"GBDURO? Best described as a scrappy rolling picnic through Britain's ever changing landscapes" Anonymous
Professional cycling has lost its way... in July 2019 TdF riders battled with extreme weather (temperatures exceeded 40 deg C on Stage 16, followed by freak hailstones and infamous stage-stopping landslide on Stage 19); the race was won by a team bankrolled by a petrochemical giant. Meanwhile in January 2020 bush fires raged throughout Australia as riders were trying to kick-off the Tour Down Under; another race with an eye-watering carbon footprint, sponsored by a oil&gas major and an airline.
Pro cycling is not just an innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire of climate change - it's an active participant driving us off a cliff. It is time cycling got un-lost... GBDURO is our vision of what sustainable sport could look like. |
Those interested in entering #GBDURO21 should sign-up to the mailing list below. Provisional start date 14 August 2021 (expected to be run in the normal 4-stage format).
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GBDURO is a 2000km self-supported bikepacking enduro from Land's End to John O'Groats on road, gravel, singletrack, and everything in between.
The event follows our GBDIVIDE route designed to embrace the versatility of 'all-road' bikes to cover big distances on new roads and ancient ways, immersing riders in the rich and unique history that has shaped the British Isles. Under normal conditions the ride consists of 4 timed stages (~500km each); lowest aggregate time over the 4 stages 'wins'... nothing. But due to COVID-19 we have dropped the stage format so it now consists of just a single stage, along with some other changes discussed below. In December 2019 we announced GBDURO will be a #noflyride i.e. riders must get to/from the start/finish without taking a flight. This was because having the burden of riders' carbon emissions from flights on our conscience didn't sit right with us (more details here). This is part of our wider mission to extend 'leave no trace' principals to beyond just the road/trail and we have been delighted by riders' commitment and ingenuity to make this a reality. |
COVID-19 PROVISIONS: GBDURO GOES FROM SELF-SUPPORTED TO SELF-SUFFICIENT
To make GBDURO COVID-19 compliant we have made the following changes (described in Annex 1 of the GBDURO manual):
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