up for the Etape du Dales ?

Entries opened on Thursday and 260+ of the 970 places are already taken.

[andySC]

I'll get my skates on & sign up. Last years ride was horrendous...gale force head/cross winds all the way to Stainforth, Tan Hill was ridiculous, torrential rain & a bit of cheating I reckon too.

That said I've done it 3 times before & always gone well enough.

[Captain Beaky]

andySC said:

I'll get my skates on & sign up. Last years ride was horrendous...gale force head/cross winds all the way to Stainforth, Tan Hill was ridiculous, torrential rain & a bit of cheating I reckon too.

That said I've done it 3 times before & always gone well enough.

This will be my first time. I was at the Stainforth feed station last year watching for some friends and there were a lot of 1000 yard stares.

I've got plenty of time to develop a tactical injury if required

[andySC]

Last year was pretty bad tbh...this was mostly due to weather. I've been round in 6h20 ish but last year was a touch over 7hrs. The ascent of Fleet Moss & Tan Hill were both grim due to freezing headwinds & the driving rain. The decent off Tan was equally ridiculous in that I was pedalling hard going down a 20% gradient & doing about 15mph!

If you've not done it before simply take your time. There were people bailing out at Tan because they'd gone too hard early on, more of the same on Coal Road too. Don't focus on a time to complete in & don't get drawn into ego battles with stronger riders...for these could be the very ones who blow up later on.

Keep hydrated, keep fuelled & if it's anything like last year get wrapped up...plenty of folk in shorts when it was blowing a gale & barely above 10 degrees at sea level.

Hopefully the sun will shine...

[Captain Beaky]

andySC said:

Last year was pretty bad tbh...this was mostly due to weather. I've been round in 6h20 ish but last year was a touch over 7hrs. The ascent of Fleet Moss & Tan Hill were both grim due to freezing headwinds & the driving rain. The decent off Tan was equally ridiculous in that I was pedalling hard going down a 20% gradient & doing about 15mph!

If you've not done it before simply take your time. There were people bailing out at Tan because they'd gone too hard early on, more of the same on Coal Road too. Don't focus on a time to complete in & don't get drawn into ego battles with stronger riders...for these could be the very ones who blow up later on.

Keep hydrated, keep fuelled & if it's anything like last year get wrapped up...plenty of folk in shorts when it was blowing a gale & barely above 10 degrees at sea level.

Hopefully the sun will shine...

I heard that it was looking like a nice bright day at start time so a lot of folks were underdressed for the conditions later.

Thanks for the advice, it sounds like you're in a different league from me: my aim is just to finish in one piece before dark ! I know a couple of of other riders so I'll have a sneaky draft until they shake me off - probably at the first ascent.