The inaugural Dirty Reiver 200km gravel race took place in Kielder Forest at the weekend, and as soon as the pain and suffering recede into a distant memory, I’ll write a report on how it went. In short, though, it was a success; the organisation was excellent, food stops were among the best I’ve ever seen, and the course was demanding and challenging but ultimately rewarding, and the expansive views, especially including the snowcapped hills, helped to make it an event to remember.
What bike to ride a 200km gravel race on?
That was the big question for many people that had entered this first long-distance UK gravel race.
Gravel races are hugely popular in the states. The Dirty Kanza 200 has been going for over a decade, and that’s given regular participants plenty of time to decide what is the best approach regarding the choice of bike, tyres and equipment. Most people heading to the Dirty Reiver were heading into the unknown, and so there was a lot of discussion in the days and weeks leading up to the event about what bike and tyres to use.
The result on the day was a healthy mix, with a bit of everything on show. By far the most popular choice was a cyclocross bike. That’s hardly surprising, lots of people own a cyclocross bike these days, with ‘cross racing very popular through the winter. Mountain bikes were well represented as well, from lightweight carbon fibre 29er hardtails to full-suspension models. There were a couple of road and touring bikes and there was a smattering of gravel/adventure bikes as well.
Bigger tyres were also popular. The common consensus seemed to be that a 40mm tyre was the right fit for the course, preferably one with a bit of tread to provide traction through the muddier sections. The other area of interest was how to carry all the essentials needed for what turned out to be a long day for most people. There was a list of required essentials, things like a survival blanket and emergency whistle, plus obvious things like spare tubes, tools, pump, mobile phone and plenty of food. Some went for frame bags and packs and huge saddle bags, many went with hydration backpacks and some tried to stuff everything into jersey pockets.
Your classic cyclocross bike was in abundance, this one with cantilever brakes and some bigger tyres fitted.
Salsa is a US company that has tried to align itself with the growing gravel and adventure bike market, and the Warbird was a bike designed expressly for this sort of riding.
The Kinesis Tripster ATR was a popular bike at this event. This one actually belongs to Rory Hitchens the marketing man at Upgrade Bikes, who look after Kinesis in the UK. He fitted 40mm tyres and went with Apidura frame and top tube bag to store all his food and other essentials.
It didn’t rain, but the course was quite wet and muddy in places. Mudguards were a sensible addition. Rory had repurposed an old Crud Guard mudguard onto his Tripster. Could it be time for Mr Crud to bring it back as a dedicated gravel guard?
A Genesis Longitude rigid steel mountain bike with a riser handlebar and single ring drivetrain and down tube mudguard. And flat pedals.
Bruce Dalton works for Upgrade Bikes and was riding this Kinesis Pro 6 aluminium cyclocross bike with some interesting modifications. There are the front and rear mudguards, a SRAM 1×11 drivetrain, double wrap bar tape, carbon fibre wheels with Clement X’Plor MSO 36mm tubeless tyres.
Rear mudguard fitted to the rear stays. Not pretty, but helps to keep your bum dry on such a long ride, and with a few boggy sections and some river crossings, it would have been appreciated.
Double wrap bar tape, inspired by the cobbled classics no doubt, but brilliantly inspired for this event.
Lots of carbon fibre cyclocross bikes. This Planet-X with mechanical disc brakes, top tube bag and saddle bag with what appears to be a broken bottle cage on the down tube.
It wasn’t all skinny tyres. I spotted a handful of mountain bikes, including this Santa Cruz carbon fibre 29er full-suspension bike. The big tyres and suspension would have been nice on some of the rougher trails.
A straight up Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike with seemingly no special modifications made for the event, other than the bottle cages and mudguard.
Another full-suspension mountain bike, this one is a Giant Anthem. Impressed with the luggage squeezed into the front triangle around the bottle and rear shock.
Another Kinesis Tripster ATR. Said they were popular didn’t I…
Niner makes the RLT 9 which is designed for gravel racing, but this is the company’s BSB 9 RDO, a carbon fibre cyclocross race bike. It was fitted with the Schwalbe G-One tyres.
Specialized has had a lot of success on the cyclocross race scene with its Crux, so it was little surprise that they were out in abundance at Dirty Reiver. This one had been upgraded with some Reynolds Attack carbon clincher wheels and WTB Nano 40mm ‘cross tyres.
Another cyclocross bike, this time the Trek XO2, an aluminium frame with cantilever brakes. Minimal luggage for this rider, just two water bottle cages and a top tube food bag.
There weren’t as many gravel/adventure bikes as you might have imagined. Here’s the GT Grade in carbon fibre with Schwalbe G-One tyres. Other suitable bikes I spotted but failed to photograph include a Cannondale Slate and Open UP.
