A cycling micro adventure on Dartmoor. The quest to find great UK gravel in the south west continues!
I think that uh puts in perspective how windy it is. I’m in Yelbertton. I’ve uh got a 50-mi gravel loop planned today. Uh it’s a combination of a few different rides which people have put along commute and I’ve paced them all together. I’ve done part of it before. I’ve done the um Kings Tour Railway Track uh which is where I lost my phone previously and spent hours uh trying to find the woman that had picked it up about 3 months ago. I sprained my ankle quite badly. Uh and I had to pull out of a 137 mile gravel event which I was due to do um because it literally happened a week before it. Uh, so this is my first big gravel ride really post injury. I’ve been back on the bike for a couple of for about six weeks or so now, but uh until recently I was taking it easy. I’ve done a couple of longer road rides. So we’re doing 50 mi today on gravel. Um it’s a bit of a mixed bag of terrain. I’ve picked out what I think to be the best gravel tracks in the area um based on uh the recommendations from Kim, but also what I’ve ridden previously. Horses locked and loaded. Let’s go. [Music] I remember this section from last time. Uh, and I remember it being very annoying, but it’s even more annoying than I remember. There’s just gates every like 50 m, double gates, none of which are maintained properly, so they don’t close. Um, yeah, it’s just a bloody pain in the ass, but views are pretty good. Anyway, we’ll be on the uh on the faster stuff shortly. [Music] Currently [Music] battling into an almighty headwind. That was quite a technical bit back there. Really slowed me down. I think that uh puts in perspective how windy it is. [Music] [Music] There’s no cross. [Music] I’ve just done about two miles a hiker bike. God knows what on earth has gone on with the route planning there because that was lifted straight from a ride on Kimoot that was like listed as one of the best gravel rides in Dartmore. Uh but I know where I am now because I camped here uh about two years ago. Um no last year. I come here last year. [Music] [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] This is what I came here for. Pristine gravel. Actually, I didn’t expect this at all. This is lovely. But, uh, problem is one moment you’re riding on this and you go around a corner and then all of a sudden it’s unridable. Um, the trails, the roads just sort of end. I guess they’re forestry. So they don’t need to go through. They just need to get in and out and go along the same route the road. All right. This is the moment where I call quit because Or maybe. Have I been down here before? This looks insanely rough. All right, decision made. I’m not going to ride. I’ve uh looked at the segment on Kamu and it’s described as mountain shaker. Um I reckon it’s just rocky all the way down. So I’m going to head back up about 30 m. Continue on the way going. And then there’s uh part the second loop I was planning on doing rides around that way. Just getting back onto the tramway. Been about 43 miles now. So it’s actually going to be a longer loop than I’d originally planned. Place starting to get bit tired now. I can feel it. But I’ve done this all before now. a couple of times. So, so that section back there into the head window is it can’t be more than like a 3% but you know I’m head down in an arrow position and I I’m pushing like 220 to 250 W which you know at this stage in the ride 5 hours in quite tiring and I’m doing like 8 miles an hour and it’s just absolutely brutal. But then I get to go got to the end, turn around, and um all of a sudden I’m barely pedaling. I’m doing 25 mph, just bombing it down there. Um it must be pretty strong headwind. Nearly there. [Music] Hey, [Music] Okay. So, here’s the diameter. There’s the car. But I’ve only 1.3 miles. I’m sure it’s 60. And uh I don’t know what brain brain can hack it. Um especially given that gates [Applause] [Music] right given that I’m on a cycle trail that I’ve ridden before and I know it’s reasonably flat and smooth because my brain won’t let me not. I got to cycle 3/4 of a mile further on and turn around and come back. Um I’m not doing 100k. That’s that would be silly. So I did 100k in the end. Uh it was the Drake’s trail and it’s pretty flowy uh quite fast. So I figured why not? 6 hours dead. I think that is the uh the longest second longest uh ride in terms of time I’ve ever done. tempo 100k tempo average speed 10 miles an hour appalling uh normalized power 216 that’s not bad for for 6 hours I don’t think okay so to summarize uh Dartmore is just hard it’s just the gravel here I want to say it’s not It’s not good gravel. Like, there are long stretches of off-road trails. Uh, but you’ll be on this most incredible gravel track and you’ll think, “Oh, this is this is it. This is what I came for.” And then suddenly you’ll go around a turn and it doesn’t lead anywhere except for this like I don’t know stream bed almost uh where you got to just carry your bike over things through bushes and there’s just so many gates everywhere and it just slows you down so much. And uh I mean obviously it’s windy here and if you get one of those headwinds that I had several times today, it’s just brutal. I’m running mountain bike tires on a gabble bike and it was still like pretty rough going. A mile here, especially a mile off road is like two miles anywhere else. Anyway, that’s me on my phone now. Go get some tea. About an hour and 20 minutes drive to drive home. I am starving. Fortunately, I still have flat left.