THE 3 PEAKS WITH A TWIST
UK’s iconic mountains and red trails in less than a day
Afriend of my late father was an avid walker who once took on the Three Peaks Challenge, summiting the highest mountains in Scotland, Wales and England on foot in 24 hours. This captured my imagination and was instantly added to my list of ‘cool things to do before I die’. After several near-death experiences – including a hideous crash at Fort William that left me with internal bleeding – I knew I had to cross it off my list while I was still capable. But the problem with walking is that I always end up looking at lines and regretting not having my bike. I knew if I was going to take on the Three Peaks, then I’d be doing it on two wheels… and with a twist.
Riding up and down three mountains would be a fair day out in its own right, but I figured if people could do it in under 24 hours on foot, doing it by bike wasn’t enough of a challenge. That got me thinking, and we all know thinking is dangerous... After much contemplation I settled on the idea of adding a lap of the nearest trail centre red route after each peak. That would add over 1,000m of climbing and an additional 55km of riding, so should spice things up a bit!
The result was a route that would be very challenging to complete in 24 hours, and combined the natural terrain I grew up riding – in the days when mountain biking more often than not involved taking your bike for a long walk mixed with a small amount of sketchy bike riding – with the modern vision of the sport, in the hope of inspiring more riders to venture beyond the bike park.
Search for solutions
At the end of 2012 I pitched the idea to my sponsors and plans were laid down for the ride to take place the following summer. I’d signed myself up to a world of planning and pain, and there was no turning back!
The planning phase presented its own challenges. I knew my trail centre times from my ‘50 Trails In 25 Days’ project ( MBUK 279 and 280) but only had rough calculations for ascent and descent times on the peaks, having never been up Ben Nevis and never put a clock on the other two. I also had to swap Scafell Pike, which has no legal access for bikes, for England’s third highest peak (by a mere 28m), Helvellyn.
The internet made researching weather patterns and calculating drive times easy. To maximise ride time, clear roads would be essential. But the M6 has sections that can become congested at the mere sight of a set of brake lights. The solution was to head from south to north – the opposite direction to the traditional route. This meant the trail centre loops would get easier throughout the day, but the peaks harder.
Final preparations
With the drive times fixed (with a small contingency built in for traffic) and some realistic ride times set down, the maths added up way past my self-set 24-hour target, even if I could cut my pit-and-load times to just five minutes. To complicate things further, a string of shoulder issues in early 2013 meant I had to postpone the start to summer 2014. The delay added more pressure to deliver. I’d need to be fitter, faster and more robust than ever before.
I’d also need a vehicle and driver. Luckily my brother Kevin is a professional driver for the haulier firm Maritime. He was also schooled by our father, an accomplished racing driver. My wife Daria would join us to act as safety officer and timekeeper. She has years of experience in the mountains and is also handy on a bike. Maritime, along with the help of Tyrrell Automotive,
People can do the Three Peaks on foot in under 24 hours, so I’d add a trail centre lap to each one