Another mountain bike. A Charge 29er with a rigid carbon fibre fork and lots of Alpkit luggage. Check out the Brooks saddle.
Another Niner, but a mountain bike this time with a RockShox suspension fork and rear mudguard. Only space in the compact frame for a single bottle cage, though.
Ridley’s dedicated gravel and adventure bike, the X-Trail C30. Carbon frame with thru-axles front and rear, disc brakes and space for 38mm Clement GravelGrinder tyres.
A hardtail mountain bike would have been a some parts of the course. Here’s a Canyon aluminium 29er hardtail. Someone has had a rummage around in the shed and found a pair of bar ends from the 90s.
Yet another Kinesis cyclocross bike. This one has a SRAM 1x drivetrain but no clutch rear mech. Wonder if the chain stayed on during the rougher parts of the course?
A Merida carbon fibre cyclocross course that has been suitably modified, with a rear mudguard and essentials, shared between a saddle pack and water bottle case.
Josh Ibbett, who was one of the fastest people around the course, proved that you don’t need a gravel, cyclocross or mountain bike to be fast, because he used a road bike, albeit one heavily modified. It’s a Mason Definition aluminium road bike fitted 35mm Schwalbe G-One tyres. He also goes for minimal on-bike luggage to keep the weight down.
And here’s the Parlee Chebacco that I rode. Nice isn’t it? The bike was awesome, and apart from one flat, didn’t put a foot wrong. I tried to keep the weight down (to help on the climbs) with everything stuffed into the saddle bag and my jersey pockets stuffed with waffles and malt loaf.
11 thoughts on “What bike for the Dirty Reiver 200km race?”
There were a lot more Gravel
There were a lot more Gravel bikes there than i expected, but you missed two other types of bike.
The singlespeeds (yes there were quite a few that crazy!) and ones with full mudguards (which kept their ridiers looking spotless if not fresh).
Or you could combine the two and take it another step further, and do the 200km fixed like one person did. Madman! (stu_86 on instagram)
I do love the tripster with the Crud though, looks ace.
STATO wrote:
Would liked to have shot a load more, especially the Slate and the Open I saw on the trail, but I was fading fast after finishing. Top effort for someone doing it on a fixed, that must have been super tough
Good piece. Interesting to
Good piece. Interesting to see how the G-One 35c did. I used them for Battle on the Beach and they are really versatile.
Cracking article Dave, looks
Cracking article Dave, looks like a great event. One for next year.
Original Crud rear guard
I asked Mr Crud about the original rear guar that he did a couple of years ago as I always thought it was a great item, and suspect that some full suss bikes could use them. They can be fitted much closer to the tyre than the seat pin mounted ones too. He told me they were a bugger to manufacture economically – something to do with inconsistent lengths in the alloy stays from the supplier. Pretty sure now that a composite alerternative would be easy to source – they manage it with the Road Racer after all. Or even just a bigger version of the Road Racer – “The Adventure Racer” to clear up to 40mm tyres?
I have two mint condition
I have two mint condition original Cruds if anyone fancies PM me
I’d have no problem sourcing
I’d have no problem sourcing a bike for the event….just wish I’d known about the event before last Friday. We need more in the calendar! Looks great.
You did great to finish, a
You did great to finish, a lot of tired faces, im amazed any made it up the stairs to hand in their timing chip, but the promise of a beer token seemed to give them the last bit of energy required.
There were 2 Open i saw come in, very nice bikes. I think a slate came through in top 5, forgot who it was though the rider mentioned something about running some tyres with tread next time
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Awesome looking bikes – there
Awesome looking bikes – there is something about a muddy, abused bike that just looks right. The even sounds great.
More mudguards than I would have thought though…but I really like the mudguards on the photo of Bruce Dalton’s Kinesis , and I’d have to disagree that they are “not pretty” – I think they look absolutely spot on for their intended purpose – anyone know what brand / model they are? they look a bit MTB ish to be?
MTB vs cross
Got a steel cross bike last year and enjoyed a lot of off road riding. However, the bumpier parts, which inevetably must be ridden going offroad from A to B, do take a toll. For reference, I am 55 and 180-185 pounds. Adding a thudbuster seatpost helped a lot, but still there are times when just the front is vibrating so hard it jumbles my brain. This year I got a full suspension MTB and the post ride aches and pains are basically gone. Looking around for handlebar/stem/fork suspension suitable for cross, but haven’t seen the right thing yet.
Slate
I rode the Slate and apart from the tyres it was awesome, normally I’m battered after a race that length but next day arms, shoulders and wrists were fine. Week before I did a cobbled Sportive on it and day after I had a ride round the Newcastleton Red trail on it. It’s as close as I’ve found to a bike that’ll do everything. Lets have more gravel events!