Dirty Reiver

Oh well that's ok then.

I've plotted this year's route against last years. Plenty of new stuff!

Also, snow in Kielder at the moment, welp.

So a question about tyres. Would I be pushing it with 47c slicks? Is knobliness a requirement for this?

And to the other people doing it on fixed/single-speed, what gearing are you thinking about? I'm currently at 66'' and signed up for the 135km.

A friend whose riding with us will be doing it on 47mm WTB Byways. I think he'll be fine.

I did it on GravelKing SKs last year & those worked out pretty well. From my experience of gravel, I've been generally fine with slicks as it's size which makes the biggest difference, & I'd only really be concerned about grip on slicks if it were really wet (fingers crossed it isn't). I'll be doing it on slicks - 42mm Continental Sport Contact IIs - but will be taking a set of Shwalbe G-Ones to swap if case the weather is damper.

I've been checking the weather forecast for Kielder recently & the predictions are all over the place. The weather was so perfect last year I got sunburnt, would be crazy if we got that amount of sun again.

I've also decided to ride up from Leeds with @Tor since I've got Thursday & Friday off work & I've managed to bag a cheap YHA in Langdon Beck. Incredible that we've also managed to get a train home from Carlisle for £16 for the two of us (thanks, two together railcard)! Hopefully this won't leave us too knackered for the ride on Saturday, &, again, hopefully the weather is kind!

I’m gonna be driving home past kielder from Melrose on Sunday and will have room in the car. Anyone need a lift?

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. So it will be either fixed on wtb horizons or geared on 700x35c as of yet unknown. Hmm.

I’m going fixed on 35c Gravelking SK’s. Did it last year on gears with 40c Maxxis Re-Fuse tyres which were fine.

I’ll be running 46x18 (with the option of 46x20) on the 200k.

Thanks for the info :)

My 'standard' gearing is 47x18, I might just go for it. No cog on the other side though.

See you all there!

@Tor has the advantage of having a doctorate of weather science, & the official Torcast for this weekend in Kielder is that it's looking cold & dry, which sounds pretty good!

I've opted for wtb nano 40c, not sure if that's overkill!

Knobbles may be overkill, but the size will be just perfect :)

Getting excited now! Am setting off tomorrow morning nice & early. Got ~95 miles to Langdon Beck YHA where we're staying for a night & then on to Kielder on Friday. If we have time tomorrow, I'm hoping to drop in at High Force to have a look at the waterfall.

Yeah I'm a noob. So rather overkill than under. Who knows what weather will do

A mate doing this forgot his cycling shoes. So if anyone is going to this tomorrow and has a spare pair of size 10 (or bigger I guess) shoes that you could lend with SPD cleats then you would save his weekend.

Borrowing flat pedals is surely the easier option?

Good luck and have fun everyone. Super jealous!

That was a very good day.

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That was a gruelling day.

FTFY
Mad respect for riding it fixed. I am shattered.

That looks so good. Gutted I didn't know about it earlier. Roll on next year.

Do it.

Fixed wasn’t actually that bad, although I’m glad I flipped my rear wheel and ran 46x20. Hopefully on some mad custom tandem next year.

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Tandem tallbike, surely.

Pretty sure I saw you near the end, on the climb before the lake path. Thought you were mad!

That timed section was a right pain; an off camber rocky climb followed by an even rockier descent. I almost stacked it coming down.

@dimi3 Paging Dear Susan

Urgh, that was horrendous. Saved the best until last, didn't they!

You two passed us just after the second feed stop, where we'd stopped to fix a friend's saddle bag which fell off. Huge respect for doing it fixed!

I DAS'd someone at one point (& got one!), not sure if it was one of you guys.

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