I T ’ S G R I T U P NORT H

Our recce ride was on sections of Yorkshire True Grit’s latest event, 5 Forests, powered by Fenwicks and Vielo. At 100 miles long it’s going to be a serious September day out at the centre of a three-day festival of gravel glory based in Dalby Forest. The route takes in the neighbouring forests of Broxa, Langdale, Newtondale and Cropton (there’s a 50-mile 3 Forests option, too) and to spice things up there’ll be a timed stage in each forest. These will include uphill, downhill and mixed stages, which range from short sprints to several mile-long endurance stages with the shortest combined time taking the ‘win’. Having ridden several of its other excellent events, including the Outlaw in June and the totally nocturnal Dark Skies event in February, we know True Grit loves to really stretch the comfort zone of what most people think is gravel compatible. That potentially includes part of the Dalby red-grade MTB route in the 5 Forests mix, if they can get permission from Forest Enterprise.

While Five Forests will have a trophy for the fastest combined segment time, Yorkshire True Grit events are always more about the experience, whichever trail mix they serve up. However long it takes you to finish it, the sense of achievement you’ll come back with is second to none. True Grit has a reputation for providing excellent, locally sourced food and an awesome event atmosphere, too.

We’ll be heading up there for a late summer adventure, so if you want to join us and ride the trails we used for this feature make sure you keep an eye on yorkshiretruegrit.co.uk as places will be limited when entry goes live.