Just came back home - a bit tired but pleased with my time. The weather started of very well - a southern breeze blew in our backs and the sun showed up every now and then. So up to Langthwaite there were no real problem, the climbs were decent, but sometimes a bit steep (up to 22%), so I was riding on a 7hour scheme. But obviously that changed significantly when going back south, after the turn at Nateby, the wind blew right in our face, and that’s no fun! And to make it even more of a burden, the weather turned quite nasty as well - a drizzling rain became heavy rain (at least there was no risk of dehydration, just open your mouth - obviously not fun when there are a bunch of other riders in front of you). After the turn at Steinforth, the wind was a bit more in our favour again, but that didn’t help too much with the last horible climb of the day. I’ve started the day with the aim of getting a time around 7h30 and the last 10 miles were pretty flat, I got into a nice fast riding group and it did work - my final time was 7 hour 33 (and 8 seconds) - good for Silver.

My checkpoint times:

Hawes: 01:19:07

Tan Hill 03:02:44

Moorcock 04:28:23

Stainforth 06:05:09

Final: 07:33:08

The only other Thorper I’ve seen on the way was Craig J. - I passed him on one of the most steep climbs of the day (don’t exactly remember where this was) - I just had time to say hello, goodbye!

Anyway - it was a great event, I will certainly do it again next year.

Jack