PubDuro – Gravel Riding the North York Moors

Bank Holiday weekend, the perfect time to avoid the crowds and go cycling hobo with some wild camping. Add in some remote riding on gravel tracks of the North Yorkshire Moors, brilliant idea from the #TheRacingCollective

A big weekends riding started with a ride up country to the Thirsk area, ironic as that’s where my LEL ended prematurely. Superb night spent at the Paradise farm with friends Katherine Bikes and Jon and Mostyn joined to make four for the ride over the moors to Robins Hood Bay.

A demanding yet brilliant days gravel riding led to a bivy by the coast before a solo breakfast run to Scarborough and a long windy ride home. Just under 500 miles in total on the loaded Tripster with G-one tyres; the story in pictures.

Ready for the off. loaded for fun rather than speed. Zpaks shelter, sleeping bag and brew kit on board. Katherine’s lovely Pinnacle Arkose LTD and a Mason Boketh lined up with the Tripster

Super find The Paradise farm café and camp field for walkers and cyclists only. Beware shuts early at 3pm, Ginni took pity on my last minute order and got a good chicken salad with whats left. Licensed too, result

Sutton bank start the only non complete hard core gravel section, not even horse damaged luckily.

Short roll from the camp spot to the bar….Umm cafe

Cake and beer available through the evening

 

solid double track with great vistas on the Cleveland way. Katherine was smoking it on 44mm WTB tyres

Time for some technical fun dropping off the bank. The only section where an MTB would have rocked, if you had the Kahoonas

So what are you waiting for if this doesn’t stir any adventuring spirit in you then you are beyond hope.

Heading for a pub dinner before inevitably the trail goes up again

The Ingleby Incline one seriously steep 17% loose and hard work. Chuffed to have made it with one dab on tough gears. Strava says 3mph avg ouch

Jon relieved at the summit

The photographers loved the moody light. It was threatening all day but for Yorkshire it was basically dry. Not the heat wave the south had for the bank Hol weekend.

Singletrack fun to be had on the route too

Dropping down from pub 2 the remote Lion Inn it gets super trails like on the “old railway” loop that used to serve the Iron ore furnaces towards Rosedale. Great fun even on the skinny tyres.

Reward 3 at pub 3 The White Horse Farm Inn, Straight after its the killer tarmac of Rosedale Chimney, boy that was a proper curb to curb grind

The 3 Amigos for the day, great day with these guys. Extra fun and proper pub stops meant that time was running out fast and the bank holiday made finding the last meal pretty tough

Not a bad view to wake up to after a bivy high up on the Robin Hood to Scarborough trail. Cold crisp Autumn mornings are great

Riding South to Scarborough shadowing the coast in search of Coffee and breakfast, still off road which was a bonus. By now we had all split up. Finishing in The bay at 11pm was a cold affair with no food on offer. The end of this ride needs some more thought.

Tripster in tour mode. Not a fan of across the bars bags, first time for a while. An Alpkit dry bag strapped onto a Wildcat harness held the sleeping bag and mat with a warm down jacket. The Seatbag had spare clothes, waterproofs and some cooking/brew kit. the red sac held my Z-paks shelter which is bulky but is the same weight as my gloves! Frame bag holds all those loose bits that require access. Still hauled up them climbs OK

hello Scarborough. Felt great rolling into town with the dawn. Watching the place wake up, tons of places to grab food with great views. Garmin 1000 as faultless as ever, note Landscape mode to clear the bag, good option on this unit.

Sure warmed up fast on the trip South. Dejavu on crossing the Humber bridge again after LEL. Suffered on the 180 mile trip home with the moors in the legs against a southerly wind.

 

Dropped into Guy Martins pub on the way back through Lincs. Proper nice place Chief…”Fancy a brew” He’s doing the wall of death there again during September.

Hot Hot. lost in the Fens. It’s 6pm scoffing the last of the snacks, 4 hours from home and looking forward to my own bed once more.

The Bivy spot. I prefer a dry spot to soft grass, the Klymit mat is super comfy. tucked under the bridge just in case the clear night sky turned bad. At one point in the night a running animals heavy breathing passed by, sounded bigger than a fox. It then ran back the other way a while later, even wildlife goes for a jog then.

It wouldn’t be a racing Collective event without some segments. I was determined not to get involved as this can ruin the social side of rides as slower riders push themselves harder than is comfortable rather than concentrating on making the distance. That all seemed to go wrong after a steady first section though. Not a ride to under estimate. Kat and Jon stopped at the CP4 pub at dusk when we couldn’t get food and time was running out, just the two of us soldiered on to find Robins Hood bay locked down tight at the end.

Check out Katherine’s great account of the ride here Katherine Bikes, and follow her account she writes some great stuff exploring all the great opportunities that cycling brings to us.

The final segment in darkness and the finish at 11pm made this an epic day out, just topping 100 miles in total from the start campsite. Packing a brew kit and the down jacket meant for a comfortable midnight cuppa and some cous-cous to save the day. Packing smart wins over packing light in my book any day.

The segments and pubs from The Racing Collective

Rank	Athlete	pdNYM-1	pdNYM-2	pdNYM-3	pdNYM-4	pdNYM-5	Overall time
1	Mostyn Brown	19:46	29:24	37:03	13:30	54:44	2:34:27
2	JP	24:27	27:53	36:59	14:10	54:46	2:38:05

If you have a gravel bike and a sense of adventure you should definitely ride the North York Moors. In fact put Pubduro on Aug Bank Hol in your diary for next year  and see you then. (earlier start promised for a more relaxed finish)