Congratulations to Ian Parker on successfully completing The Struggle Borderlands sportive up in the northern borders of the beautiful and brutal Yorkshire Dales. After seeing his Strava post we invited him to tell us more about the ride. Thank you Ian. 

Having been out of the saddle for over 30 years, it was a daunting prospect signing up for a London to Paris ride back in October 2024. However, my nine months of preparation and training meant that the 300mile ride wasn’t as much of a challenge as I expected. I came back from Paris with a slight feeling of anti-climax and needed a fresh challenge to focus on.

A 100-mile training ride in the Dales in late June left me wanting more and I realised that I needed some more Yorkshire climbs! On the way back, I chatted to a rider who mentioned the Struggle series of rides. He talked of the Struggle Moors ride and the brutal challenge of the climbs in the North York Moors.

So, after completing London to Paris, I signed straight up for the ‘Struggle Borderlands’ sportive, a 179km, 3km ascent challenge. As some will attest, pacing in a group is not my strong suit, although in my defence, my training was focused on strong efforts and attacking hills. The Borderlands challenge was to be something different.  I decided that to complete this new challenge, and enjoy it, I would need to manage my efforts by keeping the average power low and ensuring good nutrition.

Unfortunately, (or should that be fortunately?)  a landslide near Dent had necessitated some changes to the course and increased the route to 200km along with another 430m of climbing. There were 19 climbs on the course including 7 biggies; Tan Hill right at the start, Lamps Moss, Buttertubs, Deepdale/White shaw Moss, Fleet Moss, Kidstones pass and Greets Moss.

Waking up on Saturday morning, it felt like a proper autumnal Yorkshire morning with broken sunshine, and clouds ripping along on high. Setting off from the Dales Cycle Centre in Fremington, we headed up and out through the centre of Reeth straight into a steady climb up Jenny Hill towards Tan Hill. You could see localised showers and rainbows all around as we progressed.

From Tan Hill we descended into Cumbria. Riding through a bleak sleepy village called Kaber, there was a large sign advertising a Wednesday evening ‘Whist Drive’. It could have come straight from the 1960s. Although I am sure it was a genuine village event, my imagination immediately conjured up an image from ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ or an ‘Inside number 9’ episode where curious passing cyclists are innocently lured into a dark village ritual.

After nearly collecting a mobile phone zombie, who stepped into the road in Kirkby Stephen, we hit Lamps Moss and progressed on towards Buttertubs. By now I was feeling peckish which was not ideal. But I made it to the top and on to the feed station at 43 miles. On leaving the feed station however, my legs were DEAD, there was nothing in my quads. Genuinely concerned, I considered turning around and doing the shorter route. Eventually, they pepped up and I continued!

The Deepdale ascent was the first time I had seen purple on the Garmin graphics 😊. A group of us had to stop to allow a truck past and I ended up toppling into the verge, gear side down 😱, when I could not get my right foot unclipped. Fortunately, there was no damage to the rear mechanism. Then, due to the on and off rain, I decided to ditch my cycling glasses as they hindered my visibility.

 

After a fast drag from Ingleton, we ended up at the Ribble Head viaduct and then had an11-mile ride to the feed station, to go through for the second time. It seemed to take an age, even though it was well paced. There were a lot of weary riders once we got there and only one other person, Rich, seemed to be considering completing the full 200km route. Agreeing that we would be peeved if we didn’t do the ‘full monty’ we decided to give it a go. Rich was feeling pretty shot, but we thought we would ride it together and support each other.

The ride up Fleet Moss, from Hawes, was brutal. The weather had turned and there a strong side wind and heavy rain, enough to strip a layer of skin from any exposed areas! Riding along the top, we descended to the river Wharfe headed towards Hubberholme, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the ride. The sun was out, we were drying out, and the wind was on our backs along this stunning valley with the river flowing over the raised bedrock.

We were both a bit euphoric at this point as the distance to go was ticking down nicely. We headed to Buckden and ascended Kidstones Pass towards Aysgarth. We dropped out of Aysgarth and descended past the falls, which were ferocious with peat brown water and white foam after the rains. With not many miles and only one more climb to go, we headed towards Bolton Castle and started the Greets Moss climb from Redmire.

We had a comfort break at the bottom and cracked open the Jelly Babies for the final short but intense section. A steady push-up in the saddle was completed by some out of saddle riding toward the top. My legs still felt good and I was chuffed to find I still had a bit in reserve. After taking a quick photo of the two of us at the top of Greets Moss we made a speedy, twisting decent through Grinton into Fremington.

Rich and I crossed the line accompanied by the smell of hot brake pads –  job done. I think the only part of me that was completely fatigued was my butt!  One of the organisers asked me if the ride had lived up to its name and I’d found it a “Struggle” Rather to her dismay, I think, my reply was, “No, it was a carefully managed effort”