Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race 2013

This is roughly what I think you need -

It's been a long-term goal of mine to do the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race. Long billed the hardest Cyclo-Cross Race in the world (in recent years the claim tempered somewhat to 'the hardest race in the UK' -) it is actually a very British oddity of a thing, to take a bike where no bike should go and then call it a race. Anyway, there's plenty about the history and geography of the race, which has run since 1961, here:

http://www.3peakscyclocross.org.uk/

The point of this post is instead to summarise what I have done for my first attempt. It's just three weeks away now and as I am writing this my pulse is soaring. After the event I'll re-post and we'll see what went right and what went wrong.

The first thing you need is to get on the start sheet. To do that you have to produce evidence of ability. For me this meant completing the previous 'Cross season, with a full roster of races and a final placing. I was ranked 20th Elite Vet out of 57 in the Elmy Eastern Cross League, 2012-13. http://www.easterncross.org.uk/

For the purposes of clarity, I am elite nothing; but in my League they bundle the youngest Vets (40-45) with the 'real' Elites to contain ever-swelling fields of entrants. Call it the advantage of being a younger-older rider.

My palmares was enough to get me accepted onto the start sheet for the Three Peaks, when I applied on Saturday June 1, the day entries opened (it is no longer an unseemly scramble: you have a couple of weeks, and then there is a committee decision. I did not pull any favours as a journalist).

I was then faced with the whole logistical thing: how am I going to get myself and my kit ready?

To cut to the end, I have placed almost my entire preparation down to the comment about this race that has stuck deep inside my head since I first read it some years ago. The most prolific winner, Rob Jebb, is conventionally described by the organisers, Bradford R.C.C, as "a fell runner and occasional cyclist."

So my whole approach has been to work on the stuff most cyclists hate. I began a whole new training plan, re-joined my gym and built in ramp running on a treadmill, upper body strengthening, core work and more actual walking and running and stair climbing to recruit those muscles. 

It's not been straightforward. I got symptoms of ITB on my right side; and combined with a big bout of cycling, almost over-training, I overloaded my anterior adductor which started to yelp. This has now passed across to an intermittently unhappy medio-hamstring. I have a masseuse (Timo Dahlstedt, London-based genius: timo@timomassagetherapy.co.uk) and a physiotherapist (Simon Gilchrist via www.marylebonephysio.com), and the physio does dry-needling with acupuncture needles. This is, let's put it this way, an interesting procedure. Luckily I am not injured, we are all agreed. It's more akin to an overuse symptom. This encourages me.

The rest of the prep will involve increased intensity and actually racing - my first 2013-14 'Cross race is tomorrow, Sept 7, and there is room for a second next weekend before the big trip north to the Yorkshire Dales.

TYRES
As for kit, the picture shown in this post is a rough guide. The special forum for the Three Peaks is very handy but it is not to be taken as gospel. You have to make your own decisions in the end. There is a consensus, for instance, that the best tyres are Schwalbe Land Cruisers, clinchers pumped up very hard to minimise pinch punctures. All well and good, but the first time I rode mine I didn't like them. At 615g each in the 700x35cc size, they feel sluggish. The centre line is nice for a turn of speed on the road, but seems to compromise grip off road. The merest dab of the back brake, and the bike stepped out. So I am selling those on eBay having replaced them with a more conventional 'Cross tyre, the Panaracer Cinder X. Once again 700x35cc (the maximum size permitted by the rules, and thus the maximum volume of air/ contact patch possible for this event), these weigh about 380g each and then I've added Panaracer Flat-Away, an adhesive kevlar fuzzy band that sits between tyre and tube.

For context, I notice in the photos from last year that Rob Jebb, contrary to what people have said on the forum, does not ride Land Cruisers. The photo shows him riding Schwalbe Racing Ralphs - beautiful light tubulars. But he has backers, spare bikes and immense experience. Strange - I have just fitted the same tubs to a pair of Zipp 303s for my normal racing, but for the Three Peaks, I do NOT want to be stranded on a moor with a wrecked tub and shivering hands. My sense is that it is an agicultural situation. Kit breaks. Do not go with the lightest thing money can buy, but err towards strength.

A week before the race, I'll inject sealant into the tubes as well. If I puncture, I'll have CO2, a pump, and two spare tubes. If I get through all that I have my legs left as the last engine.

SHOES
The other big debate is footwear. Oh yes. Now I was recently in the Canadian Rockies and my former marine father-in-law insisted that I take his steel framed bike to start running up and down the mountain with a bike on my shoulder, in cycling shoes. The main lesson was that Specialized S-Works MTB shoes are mentally stiff and simply don't work for running steep gradients. The limestone trails of the Three Peaks do not suit the twin studs at the toe either - I am told. This is why everyone gets screaming calves or blasted achilles tendons.

So here I'm out on my own limb: I've decided to do clips and straps mated to fell running shoes. I went off to this fantastic, family-owned specialist running shop/web retailer, http://www.runandbecome.com/Home, last week and bought a pair of Innov-8 Mudclaw 300s, the '300' referring to the weight in grams.
The tread looks like a nightmare for getting into clip and straps, but I tried it and with a wiggle, they go in OK. Yes, they are flexible where ideally you'd have stiffness, but I'm sticking to the original philosophy, that this is a fell running event with cycling thrown in, rather than the other way round. We'll see if I come to revise any of that.

GEARING
So finally to gearing. For normal racing, my Ridley X-Night is set up with Shimano Ultegra, 46-36 / 11-25. This is way too high for the Three Peaks, where as I was reminded by front runner & long time participant Konrad Manning, Nick Craig won it one year by ascending the final Pen-y-gent peak by riding out a 1:1 gear.
Well OK. But there's a budget here and going right over into bespoke chainrings and cranksets, is not something I'm willing to do yet. At 1:1 you can profitably run or walk too.
So as you see in the photo here, I've done the obvious by going as low as I can without departing the known universe or resorting to a triple: added a 34 tooth inner chainring and acquired a new set of sprockets, Shimano Tiagra 12-30. Even this hasn't been cheap. The Ultegra short cage derailleur can't go bigger than 29, and the chain as fitted was too short for 46-30. So add another £85 for a Shimano 105 long-mech and new chain.

COST
Well, I've eBayed myself half out of trouble, but the actual cost of Three Peaks-specific kit is so far £320. This includes the running shoes. It cost more than I thought it would but then I am the eternal optimist.