[Closed] Anyone do the Sam Houghton challenge today?

Yes - our first time doing the challenge (but know the trails well). Great fun and amazed we managed to stay dry.

We were riding with kids so restricted to the 25k - eldest (14) and mum did 1:37 and I did 1:55 with youngest (11) - boys (and parents!) are very happy with their times 🙂

Not sure what to do next year as we won't be able to keep up with the eldest by then but too young to go solo.....

i did half of it till my Fatty's gears chewed my chain into the back wheel 🙁 was loving it up till then, Lol

How in heavens did you manage to stay dry Mick???? :O

I managed to puncture for the first time in 3 years, twice. Bawl bag.

Also bent a tooth on my chainring which then played havoc with the rear mech.

Still at least I should be easily able beat my time next year!

I did it,long route,first time I've done the Sam Houghton.
We were going to camp but were pretty wet & covered in mud,it drizzled all the way up Garburn & the midges were out.
If it had been dry we'd have stopped for the beer,but I wasn't up for camping covered in mud..

As always its been a fantastic day doing the sam, got round the short loop with my lad who's 9 and he loved it, said he wanted to do it again after we'd finish...far to much energy , yet he was asleep before his head hit the pillow tonight. Thanks to all the guys on the gates and the great cakes of course.

How in heavens did you manage to stay dry Mick???? :O

Well we got splashed and muddy but somehow didn't actually get hit by any rain - just lucky with start time and where we were relative to passing showers. I believe Garburn was rather damp.....

Loads of impressive kids out there. We were also going to camp but have enough cleaning without adding a damp tent to the pile.

Just got home from the after party, kids are strangely still wide awake! Too much cake, and not trying hard enough I think!
We rode the short in 3.53, so 5mins faster than last year, Sam (11) and cameron(8) both very happy.
Well done lecky and little lecky, that was great going today.
Another awesome event that seems to get better every year.

We were amazed that all 8 of us got down the other side of the Garburn on the slate without a single puncture.

First time i've done the event was a cracking day and all for a good cause, 3hrs 45 with 2 punctures down garburn, actually enjoyed the rain thought i was going to overheat clambering up garburn. Big thanks to all involved especially the marshalls and great to see so many youngsters out on bikes...

Great event as always - was fortunate to avoid most of the rain and got back relatively dry.

Big thanks to all the organisers, helpers and marshals - seemed like there was someone at almost every gate!

Lovely cakes too 🙂

Did it as a group of 3. Despite the rain descending Garburn it was an excellent day out. 1 of our group managed to connect a rock to his rear mech on the Garburn descent. Total mess, single speed for the next 10k's or so till his chain totally gave up.
We did the short loop the following day and realised just how many bloody gates there were! So hats off to all the helpers making the day easier!
Had to laugh at the band playing underwater:-)

First time at the event for me. The route was my local riding many years ago though, so I knew what to expect. Great route, fantastic vibe, worth cause, wet n warm = we loved it & will be back next year. I have to say that the overall organization of the event is absolutely superb - other organisers could learn a thing or two, but I guess a lot of that came from the willingness of the local community to pitch in and the reason for the ride. I can't believe no one's mentioned the cake at Kentmere, what a spread!!!! Great start / finish location & 10/10 for keeping everyone there with beer, food & music. Oh - and a special thank you to those who chose to spend their day on the fells, at the gates, all were cheery & chatty.