Etape du Dales | ravensgully

The Etape du Dales sportive is an event I have wanted to do for a long time, I have cycled many times in the Yorkshire Dales and knew the route well but have never previously linked it all up. This year the omens were lining up nicely, the race date coincided with my weekend off and more importantly the legs were in reasonably good shape from all the training we had been doing for the Mallorca 312 event at the end of April, so after a quick check online to see if spaces were still available, I entered. The Etape is 110 miles long and has about 3500m of climbing in it. According to Wikipedia the Etape was started as an alternative to the regularly oversubscribed Fred Whitton Challenge (112 miles, 3950m climbing) over in the Lake District and while it may lack the horror of being faced with a climb as steep and gnarly as Hardknott Pass after already cycling a hilly 100 miles, the Etape is still a significant challenge for most cyclists, with several long, tough, climbs. The ride features 8 climbs.

Fleet Moss
Buttertubs
Turf Moor
Tan Hill
Mallerstang
The Coal Road
Dent Head viaduct
Dale Head

The event starts at Wharfedale Rugby Club in Threshfield, very close to Grassington. I drove over here late on Saturday afternoon, the day before the event, to register and to get familiar with the layout and then had a wander around the attractive cobbled village square in Grassington with its numerous cafes, pubs and shops. After this I drove over to Kilnsey and had a meal in the Tennants Arms Pub, the barman recommended a special on the fish and chips, he said it was quite substantial and he wasn’t kidding, the fish must have been at least 18 inches long, even a couple of locals kept glancing over to see how I was getting on. The plan had been to find a campsite nearby but it was such a pleasant and calm evening I decided to find a quiet bivi spot instead and sleep out in the open. Once the sun went down it did get chilly, down to 1 or 2 degrees but tucked up in a warm sleeping bag inside a gore-tex bivi bag I was comfortable and was treated to a calm starry night. After a restless night (I never seem to sleep well before big events) I was up at 5.00am for a breakfast of muesli and coffee before packing all the gear away and then driving the 10 minutes or so to the start of the event, the marshals were already in place directing the cars into adjacent fields for parking. After reassembling the bike from the car and attaching the race number with its integrated timing chip, the next major decision was what to wear….. It was still rather chilly but everyone seemed to agree that the weather was going to be ok, dry with light winds and sunny, so I set off with a gillet, arm-warmers and gloves and crossed over the starting line, which made a reassuringly large beep sound, at about 6.40am. You can start the challenge at anytime between 6.30am and 9.30am and with over 1000 entrants it’s a good way of spreading the cyclists evenly over the sometimes narrow country roads. The first few miles up to Buckden are quite flat and a good opportunity to find a group of cyclists going at your own pace, at Buckden you turn off left to Hubberholme and Yockenthwaite along a beautiful valley and today the cyclists had it all to ourselves as the road was closed to vehicles as they were repairing the damaged road from the previous severe winter. It’s a gentle climb mostly until you reach Oughtershaw, there the first test of the day starts, the climb of Fleet Moss, even though this is from the “easy side” it’s still a long tough climb. About half way up i came across a cyclist who had snapped his chain and was asking passing cyclists if they had a chain tool, as it happened i did so i loaned it to him and carried on hoping to be reacquainted with it someday! From the top of Fleet Moss it a terrifyingly fast descent down to Hawes and you could certainly break your personal speed record down here, as well as your neck probably if you came off, I like to keep it below 40mph though and keep the wheel wobbles under control. After passing through Hawes main street you turn left on the Sedbusk road and arrive at the first feed station (22.5 miles). Feeling good at this point and with plenty of fluid in my bottle I didn’t stop for food and just passed over the timing mat and continued up the road heading for the next big obstacle, the climb over Buttertubs, going in the same direction as the Tour de France riders went back in 2014, this is the easiest direction but the 17% climb up to the cattle grid certainly gets the heart rate soaring, once over the grid however it’s a steady climb and not too bad and I was treated to lovely weather, beautiful views and another blistering descent towards Swaledale where the route turns right and it’s a fast run down to Gunnerside and onto Low Row, here you turn left onto a steep side road that links Swaledale with Arkengarthdale. This small side road is the start of the climb of Turf Moor and it was the only section of the route that i hadn’t done before (the bit leading up to the ford). From the main Swaledale road I have often glanced up when passing and thinking, crikey that looks a bit steep, and once on it, it didn’t disappoint, it has just recently been resurfaced with loose stone chippings which made things interesting, once past the cattle grid it eases off a little but is still quite tough. Eventually you drop down to