My 3 Peaks Adventure

At the start of the year, the cyclocross bug really started to bite and with it came the urge to enter all races I thought looked fun and interesting. Having seen the epic pictures in Cycling Weekly of last year's 3 peaks race, a small (insane) part of me thought it would be a really good idea to give the event a go.....

I was probably the most naive entrant, having never been to the Dales, never seen the race and not really spoken to anyone who had done it. As time ticked by over the summer, I started to research exactly what I had thrown myself into; thats when the nerves and fear began...

Race weekend rolled around far too quickly, before I knew it we were trying to assemble a tent I had never used before (oh dear). Dusk turned to darkness in the unlit field and frustration turned to anger as we still tried to work out if the damn tent had a porch or not! Finally, with our pride in tatters, we retreated to the car and began contemplating the night ahead in the ford fiesta.

After a less than ideal night's sleep, we awoke to the hustle and bustle of race morning. It was surreal considering we had parked on a very quiet country lane yet by 7am we were surrounded by cars, bikes and people. Pre race nerves started to set in.

On the start line, I was amazed by the sheer volume of people. There was a certain mood in the air, a feeling of stepping into the unknown. I had never felt like that before a race before, I think it was the genuine worry that I might really hurt myself in some way or another.

I loved the mass start, watching 600 riders snake away on the road was quite a sight, (I certainly had a good view as I managed to start nearly at the back of the field!). Then onto the first hill, well 'hill' is a slightly misleading term. I would use something more like cliff or mountain to describe Simon Fell. Very quickly I began to feel that excruciating cramping sensation in my calves that everybody had told me about. The hill was sooooooooo steep; it felt like a 70% rock climbing overhang! I'm a small rider anyway but when my bike was on my shoulder, the front wheel wasn't even clearing the ground in front of me! After the first very steep rise, it plateaued then rose again. A rider next to me asked 'is that the next hill?' I really wished it was!

The top of Inglebourgh feels like the top of the world, especially with the awful gale force winds which were blowing me over. At one point I had hold of the handlebars and the bike was in the air flying like a kite; its not even carbon! The descent however was manageable, with only one over the handlebars episode when my front wheel stuck in a peat bog.

Two down, one to go....

A lovely road section followed and then onto Wearnside. At this point my calves were shot and were cramping at every mount and dismount on the bike. Regardless of the pain, I quite enjoyed the stepped climb to Wearnside; yes it was long but it was just a case of one foot in front of the other. The desecnt however was a different matter. One walker asked me why we had bikes if we were just running all the time, and honestly she had a point, the bike was an inconvenience! The rocky, steep and technical descent was made harder by the gale, which gusted and blew me off my bike a few times.

Then onto Pen-y-Ghent, which for me was the most enjoyable climb of the day. I rode the first third up the rocky lane until it was time to shoulder the climb and push for the final summit. The feeling that the finish was within touching distance was very comforting and gave me a boost that powered me onto the finish.

The final road section to the finish

I was delighted to cross the line, it was a mix of pure relief and exhaustion. I managed to be the fasted female U23 and lower the course record by 18 minutes too. I can see how experience and preparation play such key roles in the 3 peaks and I would like to congratulate Delia Beddis and Rob Jebb on their fantastic performances, because it takes a special athlete to win a race of this type.

Finally I would like to thank cxmagazine.com for their continual support. It makes such a difference in a race like the 3 peaks to know you have help on hand if anything were to go wrong on the day. If you haven't checked out their magazine and website I would really recommend doing so, as it has offered me invaluable advice which helped tremendously on race day. I have some 20% off discount codes for subscription if you are interested, just contact me through @muddymurray.