The Reiver landscape falls somewhere between the Finnish wilderness and what I imagine Californian gravel backcountry looks like. No more than 5% of the course was on tarmac and as far as tarmac goes its was quiet and scenic. The other 95% was firetracks and genuine gravel. The type of gravel I’ve seen on the plains of North America, dusty with small stones, the type I’ve looked for (and never found) when training in the North of England prior to the Reiver.

Back to the race

As the day progressed my smile just grew bigger, this really is a fantastic event. Riders are all in the same frame of mind, although some may be looking to come across the finish line first, everyone’s happy to share the freedom and adventure of being somewhere so beautiful and remote. If you’re interested in the numbers: the fastest 130km finisher came in at 4:58:38 and the fastest riders on the 200km crossed the line after 7:09:21.

So, what next….

Dirty Reiver has sparked my enthusiasm for this type of riding and I immediately started looking for similar events, but it will to be hard to live up to Kielder and Northumberland.

Gear list

Bike

• Focus Mares CX (my CX race bike)
• Front chainring - 46x36
• Rear cassette – 12-30
• DT Swiss Spline wheelset
• Panaracer Tubeless Gravel Kings – 38mm
• Ortlieb saddle bag
• LowePro small camera bag (Mounted to handlebars)

Camera

• Canon 7D
• 50mm 1.4
• 35mm 2
• Restrap sling camera strap

Food

• Loads! (energy gels, re-hydration tablets, normal food, sweets, waffles) – I over did it!
• 2 x 500ml water bottles (refilled at food stops)