Topic Title

Hi all

I am new to the club and have so far been out with the "roadies" though I like a bit of the rough stuff as well.

In the past I have done the C2C and the Reivers with friends and we are now planning to give the W2W a try (the Whitby option). I wondered if anyone had tried it and how it compared to the other routes. On paper it seems to be a bit more "on-road" though I am sure there are a number of off road options.

I would be interested in any advice others might have.

Best Wishes

Mark

Did this ride last weekend with 6 others. It was absoloutely fantastic. I can thoroughly recommend it. The website says it is doable on a touring bike, but I have to stay whilst the vast majority of it would have been ok, there were quite a few sections where I was glad of something a bit chunkier. I did it on my hardtail with 1.75 Schwalbe Marathon Cross tyres which were perfect.

The first day was from Walney island off Barrow in Furness to the first stop, near the M6 at Overton. We set off at 1015h and after 65 miles, 9000ft of climbing and a considerable soaking we arrived at the pub at about 1900h. One of our number was regretting his assertions that he was "naturally fit" and anyway "training was only a more tedious form of performance enhancement"! He bought the beers in return for the helping hands on the last few climbs!

The second day was hilarious! It was that stupidly windy saturday and we had Tan Hill to do! Fortunately the wind was behind and as it was at times gusting to 60+mph it was something of an advantage! On the tops we had to ride with a cross wind for a while which was pretty hairy - a few got off and walked. Lunch was at the Tan Hill Inn which is a pretty wierd place. Afterwards the ride along the top of Tan Hill was one of the best things I have ever done. We were doing 40+mph on mtbs without pedaling - on the flat. I even managed to get up a slight rise at over 20mph without pedaling. The wind was that ridiculous. Some of the group went ahead and were going so fast they missed the turn down to Bowes and we didn't see them again until the pub that evening. There was NO WAY back up the hill into the wind.

Second night was in Croft on Tees. Next day was the final drag into Whitby which was pretty hilly over the moors.

Mark