WHAT IS GBDURO?  -  Starts THIS Saturday (1st August)

#GBDURO20 is a self-sufficient 2000km bikepacking race from Land's End to John O'Groats on road, gravel, singletrack, and everything in between. It's organised by the prolific, for-the-planet focused bikepacking collective known as The Racing Collective. It follows the GB Divide route, first completed in its entirety by the racers of GBDURO19. Riders will cover a minimum average of 200km per day.

"The main upshot of self-sufficient riding means riders will have to take all the food they’ll need with them to get from start to finish. As this was a significant format change any of our 2020 riders not wanting to take this on had the option of deferring their entry to next year meaning in 2020 the field has been slimmed down to just 15 starters." - The Racing Collective

WHAT CONSTITUTES SELF-SUFFICIENT RIDING?

Moving from self-supported to self-sufficient riding requires a shift in mindset from ‘equal opportunity’ to ‘no assistance from others’ as per below:
  • Self-supported riding permits the use of the kindness of strangers, commercially available resupply points (such as services, food and lodging) and the disposal of as much waste as you like – the key test is one of ‘equal opportunity’… if it’s not available to all riders, riders shouldn’t be doing it.
  • Self-sufficient riding on the other hand, does not permit assistance from others, use of any buildings (commercial or otherwise), or disposal of non-biodegradable waste – the key test here is one of ‘no assistance from others’… if it relies on assistance from others, riders shouldn’t be doing it.

This year there are 4 Mason riders in the race: Angus Young (InSearchOf) 2nd place finisher last year, Josh Ibbett (InSearchOf), Jason Black (Bokeh) and Paul Addy (Bokeh). For Angus, this race will see him cover familiar ground that he raced last year, and he's also taken up an organisational role in the race. Josh and Jason are both highly experienced ultra racers and will be competing for victory in this year's GBDURO.

WHAT BIKES ARE THE RACERS USING?

The 4 Mason riders in this year's GBDURO are using the InSearchOf and Bokeh models. Last year 3 Bokehs finished GBDURO, with Angus riding to 2nd place, Mark in 5th, Philippa in 6th. This year, Angus has switched to the InSearchOf for reasons explained in the blog below, Josh Ibbett will also be on this bike whilst Jason and Paul will be riding the Bokeh model.

 

Check out our in depth blog which covered Angus' ISO kit here.


Angus Young's InSearchOf in GBDuro setup.


Check out Josh's Bike-Check video blog here.


Josh Ibbett's InSearchOf loaded up with 2000km of supplies.

Check out our most recent blogs to see what some of the racers have been doing in preparation for the race and how their kit is shaping up for this radical new race for the UK.
 

DOTWATCHING

You can watch all the dots (racers) of GBDuro on The Racing Collective's dedicated web-page. There are a few big names up on the leader-board already - the field for 2020 looks super strong. We've already spotted ex-WorldTour riders on there..
 

Tracking here -->https://www.theracingcollective.com/gbduro.html

 

We'll do our best to update our social media with regular race updates, so please stay connected to our IG in particular.

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