As the dust settles and the washing machine finishes washing my sweaty dusty kit, I sit here writing this round up on what was one of THE BEST gravel events I have ever attended. I have done lots of Dirty Reivers in freezing rain, wind and even frost but this one was something special. I cannot put my finger on exactly what was different, the weather certainly played an important role, but there was a positive, buoyant feeling in the expo like things are getting better despite the current economic doom and gloom. The expo village was vibrant and buzzing. Riders came from near and far and the excitement was as strong as my dusty cough!
I was there as part of The Orange Collective aka the OC named after members’ bright orange POC helmets. Born out of the Safety in Numbers initiative, the OC helps riders at gravel events - part mobile mechanics and part cheer squad. Reilly do their part by offering OC riders the loan of a ti bike for these events. I arrived with all the demo bikes bright and shiny in the back of my van.
Ranging from 65km to 130km and the real hard 200km, Dirty Reiver is not for the faint hearted. Even the 60km is a real test of rider’s metal with over 1000m of gravelly ascent. Needless to say, I loved riding it.
Ride day came with fast, dry dusty conditions and plenty of nerves circulated in the POC-Reilly pits. Everyone had a distance in mind, a fuel strategy in place and spares for every eventuality.As I rode orange helmets seemed to appear in every group. Punctures were fixed, riders assisted, problems sorted and even the odd gentle push up a climb.
Every rider from the Orange Collective had a blast. Chatting stories of daring dos, and near misses on the legendary Kielder gravel. One 14 year old lad who had borrowed a Reilly Gradient returned after 130km buzzing “I set out to do 60km but the bike gave me the confidence to carry on. Such a fun ride and smooth on the rough stuff.”
Post race pizza and beer stretched long into the night while we plotted plans for the Dirty Reiver 10th Anniversary. As I sign off, my flight has been called and I jump on a plane to test the quality of Spanish Gravel. It will have to go a long way to match Kielder!
