2 days to go... Live from Yorkshire

Hardware

I can't decide whether my 'lead' bike should be the 1985 Alan Super Cross with MTB 9-spd triple transmission [1 to 1 low gear] and Spinergy Spox wheels above (super light by my standards - but so whippy it's like riding jelly on springs) or my 2007 Specialized TriCross, again with 9-spd triple 1 to 1 hardware and Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels below (super rigid and directional - but about 2 - 3 lbs heavier). Both sport Schwalbe Landcruiser tyres. Hmmm..... I'll decide on Sunday morning about 09.30 hrs...

My CBRC team mate Chris McBurnie from Albany, Upstate NY, USA has come with this lovely Redline Conquest above, with Redline & Ritchey kit and Maxxis tyres. 36 chainring into 27 block. Very nice and a mid-weight by modern ' Cross standards. I want one.

Weather Report (not the Jazz combo')

The vista today at 13.30hrs across Batty Moor to the Ribblehead Viaduct and Whernside beyond. The weather for Sunday is forecast to be cloudy clearing later, warm (ish) with possible showers at times.

Programme (note: cover in colour for the 1st time)

Finally the Three Peaks 2008 Race Programme, collected from the Pen-y-Ghent Cafe this afternoon - very nice indeed... Jebby in full flow.

4 Days to go... The dawn of the age of Lycra

(photo - Barry Davies Collection - click on image to view full size)

Our last 'Davies Archive' photograph for a few days as we'll be leaving for God's Own Country in the morning - but our thanks to Barry allowing us access to these images. There are in fact some more pictures to display but they'll have to wait a little while - and all these photos will be posted here in a picture gallery in a couple of weeks.

Now. Some of us are old enough to remember the unadulerated joy of wearing saggy & smelly wool shorts and jerseys for racing - and don't even ask about what happened to tracksuit bottoms in the rain...

Barry was the first rider in the UK to wear a lycra skinsuit and coloured shorts - and almost got himself banned by the British Cycling Federation as a result (in fact the requirement to wear black or dark coloured racing shorts remained formally in the rule books until relatively recently).

Here he is in 1980 riding for Trumanns Steel wearing the offending togs near the top of Pen-y-Ghent.

5 Days to go... Pen-y-Ghent lane

(photo - Barry Davies Collection - click on image to view full size)

No apologies from us for using another from Barry's great archive of 'Peaks images.

This one is by way of illustration (exclusively for 1st timers, 'cos old hands will know full well what to expect) of the delights that lurk on the approach to Pen-y-Ghent.

Here he is in 1975 on the way to his third straight win, about half way up the lane from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to PYG before turning right through the farm gate and onto private land at OS map ref. 823743. Beyond that it gets even worse!

The surface shown here is fairly typical of the whole stretch, though some bits are more treacherous still - and bear in mind that riders will be going up and coming back down this lane at the same time. With some of the faster (and nuttier) 'downhillers' reaching up to 20 mph, the closing speeds can easily be 25 mph... So on serious note for a moment then, riders climbing the hill should try and give way to those coming back down. Bikes really, really hurt when they hit you.

Centre Pull Brake Alert! - This time Barry's Ron Kitching team bike seems to be sporting Weinmann c/pulls with "Ron Kit" stickers. If not, they're quite excellent Weinmann replicas. Clearly it's time for centre pulls to come back into fashion for 'cross racing - if only because they were always less tempramental to set-up and use than cantilevers were (and still are) - and because I've got a whole workshop full of them here...

6 Days to go - When Harry met Barry

(photo - Barry Davies Collection - click on image to view full size)

Although not taken at the Three Peaks, we couldn't resist this brilliant picture because not only does it evoke fond memories of how cyclo-cross used to be (no-one - particularly top rank riders; ever seems to finish a 'cross looking like this these days - i.e. like a couple of mischievous and muddy schoolboys), but also because, with 7 victories between them, it shows two of the race's most prolific winners... well at least until Jebby came along that is...

1969 and both the event and venue are unknown - but here the future 3 x times 'Peaks winner Barry Davies (Sports Motors / Tower Cycles) has either just beaten or been beaten by 4 x times victor Harry Bond (Bradford RCC), who was famously outsprinted into 2 place by John Rawnsley in the first ever edition of the Three Peaks 'Cross in 1961.

Despite that initial setback Harry went on to win the 'Peaks in 1962, 1964, 1966 and 1967 - and nice to note that Barry freely admits that the Bradford rider is still one of his heroes.

Equipment Note: Professional Cyclo-Cross rider using bike with Mafac racer centre-pull brakes (or maybe Universals, hard to see for all the mud...) - NOT cantilevers!

One Week to Go - how to avoid this...

(photo: Barry Davies Collection - click on image to view full size)

One week to go folks! - and courtesy of Barry Davies (see below) the first of a batch of historic Three Peaks photos. This one amply demonstrates (1) the advances in equipment in the last 3 decades (2) how tough the 'Peaks course can be on hardware and possibly (3) the need for proper preparation...

