I scoffed down some food (country slices were proving a favourite) and devoured yet another bottle of the awesome ForGoodnessShakes before donning bike gear and heading out on the MTB leg to Castle Bolton.
I'd opted to leave the Mach SS semi-slick tyres on the bike hoping the terrain wouldn't be too slippery, but was slightly concerned I'd have grip problems. In the end the tyres turned out to be fantastic and gave all the grip I could need while rolling brilliantly on the roads and fast trails; definitely a great choice for this sort of event.
The route took us along the river back farm tracks to Gunnerside and then crossed over to continue along the river before heading UP into the hills. The first section was great fun over dry rocky tracks which gave good traction on the climbs and just enough bump on the downs to be fun.
I had a quick pause at Gunnerside as I came across another racer passifying a farmer whose sheep had escaped after someone left a gate open (probably not a racer, but of course we got the blame), and then headed along the horribly bumpy and slow track along the river.
Finding the bridleway up to the hill (made obvious by the farmer making sure we didn't head into his land) it was straight off the bike for a push/carry up the seriously steep path. Finally I got to the top and gratefully rode along the road to the miners track which would take us over the hills to Castle Bolton. This was a brilliant section with some long rideable climbs and some brilliantly fast descending. A long grassy descent following by a seriously rough narrow rocky track popped us out in Castle Bolton and the transition was easily found in the shadow of the castle after another couple of hours on the bike.
This was just a quick pause as we were staying on the bike for a road leg to Northallerton.
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