← All eventsDirty Reiver
A gravel ultra on the hard-packed forest roads of Kielder, Northumberland: 200km with ~4,300m of relentless rolling climbing (plus 130km and 65km options). Remote, exposed, self-sufficient. Date approximate.
Two hundred kilometres of hard-packed gravel through Kielder, England's largest forest, with 4,300m of climbing and not one true flat. A gravel ultra with no big cols, no recovery, just relentless rolling forest road.
There is no singletrack and no tarmac. Just endless forest access roads, exposed to whatever late-April Northumberland brings: wind, rain, maybe sleet.
The full 200km is a genuine 8 to 12 hour day, decided by fuelling and pacing more than power. Not ready for that? The 130km and 65km run the same terrain, scaled down.
Who finishes, and how
Patterns like these, drawn straight from 2025 race data, are baked into how Beina coaches you for this event.
Is Dirty Reiver for you?
- Diesel engines who thrive on a steady grind. With no big cols and no flats, the day rewards riders who hold tempo for hours, not those with a big sprint.
- Riders who fuel like it's a job. The 200km is won or lost on eating to schedule from the start, not on peak power.
- Anyone stepping up to their first gravel ultra. The 65km and 130km run the same forest roads at a manageable length, a real goal rather than the full 200km.
- Self-sufficient types. Kielder is genuinely remote with patchy signal, so it suits riders happy to carry spares and sort their own mechanical.
Training plan for Dirty Reiver
A training plan for Dirty Reiver isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- 4,300m of climbing broken into countless forest-road rollers, with no long flats and no recovery between them
- The gravel tax: your power translates 5 to 10% slower than on tarmac, and you pay it all day
- An 8 to 12+ hour effort where fuelling and pacing decide the result more than peak watts
- Exposed, remote high forest roads: wind, cold, patchy signal, and help a long way off
- Progressive long rides building from 3hr to 8hr on gravel, mostly steady Z2, the core adaptation
- Tempo-in-long: 4 to 5hr rides carrying 2-3x 20 to 30min tempo blocks to hold effort deep in a day
- Sweet spot gravel: 2-3x 20min at 88 to 93% FTP on rolling climbs for late-day durability
- Event-pace long rides with a full fuelling rehearsal at 70 to 100g of carbs per hour
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
