Not long ago, I decided that ‘touring’ was a very good word for the kind of bicycle riding I enjoy. I do like riding fast (at times) and pushing myself mentally and adventure-ly (at times), but my main reasons for riding a bicycle are to go places, see people and do things.
This mindset has dovetailed spectacularly badly with my attempts at riding ‘ultra’* races.** In 2022, I attempted both the TransWales and TransEngland events across England and Wales respectively, and ended up scratching out of both for various reasons. More importantly, though, I realised I hadn’t enjoyed them because I couldn’t do what I usually enjoyed on a bicycle, and I’d treated them as a pedal-turning exercise.
The planning didn’t help; I rode both on weekends in the school term and on tight budgets from having to save up for a visa. Between the tedium, the time constraints and penny-pinching, I’d more or less set myself up to fail.
So, when the Dales Divide race was announced for 2023, happened to be during a two-week Easter holiday from school and after I had paid for my visa, I said to myself - I’m riding this. Here are some thoughts on what attracted me to it and my rationale behind the race.
The Dales Divide
The Dales Divide route is simple; starting from Arnside, Cumbria on the west coast of the UK, riders would ride across the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors hills to Scarborough on the east coast...and back again. That’s the full 600km route, anyway; there’s a shorter 450km route (which is still plenty long enough) that extends till around York before looping back towards Arnside again. It’s touted as an off-road event, but is more ‘gravel tracks, bridleways and some quiet roads’ than singletrack and sketchy rock gardens.
Between this relatively chill terrain and the short route option, the Dales Divide seemed like the perfect race, as Bikepacking.com puts it, for ‘riders who are just starting to try bikepacking and is specifically set to encourage and help newcomers.’ I knew getting into a bikepacking race that I needed to set realistic goals; rather than expect to complete a 1,000km hardcore mountain bike route, I aimed for 450km and chose to aspire upwards from there.
It also helped my decision that the route cuts through one of my favourite parts of the UK: Yorkshire. Between my love for hills, the wild, my sense of humour and my thriftiness, I consider myself an honorary Yorkshireman. I knew that if there was ever a tonic against pushing too hard and finding things tedious, being in Yorkshire was it.
The Ultra Tour
Talking about pushing too hard, the Dales Divide was the subject of some intense dotwatching in 2022, when Angus Young and Chris Hinds were pushing an incredible pace to finish the race. Chris rode the full 600km in a frankly astonishing 1 day, 10 hours and 11 minutes, having stopped for just 2 and a half hours to either rest or fuel, presumably. Inevitably, both of these riders rode through most of one night.
I knew almost instantly that I would not be doing any of these things. Here’s why.
I like sleep, and I need sleep in order to function
I want to enjoy riding my bike in this beautiful, beautiful place; and
I want to continue to enjoy riding my bike well after the race is over.
Subsequently, I set myself a plan very early on, almost before I had entered the race, keeping these thoughts in mind. For one, I would be sleeping, and sleeping properly - at least 6 hours, if not 8 hours a night. This would mean little to no riding my bike at night, a decision I was ok with; I can, but don’t especially enjoy riding at night. The most I would ride at night would probably be to and from an eventual sleep spot.
If I did get 8 hours of sleep, I wanted to divide my 16 wakeful hours into no more than 10 hours of actual bike riding. This was not an unreasonable goal; I suspected that I would average no more than 15 kph when riding, and 150 km over 10 hours is a solid day’s riding even on-road. Off-road riding, with its resultant bodily abuse, would make 10 hours and 150km vastly more challenging. This decision felt completely reasonable given my goals of enjoyment and scenery-spotting.
During my hours spent off the bike, I also wanted to feel able to stop and admire, eat and meditate. None of these would be anything as possible if I were pushing 16-hour days with little sleep or rest.
Hang on, I hear your voices cry collectively, isn’t this just a bike tour?
That’s exactly how I see it. The format and route of the Dales Divide enable a wide range of approaches; those who want to race it, can. I’m going in, thankful, that someone has planned this beautiful 450 km route across a wonderful place for me to enjoy at my leisure; and enjoy it, I will.
‘Training’? What training?
Leaving behind any racing aspirations also lifted a load off my shoulder regarding physical training. Make no mistake - even to ride 150km for three days is not physically easy, but it’s a level of fitness I could acquire a lot easier and arguably already had.
The main ‘training’ I’m undertaking is actually getting better at riding my bike. I’ll be riding my Stanton Switchback hardtail for this race and, as I’ve said previously, I’ve only just started riding MTBs as an adult very recently. Even though I’m getting a lot more confident and adapting to the renewed physical load that riding a ‘proper’ MTB entails, I need the practice. The logic: better MTB skillz (with a ‘z’) = improved confidence = happier Varun.
I will be trying to get some long days in the saddle, just to get better at eating, resting and to mentally reconfigure. I’ll probably do most of this on-road, however, on my Stayer and perhaps get some Audaxes in again. For now, I’m content that my off-road rides of around 50-80k are more than sufficient to get used to riding an MTB for extended periods.
The bike and my equipment will likely grow and change around me, too. I’ll post an article closer to the race once I’ve settled on a ‘final’ specification.
Thoughts: Why ultra?
I think there’s a beauty to the ultra bike riding scene that’s rarely captured, either through text, image, dotwatching or the various films that edify racers and celebrate incredible physical achievements. Yes, ultra racing is about them, but only a very small part. At its heart is an extended opportunity to experience a place, a moment in time x 1000 under your own steam, to celebrate the sheer laugh-out-loud joy of riding a bike. I’m never going to compete at the pointy end of a race, and that’s ok. In the Dales Divide this year, I’d rather sit back, relax and be intensely grateful for where I am, what I’m doing and how far I can do so on my bike.
I may never be an ultra racer, but damn am I lucky to be here at all.
The Dales Divide 2023 starts on Friday, the 7th of April on the pier at Arnside, with spectators able to track riders on Dotwatcher.com.
Handy links:
Bikepacking.com, handy route summary: https://bikepacking.com/event/dales-divide-2023/
Dales Divide’s page on Facebook:
A handy map of the 2022 route on Komoot.com by Dr Eleanor Jaskawska:
*Let’s face it, ‘ultra’ is a stupid term and is totally subjective to one’s experience of bicycle riding, but it’s what they are called. So, we go with it.
**Let’s also face the fact that I ain’t no racer.
Comments