WORLDS COLLIDE

Charlie Allenby heads up hill and down dale in a mixed-terrain taster of this September's first-ever Struggle Borderlands road and gravel weekender in Yorkshire

- Charlie Allenby

All the gravel sections are tough." Halfway up the first off-road climb of the day, and Struggle Events' guide and co-founder Victoria Mannakee's warnings are ringing in my ears. If the 10% average gradient doesn't get you, the technical terrain will. In fact, I've already been forced to quickly unclip and dab my foot down twice - the first time because rocks the size of grapefruits made the narrow singletrack path impassible; the second due to deep and loose shingle that punished poor line choice with wheel spins on every pedal stroke.

This is gravel, Yorkshire Dales-style. Ascents drag for kilometers at a time - in less than 10km, I'd already climbed 400m - while the 'flat' sections would be considered undulating on my regular training rides in London.

I'm up in the northern limits of God's Own Country to try out a route that features tasters of two brand new Struggle Events. Renowned for their notoriously tricky Struggle Dales and Struggle Moors road sportives, co-founders Matt and Victoria Mannakee have launched the late-summer Borderlands weekender: a two-day celebration of Yorkshire borders riding that features a road event (174km/3,000m+ elevation or 100km/1,640m+ elevation) on day one, and a gravel-focused ride (100km/1,712m+ elevation or 50km/950m+ elevation) on day two. Participants are invited to take part in one or both events, with camping, pizza and pasta parties, and expo-style stands from sponsors also onsite.

Road cyclists at heart, the Mannakees wanted to offer a gravel event that lived up to the reputation of their other rides. They turned to the Dales Bike Centre's Stuart Price, an advanced mountain bike leader with huge local knowledge, and together they've crafted a course that will push riders to their limits without straying into out-and-out mountain bike territory.