STRUGGLE DALES SPORTIVE 2022 RECAP

On the 22nd May, I headed to Harrogate for the Struggle Yorkshire Dales sportive. I was using this as a long ride as part of my training for Challenge Roth in early July. This was my first 100 miler of the year having done 5 in 2021 by this stage.

The Struggle was on the same day as the Velo 29 Tour of The Peaks which I did last year and really enjoyed the challenging route. I almost signed up to do that one again but saw the Struggle and fancied a change. The Struggle Dales is a little shorter and has less gain but still has a few good climbs to test the legs.

I left home at 4:45am and was aiming to get there around 6:45am and set off at 7. The drive from South Cheshire to Harrogate was fine, with no traffic at that time of the day.

With travelling a fairly long way I didn’t register the day before, I picked up the race number and timing chip on the day. There was a small queue but no more than 5mins. At the start village, they had a coffee van and some toilets.

I had travelled up with just bib shorts, a short-sleeved top, sunnies, shoes and a helmet. The basics. Whilst fixing the number on the bike and getting everything out, I felt cold and noticed that almost everyone had been sensible and brought gilets, long-sleeved tops or jackets. All I had with me was an Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire hoodie. In the end, I decided to put that on under my jersey, not the typical cycling attire but if it kept me warm I was happy.

That messing around with the hoody meant I didn’t get out at 7am but there were no set start times, you just join the pen when you are ready and they let you go in small bunches. It was about 7:15 when I lined up and we rolled out at 7:20.

The route takes in 7 main climbs:

BEDLAM: Location: mile 5; Distance: 0.6 miles; Elevation gain: 281ft; Steepness: 8% avg.
HARTWITH BANK: Location: mile 10; Distance: 0.7 miles; Elevation gain: 458ft; Gradient: 11% avg.
GREENHOW HILL: Location: mile 15; Distance: 2.4 miles; Elevation gain: 934ft; Gradient: 7% avg.
MALHAM COVE: Location: mile 38; Distance: 1.1 miles; Elevation gain: 544ft; Gradient: 9% avg.
PARK RASH: Location: mile 52; Distance: 1.2 miles; Elevation gain: 684ft; Gradient: 10% avg.
TRAPPING HILL: Location: mile 80; Distance: 0.7 miles; Elevation gain: 369ft; Gradient: 9% avg.
TWO STOOPS: Location: mile 94; Distance: 1.6 miles; Elevation gain: 680ft; Gradient: 7% avg.

As it is Yorkshire, there are plenty of other rollers between these main climbs, some of those rollers quite challenging in themselves. You quickly rattle off three of the climbs early on, with fresh legs they aren’t too much of a challenge, just worth reminding yourself to not go crazy and pace it, you have a big day in the saddle and don’t want to blow up late on just to push for a KOM or PB on an early climb.

When I got going, I was really glad I decided to wear the hoodie under my jersey, looks silly but it gave a little warmth, despite that I was still cold.

It then started to rain not long into the day, not really heavy rain but enough to get the road wet and in turn, the bike wet and dirty. This highlighted another error in my prep for this ride, I had taken the bike straight off the indoor trainer with dry lube on the chain. This soon got washed off and left the chain and gears making some very stressed and unhappy noises.

At the first feed stop, I wanted to ask the mechanic to put some lube on but there was a bit of a queue. Rather than waiting, I decided to push on, in hindsight, I should have waited a couple of minutes and got it sorted rather than enduring the grinding noise for a couple more hours. Nothing went wrong, just annoying hearing that on every turn of the pedals.

The first half of the ride was nice despite the rain. The scenery around Yorkshire was stunning, with a few hills to test the legs, and some nice downhills to try to hit a new top speed, I didn’t get anywhere near that.

Once I passed mile 50 my focus turned to Park Rash. This was the one hill I had been more worried about. With a few sections hitting 25% and the narrow steep road making it a difficult climb if you encounter a vehicle I was just wanting to get over it and get on with the rest of the ride.

When I got to the bottom of the climb I felt ready for it, I could see a few riders in front but enough of a gap to ride at my own pace. No cars in front or behind so I set off.

I quickly realised I was already catching those in front and 3 cars were behind me. They got past me without any issues. There was a lady in front going a lot slower than I was and was holding the 3 cars up. I was stuck behind the cars all going at the pace of the lady in front. By the time we got to the 25% section she was zig zagging to take some of the steepness out of the hill, this meant the cars more or less stopped and I had no way passed them, I had to get off and push. To be honest, I wasn’t too fussed about that, it meant I could let these cars go and have some banter with the guys standing at the side of the road.

Once the cars had cleared off and passed the lady I got back on and went past her and all the way up to the top, catching and passing those who were just in front of us when I started to walk up

The rest of the ride was really nice. My chain issues were resolved, I didn’t have that noise to spoil the Yorkshire countryside. The roads were mostly flat, a little rolling in places. The final two climbs were pretty straightforward… assuming you didn’t go out too hard early on? I hadn’t so I went up and over them with no problems, I saw a few people struggling on those climbs and on the flats towards the end.

All in all, I had a really good day out on the bike. My first 100 miler of 2022 was done, I made a few schoolboy errors in my prep for today, next time I will pack for all types of weather conditions rather than packing as light as possible. Nice to get a good long ride done as part of my training for Challenge Roth in July.