500km of gravel in three days: Rapha Pennine Rally | Day One

The first day of Theo’s first ever attempt at bikepacking, with the Rapha’s Pennine Rally 500km off-road event back in 2023.

day two:

day three:

Applications are currently open for 2024:
https://events.rapha.cc/pennine-rally-23

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It’s the 6th of June we’re at my parents house and we are just getting ready to head up to Edinburgh to ride the 2023 Rafa penine rally the Rafa penine rally is a 500 km bike packing kind of event from Edinburgh down to Manchester so they run two options they run the

Standard which is 5 days and the express which is 3 days I’ve signed up for the express which means it’s going to be three big days on the bike up until now my longest ride ever was 160 km and that is shorter than the shortest day that I’m

Going to be doing over the next 3 days so obviously I’m not filming this myself honor is actually coming along to document it for our channels and for Rafa which is why we’re going to be staying in accommodation I don’t want to force them to get into a bivvy with me

However I am trying to do this pretty much self-supported so I’m not asking them to take any clothing I’m not asking them to take any food for me however if I do fool off my bike and snap it in half they will be able to pick me up

Which is quite nice actually I’m not going to get completely stranded in the of nowhere um if the worst happens but only if the worst happens other than that I’ll just be bumping into them on the road um as will some other Riders so if you did see them

Nice it’s way too hot 5 6 so we’ll start heading down to the start in 15 minutes or so and then start riding and not stopping until 6:30 7 in the evening it’s 176k it should be about 12 hours riding time something like that I’m not

Entirely sure I’m excited you SE it yeah I’m also really tired taada how you pull that pick that up out the house ready to go it’s 701 so we need to get a mo On how are you feeling Harriet great PR good excited I’m excited for you I was kind of surprised yeah I did it in 5 days last year which just more time yeah I just didn’t want to try and like do it again the same and then it

Not be as good cuz last year was so good if I done it in 5 days and found it harder than last year that would just be depressing whereas if I find it harder in 3 days then that’s like that makes sense that makes sense I am nervous but

I think it’s just like an anticipation it’s like a nervous energy coffee it’s not a race you’re not really going to get support till cam high road tomorrow in Yorkshire for those who haven’t done it trust GPS there’s some dodging places but it’s all where you’re

Meant to be going so just go with that all right briefing done and then we’re all going to start running out together which will be quite nice see how long it stays together starts now let’s go good luck currently on the top path heading south all the express Riders are out

We’re currently in a bit of a long line which is quite nice we’ll see if it all starts to break up when the climbing comes but so far yeah it’s pretty nice trying to make sure I’m staying sensible and not getting too over excited by the fact it’s the [Applause] start We’re now 1 hour in it start to warm up so all the all the clothes are off we’re on some really lovely kind of gravel paths going through the first Offroad section with a little bit of group it’s nice to be out in the wilderness ni to be away

From Cars away from the city and hopefully for a lot more of the route is like this it’s going to be gorgeous we’re climbing out now these views are insane All the bags on the bike are from our good friends at wizard Works uh I’m going to be running a frame bag a top chew bag a stem bag and a bar bag big thanks to rafo provided me with a bunch of their explore clothing some of their

Cargo bibs one of their technical t-shirts and their lightweight slightly waterproof jacket hopefully that should cover me for any eventuality I’ve also got some Marino leg warmers and a Marino base layer so if it does start to get nippy in the evenings or in the mornings

I should be covered I’ll also be running an apidura hydration vest just because the frame bag doesn’t give me as much space for bottles as I’d like so I’ve got 2 lers of water on my back wheels and tires are going to be my halo huras

With their 38 mil gxc tires on there absolutely Wicked Tire roll fast lots of grip super happy to be riding nose for it had a bit of a slow start to be honest my tracker wasn’t working and you know a few little issues here and there

I don’t know if I’m back on where I want to be cuz I don’t really know where I want to be but got a bit of a panic where I’m starting to feel myself stress about making up time I really just need to calm myself down quite a lot

Cuz it’s a long way you know it’s not about going fast it’s going far so I’m only 2 hours in going be riding for another 10 hours today like I need to not stress but but I am you know we’re on to the first half of a jam sandwich

That I made this morning it’s definitely seen bad days but it’s hidden the Spot So I caught up to the back of some other Riders which is nice that’s calmed my nerves a little bit I then stopped to take a jacket off cuz it’s getting quite warm finding I can roll at a steady pace which is which is exactly what I need really Scotland really is beautiful this is crazy do they think we’re real sheep no no no they can at your bikes but they can at the strangers oh they’re lovely hello right anyway up That’s even the road bits are amazing this is lovely I’m looking off to the left and the right thinking about you know which hellish climb is it that we got to go up but currently cruising along the road it’s gorgeous yeah I can’t say that can’t say enough Scotland is wonderful wonderful Place if you follow the channel at all you know that we really like racing and we really like racing for approximately 1 hour it’s really different to what we used to so I’m you know I’m super excited to not be staring at numbers to get my head up to look around to explore

To have an ad adventure to have fun and just really welcome uh a significant change of pace to what we used to I’m worried about whether I’ll be able to do it I think I’ve prepared the bike I know the bike’s good to go I know I’ve got

The kit should anything happen but I just don’t know how my body’s going to react to riding for 12 hours a day I’ve never done it before I’ve never ridden this file before so the main thing I’m worried about is if I Can This is the spot I just get something roll I went the wrong way at one point I just wasn’t paying attention I was really enjoying the scenery and like just looking around and look down and I was like oh I’ve gone off rout it wasn’t far maybe a

