Charlie The Bike Monger, the purveyor of fine bicycles in Swanage, has been running the Dorset Gravel Dash 50:50 and 100 for a couple for a few years now.
The 50:50 is an over night bike packing, eating an drinking fest, which sees many participants enjoy the riding, food and the antics of the combination of alcohol, fire and bikes in an empty farmers field. Many of the 50:50 arrive back at The Red Lion in worse condition than the 100 riders.
The 100, bikes off the entire route in one day and there are brutal climbs to get the blood flowing in the early stages. The 2 years I have done it now have been single speed over the 100. This year it was on the Sonder Broken Road and a slightly changed and more challenging course, with far too much sticky mud.
After a few ciders, a great lasange at The Red Lion in he company of may pirates and their antics (Swanage Pirate Festival) and a group of divers, it was time for a walk watch the sun set, park the van up on the shore and watch the lighting show roll in and fall asleep.
Waking early to find my rear tyre flat was not ideal, then for the tubeless valve to snap, less ideal, first tube in was faulty, even less ideal. 2nd spare tube did the trick. I would need to buy 2 spares of Charlie shortly after the start. Food and coffee whilst I hid from the biblical rain, which stopped a few minutes before the start.
Once signed in and having made a plan with Charlie and Sam to get my tubes, I drifted to the back of the 100 riders. After some fine poetry from Charlie, we were off, well, me to the shop first.
Paid for and stuffed in my saddle bag, I headed off confident in my new spares if anything would go wrong (it didn't). Having wasted 10-15 minutes I was very surprised to be catching people up this climb. I combination of single speed grinding and walking (running slowly) I crested the first obstacle. Reward with fine views and big blue skies.
Onward, over familiar ground, spinning, grinding, running and walking, I paced myself making good time, enjoying the views and chatting to others as I went. Yo-yoing with others over the differing terrain, where the mix of gravel, mountain, CX and fat bikes, rubbed shoulders.
The weather was stunning and made me forget mostly about my legs, sore from kilometer 20, Charlies helpers, where in the perfect spots both times and filled us with water and treats. The best of which was a Lance ball, I had two. My short stop in the pub at Humble before the hill forts proved helpful also, OJ and more water was chosen over a beer and pub lunch.
From 30+ k's to go I found myself alone, having broken the elastic on my Yo-yo. My Garmin gave me a warning beep of Low Battery and my legs started to spin a bit faster. 20 to go I lifted the cadence again. It is not a race, but a personal challenge and I was doing just that.
The last punch in the guts comes at about 6k to go, Old Henry the climb back up onto Purbeck Way is tough after the day in the saddle, and the rough section before the crest was just too much for my legs. Off and brisk walk to the crest of the hill and straight back to work. Across the top and then through a herd of the most chilled cows in the world.
Now it was down for the last time, a tricky descent, made easier by some walkers opening the top gate for me and some 50:50 riders holding the bottom one open too. A slick descent and onto the road to run back into The Red Lion and the finish.
I managed to be 1st Single Speed back by some way and 8th overall according to the unofficial results board (It's not a race!). I felt like I had worked hard and finding a friendly face proceeded with some celebrations in food and drink form.
Again the after event antics were funny and certainly entertaining. Charlie with the combination of pirates, Drunk Cyclist and Surly International Drinking team, certainly made it lively.
The 50:50 is an over night bike packing, eating an drinking fest, which sees many participants enjoy the riding, food and the antics of the combination of alcohol, fire and bikes in an empty farmers field. Many of the 50:50 arrive back at The Red Lion in worse condition than the 100 riders.
The 100, bikes off the entire route in one day and there are brutal climbs to get the blood flowing in the early stages. The 2 years I have done it now have been single speed over the 100. This year it was on the Sonder Broken Road and a slightly changed and more challenging course, with far too much sticky mud.
Before DGD100
After a few ciders, a great lasange at The Red Lion in he company of may pirates and their antics (Swanage Pirate Festival) and a group of divers, it was time for a walk watch the sun set, park the van up on the shore and watch the lighting show roll in and fall asleep.
Waking early to find my rear tyre flat was not ideal, then for the tubeless valve to snap, less ideal, first tube in was faulty, even less ideal. 2nd spare tube did the trick. I would need to buy 2 spares of Charlie shortly after the start. Food and coffee whilst I hid from the biblical rain, which stopped a few minutes before the start.
Once signed in and having made a plan with Charlie and Sam to get my tubes, I drifted to the back of the 100 riders. After some fine poetry from Charlie, we were off, well, me to the shop first.
Paid for and stuffed in my saddle bag, I headed off confident in my new spares if anything would go wrong (it didn't). Having wasted 10-15 minutes I was very surprised to be catching people up this climb. I combination of single speed grinding and walking (running slowly) I crested the first obstacle. Reward with fine views and big blue skies.
Onward, over familiar ground, spinning, grinding, running and walking, I paced myself making good time, enjoying the views and chatting to others as I went. Yo-yoing with others over the differing terrain, where the mix of gravel, mountain, CX and fat bikes, rubbed shoulders.
The weather was stunning and made me forget mostly about my legs, sore from kilometer 20, Charlies helpers, where in the perfect spots both times and filled us with water and treats. The best of which was a Lance ball, I had two. My short stop in the pub at Humble before the hill forts proved helpful also, OJ and more water was chosen over a beer and pub lunch.
From 30+ k's to go I found myself alone, having broken the elastic on my Yo-yo. My Garmin gave me a warning beep of Low Battery and my legs started to spin a bit faster. 20 to go I lifted the cadence again. It is not a race, but a personal challenge and I was doing just that.
The last punch in the guts comes at about 6k to go, Old Henry the climb back up onto Purbeck Way is tough after the day in the saddle, and the rough section before the crest was just too much for my legs. Off and brisk walk to the crest of the hill and straight back to work. Across the top and then through a herd of the most chilled cows in the world.
Now it was down for the last time, a tricky descent, made easier by some walkers opening the top gate for me and some 50:50 riders holding the bottom one open too. A slick descent and onto the road to run back into The Red Lion and the finish.
I managed to be 1st Single Speed back by some way and 8th overall according to the unofficial results board (It's not a race!). I felt like I had worked hard and finding a friendly face proceeded with some celebrations in food and drink form.
Again the after event antics were funny and certainly entertaining. Charlie with the combination of pirates, Drunk Cyclist and Surly International Drinking team, certainly made it lively.
After DGD100 and the very sticky mud
It is quietly one of the best events I do and I'll do again. It has a subtle international feel as riders are learning more about the event from near and far. The scenery is amazing and The Red Lion is a super chilled start and finish venue and Charlie is a showman.
A massive big up to Charlie and his helpers and to Sam, who holds the fort down until every rider is safely home. I hope to see the event grow (not too big) but enough to make it a regular event on the calendar.
As for the Broken Road, I have to give that it's own blog. But I wanted one the first time I rode one a couple of years back. I was right, it is an awesome bike. I am excited about it as much as I was about my SIR9 Niner, probably more so, that is really saying something. More on that soon.
Thanks to Sonder/Alpkit, SurreyHillsCycleWorks and Wolf Tooth Components for getting me set up and the bike tweaked to perfection.
