Foldable Bikes Party: Horse for the Course: Raleigh Roker Race for the Dirty Reiver

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Sitting down for a steak dinner and the third pint of beer the evening of the Dirty Reiver, my friend and I agreed that it was the hardest thing we’d ever done on a bike and vowed never to do it again. A few weeks down the line, and I’m already thinking about next year’s…

The inaugural Dirty Reiver was a 200km off-road cycling challenge based on the 'gravel grinder' format predominantly found in the American Midwest. This course, however traversed the English North East, taking place in Northumberland's Kielder National Park and passing through through (naturally) gravel, mud, rocks and rivers as well as ascending more than 3,300m during the day.

The course: The Dirty Reiver, a 200km gravel grinder race in the English/Scottish borders. Almost exclusively off-road, along the logging tracks throughout Kielder National Park in North East England
The equipment goal: Versatility for everything the Dirty Reiver threw at me. Wide enough and grippy tyres, stability and comfort on the rough stuff and hopefully some speed!
The horse: A Raleigh Roker Race gravel bike, completely stock with SRAM Force 1x11 drivetrain, 10-42 cassette, hydraulic disc brakes and Schwalbe G1 35mm tyres

Of the 356 riders who started, 279 finished, in times ranging from just under eight hours to over 15. All in all, it was an incredibly tough event for all concerned. Given that it was my first-ever venture into off-road riding, I'm not ashamed to admit that I found it a particularly savage experience.

Going off-piste

For this debut foray away from the pleasures of smooth tarmac, I chose the gravel-specific Raleigh Roker Race, which was left completely as standard from the manufacturer. The only additions made were a small Lezyne saddlebag carrying some spare tubes, a couple of bottle cages and my trusty Garmin 500 (which is so old that the batteries died after 142km).

The Roker's head angle is a slack 71 degrees and its bottom bracket is low, helping keep things stable