Kilometer yeah it’s been I’m not not struggled with anything I’ve done about 60k and it’s not really felt like it 3 and 1 half hours in I don’t know because it’s I’ve got so far to go you don’t really clock it or what like just kind of it’s not really

Felt felt too bad so far that being said like I’m sure towards the end it’s going to start to to hurt a little bit a lot of the descents are really like you’re just on the brakes the whole times so I taking my gloves off cuz they were

Biting into my fingers a little bit you just need to be really in control and really focused that’s fine got a donut in my pocket I’m just worried about you not eating enough Savory food so far I’m fining the sweet stuff sticking to every hour make sure I I

Don’t this isn’t very nice but I’m for it down all right see you soon based on the route I’m at the base of the first of two massive climes like 20% gravel so a feeling I might be walking fairly soon getting ready for a bit of hike and Bike this climb is Savage real Savage it’s super chunky and it’s super steep I say I’m off the bike it just keeps going up already been climbing that this I think this is the market the top um I just had to walk so much with that it was just so

Loose so Steep and it was headwind and the bike’s really heavy yeah full of excuses but that was that was rough that was super hard yeah I just had a good good walk up the top but the views are beautiful it’s lovely up here so stretch

My legs a little bit put a jacket on for The Descent and then um head down That was such a good descent yeah love That too well needed Sy after walking over that Mountain I’m 88 km down which is pretty much bang on halfway into the first day done it in just under 5 hours which means hopefully I can do the second half in in just under 5 hours to have done the first 70k in just under 10 hours would be really Good the second big CL the first day I’ve been assured by another ride that we won’t have to walk on this one so that’s good still tough though still really tough super super big rocks all over the trail Ed up pinballing my way up but we made it

Jacket on for The Descent and a mangled donut [Applause] Perfect 100K Done back down off the other side now my legs are starting to feel a bit tired just from all the all the up and down which is to be expected really but I’m like 2/3 done with the climbing little bit easy here for the final 70 or okay uh before stopping for the

Day feeling it that was a big long stretch of roads in a headwind which kind of sapped a lot of the sapped a lot of energy starting to feel a bit tired so just had a grol shot caffine shot from SAS kind of in the final third of the first day so I

Figured now I can start start taking some caffeine on board this is where I’ll need a little bit of help just to see it out they definitely said trust the GPX and there’s a bit of weird bits this is a weird bit some cuty little cuty little route through so the

Garmin telling me to go through it so I’m going to trust it and hopefully I make it out the other side I guess it looks like people have gone down here but yeah most people just like scoot down that looks like the correct bit to go down I don’t know that was pretty

Ungracious then it’s tough actually it’s really tough doing okay though I’m go faster than I thought I would on some points though you just have to go hard and it hurts like you run out of energy it’s hard to force yourself to eat constantly Like It’s Tricky it’s it’s tough It’s

Big it’s like the biggest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve still got to do two more days of it but it’s Beautiful I could really do with some more gears some points just like it’s not low enough You’ just got to have you’ve got to be able to spin super high just to try and keep any traction got 5034 on the front 11 to 32 on the back

So I don’t even have 1 to one I have Road gearing Bic wide Road gearing which is fine for most gravel maybe when you start adding bags and start going up really seep stuff it’s not ideal but I’m making Do coming towards the end of the first day off to accommodation but I I just I’m starting to fall apart a little bit to be honest I think I got a bit complacent thinking it wasn’t that much longer maybe about an hour ago I was

Like oh course just an hour left and I didn’t really eat enough my neck’s really hurting shoulder blade hurts for some reason just need to get there 173k done 3.6k to go so let’s get it done Though this might cheer me up stumbled across a bike park and like this Trail leads down to Newcastle too this is a cool end to the [Applause] [Applause] Day had a bit of a wobble I got in my head that like I was near the end kind of got a bit complacent with eating I saved the full Bonk I was like oh no I don’t feel good I was getting really cold and I

Stopped to put a jacket on and like my T my stomach rumbled a little bit and I was like this is that’s not good so I ate bar and then thankfully like the next 10 15 minutes was all downhill and so kind of I could just chill take it

Easy the whole day was really nice actually it’s a really lovely route I’ve seen some like amazing amazing scenery the headwind that was horrible it was pretty much a headwind the entire day so all of the road sections were it was like cool I can like recover and just

Like take it super easy you were having to like get Arrow like I was having to bend over and pedal a bit harder than I wanted to and obviously that’s quite taxing just on like your whole body it’s annoying that it’s All in One Direction you know

Cuz you’re always going to get if you if the wind’s against you the wind’s against you longest ride ever ended up doing 178k thanks to going wrong 9 hours and 19 minutes doing 3,000 M of climbing it’s the climbing that’s really kind of gets you real real big day but what like

Amazing really nice it’s such a such a great route so well put together I was anticipating it to take 12 hours um so I’ve done it almost 3 hours quicker I don’t think I went crazy I didn’t like Smash It the Tire away some climbs I had

To go hard just to keep moving forwards make sure we eat well tonight make sure eat sleep well tonight and make sure I eat way more than I was expecting tomorrow I was craving Percy pigs last 3 kilometers I was like I I’m dreaming of lying in bed and eating two packets of

Percy pigs to be completely honest with you that’s what get me going that’s day one done see tomorrow for day two oh