Witnessing a series of crumpled riders climbing into the broom wagon at the final feed station in Simonsbath was ample proof to back up the organisers’ claim that this, the Exmoor Epic, was the toughest sportive on their 12-event calendar. The UK’s Hardest Hundred’s hardest hundred, if you will. After 84 miles and the lion’s share of almost 4,000m of climbing over the worst of what Exmoor National Park had to chuck at them, it was time to admit they’d bitten off more than they could chew and take the motorised option back to the event’s Umberleigh base. For myself and riding partner – friend and erstwhile CP colleague Sam Dansie – the 100km metric century variation of the Hardest Hundred that we’d enthusiastically downgraded to on the start line had been no less bruising.
What Exmoor lacks in size (12th/15 of UK national parks) and height (11th/15), it makes up for in a hard-to-put-your-finger-on atmosphere that’s as unique