the infamous ford at Surrender Bridge, where a small stream, maybe 2 metres wide and a few centimetres deep, crosses the road, the problem is that the surface underneath the stream is covered in very slippery green moss, I had done a mountain bike route up here previously with a friend and we tried to ride through it and before we knew what was happening we were both lying in the water, so today i unclipped and used the little footbridge to the right. Apparently during last years event there were about 20 bathers…. After a steep but thankfully short climb away from the ford it’s a fast downhill section to Arkengarthdale where the route turns left and heads north-west for about 8 miles to the pub at Tan Hill, it’s a steady climb most of the way but the road is very exposed to the elements and if there is a head wind it can be a tortuous section. The second feed station was located outside this iconic pub (47 miles completed) and was well stocked with energy drinks, sandwiches, fruit cakes, bananas and boiled potatoes, all of which went down a treat. The route then turns left and it is another fast descent down Stonesdale Moor with a couple of technical hairpin bends at the bottom to keep you on your toes before you turn right on the undulating road through Birkdale which eventually climbs up to the border between the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria before yet another blisteringly fast descent all the way down to Nateby. Here you turn left and begin the long drag up Mallerstang past Pendragon Castle and up past the viaduct at Ais Gill, the high point on the Settle to Carlisle railway line, before eventually you swoop down to the third feed station at the Moorcock Inn (69 miles). I had been feeling pretty good on this ride so far and had been pushing quite hard on the climbs but on that last climb up to Ais Gill, while standing up on the pedals I started to get little twinges of cramp in the front of my thighs, this seemed to go away when I sat down again but I was worried because I knew full well what was coming next….the crux of the whole ride, the long steep climb of the Coal Road. From the Moorcock Inn you turn right along the B road through Garsdale then turn off left and climb steeply past the railway station of Garsdale Station, from here the road curves to the right and gets even steeper through the plantation, I was in serious trouble here, because as soon as I stood up on the pedals I got painful cramps in the front of my thighs so was forced to sit and slowly grind away but I could feel the energy slowly draining away but I was determined to keep pedalling and get past the steepest bit, at last the gradient eased a little and I tried standing up again to stretch my aching legs out but again I got cramps straight away, so I was forced into more slow, painful, grinding all the way to the very top, what a relief it was when the road finally flattened out and I began the long technical descent past Dent Station and the hairpin bends to the t-junction at the end. Here the route turns left and follows the stream for a while as it flows over great slabs of limestone, the road then starts to ramp up as it approaches the Dent Head Viaduct and then gets even steeper and turns into quite a vicious little climb which had me zig-zagging across the road and I was mightily relieved to get past it and I knew that once back on the B road the next few miles down to Horton in Ribblesdale, via the Ribblehead Viaduct, would be a lot easier and fast, even with my tired legs I made good progress. After Horton the route continues down to Stainforth where you turn left and is the location for the fourth and final feed station at 90 miles completed. Straight out of the village you are on to the final big climb of the day up Silverdale to Dale Head, the hardest bit is at the bottom where the road ramps straight up, levels off, then goes up again, once over this I found, much to my surprise, the rest of the climb was ok and as you draw level with Pen-y-Ghent on your left all major difficulties on this ride are over and the last few miles are a pure joy, you are on a narrow strip of Tarmac going through some stunning scenery, the last descent is another fast one down to Halton Gill where you turn right and can zip along the narrow lanes of Littondale at a cracking pace, through Arncliffe to join the B road that goes past Kilnsey Crag and into Threshfield, here a couple of left turns take you back to the pot-holed lane that leads down to the Rugby Club and the Finishing line. All the riders were entitled to a free meal in the rugby club house, I went for the pork pie and mushy peas and a cup of coffee all of which tasted delicious, in the mean time my finishing certificate was being printed off with my times through all the feed stations printed on it. My time for the ride was 7 hours 38 minutes which considering the difficulties I was having from 70 miles onwards I’m pleased with, with hindsight I now realise that I was pushing too hard on the Buttertubs, Turf Moor and Tan Hill sections and paid the price later on, maybe a more even pace/effort strategy would have got me closer to that much sought after gold standard, especially as the conditions on the day were almost ideal, with a new course record being set by Thomas Denwood from Harrogate Nova, beating Malcolm Elliot’s 2010 time and stopping the clock at a very impressive 5 hrs 40mins 32 seconds.