This is George Mason from Wakefield-based club Calder Clarion. Taken just outside the famed Pen-y-Ghent Cafe in Horton-in-Ribblesdale High Street. George has clearly bust his wheel on the super-rocky final leg of the descent of Pen-y-Ghent. The exit from the lane off the peak is hidden in the trees in the left background, and given that in those days the start & finish was at the Sports Pavilion at the north end of the village - he has the best part of a mile left to get home on foot... (addendum 1: Barry Davies has just contacted me to say that he believes that the finish was situated outside the Pen-y-Ghent Cafe until 1975 - so this is a pic of George crossing the finish line and probably explains his relatively cheery visage...)

Failures of this type are rarely seen these days. The worst my 14 stone bulk has ever been able to inflict on a wheel is a small ding in a MA2 rim (but no puncture though - and I only discovered the damage at the finish). Nevertheless Pen-y-Ghent remains a bike wrecker if only because the descent is so fast and rocky.

Best advice would be to use good equipment and not to sacrifice strength for weight. Never use anything new and untried and make sure you are carrying at least a spare tube, repair outfit and tyre levers. Ideally a multitool too - and I always have a CO2 pump; rather than one of those joke MTB minipumps that inflate to about 10psi on a good day...

Barry is unsure exactly when this pic was taken - but the Mk1 Cortina at the side of the road indicates that it's probably late '60s - early '70s and shows a typical 'Cross bike of the time, very few riders at the time had access to specialised 'Cross equipment (in fact most of the stuff we use now hadn't been invented!)

So note the Woodrup touring / training frame with big clearances and clamp-on (?!) cantilever brakes and GB levers. Sprints - probably Fiamme; and tubs (sew-ups) with very little knobbly tread - these are likely training tubs with a heavy file tread at best. There's a single Simplex or Campagnolo bar-end gear change lever, Fiamme (or possibly a Milremo or GB clone) nutted stem and finally the ubiquitous 'bivvi-bag' strapped under a drilled plastic saddle. (addendum 2: A rather closer look at the photo reveals that the frame has actually got brazed-on canti' bosses - and so effectively represents the 'state of the art' for 'Cross kit in those days).

Not seen in this image is the drive train. This is probably a single 40 or 42 tooth ring with home-made ring-guards on either side and a wide ratio 5-speed block at the back - plus steel platform touring pedals with double clips and straps.

George seems to be wearing a pair of leather winter cycling boots which have almost certainly had football (soccer) studs nailed into the heels. Other popular footwear for 'cross at that time were football boots with the front studs cut off and cross country shoes with heavily ribbed soles.
Note also that there's not an inch of lycra or advertising in sight. Wool or viscose club jersey, wool shorts and a long-sleeve shirt underneath.

Unless you were licenced professional rider, to attempt to wear a trade jersey or shorts in those halcyon days might have been an invitation to be officially declared a 'professional' sine die - not a practical option for most club men then*. Hence the poliferation of black duct-tape on shorts and jerseys in some pictures of the time.

*However it must be said that 'Cross in the UK was then run by the BCCA (British Cyclo Cross Association) and not the BCF. Let's just say that the BCCA had a rather more 'pastoral' view on these matters than did the BCF...

Mr Davies regrets...

Over the last few months I've had the pleasure of an exchange of emails with Barry Davies - former Professional ' Cross rider - in fact one of the UK's premier cash men of the 1970s and 3 times winner of the Three Peaks (1973, 1974 & 1975).

Barry is really taken with the Iron Cross concept and had fully intended to ride the event this year.

Sadly circumstances dictate that he won't now be able to make the transatlantic trip this October, but does intend to be on the start line at Camp Thompson in 2009.

Nevertheless, all is not lost because in the meantime Barry has offered to send us some images of the Three Peaks from his halcyon days in the race - and not (he's promised) all of him!

Presumably most of these pix has never been published before, so they should be an interesting addition to the 'Peaks currently rather scant pictorial history.

Watch this space...

Three Peaks / Iron Cross Hall of Fame

Seven riders who have ridden both the Three Peaks & Iron Cross Cyclo Cross (listing below is in date / alphabetical order):-

Albert Greene (USA) - Yellow Breeches Racing ('Peaks & IC both in 2005)

Keith Bontrager (USA) - Bontrager Wheelworks ( 3 x 'Peaks + IC 2007)

Ian Briggs (UK) - Capital Bicycle Racing Club (12 x 'Peaks + IC 2006 & 2007)

Gary Hill (UK) - Capital Bicycle Racing Club ('Peaks 2005 + IC 2006)

Stuart Bowers (UK) - Cycle Sport Magazine ('Peaks 2006 + IC 2007)

Rob Jebb (UK) - Wheelbase (13 x 'Peaks + IC 2007)

Andy Peace (UK) - SIS (14 x 'Peaks + IC 2007)

Top Left: Andy Peace - Science in Sport, Wigwam Hill, Iron Cross 2007 (photo - Bina Briggs). Above centre: Andy Peace & Rob Jebb, 27 x Three Peaks and 2 x Iron Cross between them (photo - Ian Briggs - and as per usual click on images to view full size).