First run in 1961 by the Bradford Cycling Club, the classic race crosses Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough, three high fells above the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales. The course is now 61 kilometers in length, with 33 kilometers on unsurfaced ground, 28 kilometers on road, and six to eight kilometers that the organizer deems unrideable.

When Lachlan Morton made his Three Peaks Cyclocross debut in 2019, he had to do a lot of power hiking on his way to fourth place. Lachlan has wanted to return for another crack at the race ever since. The Three Peaks Cyclocross is everything he loves about grassroots bike racing.

“The first year we came to Three Peaks, I had no idea what I was doing,” Lachlan said. “I’d heard about the race from my sports director, Tom Southam. The more I looked into it, the more I was intrigued, because it’s a very unique and interesting course in a really special part of the world. So, we signed up. I didn’t really know what we were in for, but we had an amazing week. I was struggling from start to finish. It hurt a lot. From the first running section until the finish, my heart rate was pinned at about a million. If you’re not pinned on the rev limiter at Three Peaks, you’re bouncing down some hill. It was gnarly. It was the most unique event I think I have ever done on a bike. I have been trying to fit this in basically every year since. Finally, we’re here again.”

The Three Peaks Cyclocross grew out of the fell-running event that has long been held over the same hills. In 1959, 14-year-old schoolboy Kevin Watson saw runners competing in the footrace. He decided to see if he could ride the course and managed to pedal, push, and carry his bicycle to the summits of all three hills. That inspired local cycling clubs to see how fast they could pull off the feat. Within a couple of years, they were holding a race. Over 60 years later, it is still a community affair, run by volunteers fueled by tea and sandwiches. Competitors bash over boggy moors, run up steep pitches of grass, and bomb down slopes of scree before gathering in the pub to share stories over pints of beer.

“Yorkshire is incredibly beautiful,” Lachlan said. “There is a lot of history here and a way of life that is very appealing. The last time I was here, it left an impression on me, and being here again now—appreciating the landscape, the cool little towns, the small pubs—it feels like a very calm and relaxed place, with people working with the land and enjoying the outdoors. Spending time out on the bike here is a gift.”

Lachlan is taken by the British approach to cycling, the locals’ enthusiasm for obscure, often absurd pursuits.

“Of all the cycling scenes, the British cycling scene has the most niche elements,” Lachlan said. “They have hill climbs, road racing, cyclocross. There are mountain bike and downhill scenes. There are all of these niches that people really get into. I think that is really cool. It is just people following their passion for bike riding and finding groups to do it with. There is a great club scene. The touring scene is massive here and grew out of here. The UK has emerged as a major competitive cycling nation, but I think the grassroots level—the competitions, clubs, and events—are what are most interesting to me and more fun to compete in. It is cool to throw yourself into something you are probably not that good at, even though people see you as an elite-level racer. It is cool to show that someone who specializes in it and puts the time in can still kick your butt and just be better at something like this.”

That is not to say Lachlan is not going to give it his all. He has been practicing his run-ups with his bike on a hiking trail near his home in California.

“It’s so stupidly steep,” he said. “I took my wife Rachel for a hike there once and she was so upset at me. She was like, ‘Why does everything just have to be hard?’ I hadn’t been up there since then. When I thought about it, I was like, 'That’s probably the perfect place to do it.' I would go in the mornings when there weren’t many people and just ride fast into it, and then keep running up. It takes 10 minutes and it’s so hard. The sun hits and you get that weird feeling where your heart rate’s so high that you know the blood’s kind of left your head, and then you’re trying to remember where to put your feet and you’re shouldering the bike and it all feels kind of awkward. Straight away, I was just like, ‘This is what I felt. I remember it now.’ You’re never actually running. You’re just doing this weird awkward shuffle thing. It’s a strange sensation. You get to the top and your body’s doing the weird shake and your calves are on fire, and you get on and try to pedal and the whole thing feels like a disaster. I did a few sessions up there and I got better every time I did it, so I’m hoping that helps.”

Lachlan is also hoping that all of the rough-stuff racing he has done since his first go at the Three Peaks Cyclocross will help him on Sunday. Last time he was in Yorkshire for the race, he was coming off a big stage win on the road at the Tour of Utah. Our 2019 alternative calendar helped him change his direction in the sport.

“That was the first foray into doing some events alongside a road calendar, whereas now that’s all I do,” Lachlan said. “It all kind of grew out of that year. Honestly, it feels longer than six years ago, because my whole life was different then. It was based around a WorldTour road calendar. After that year, it all started to change and now my life and ambitions are pretty far removed from what they were at that point. It is nice to come full circle and think about all the things we’ve done since. I’m also hoping that the last six years of doing a bunch of different sorts of riding should help on the weekend. I realize that this is a race you’ve got to do some homework for. I’m not sure if I’m completely up to snuff, but we’ll see. I want to be serious enough to feel like I’m not here for a lark, but at the same time, I’m not going to let it be so serious and so blinkers on that I can’t also enjoy being here.”

Come Sunday, Lachlan is going to breathe out his ears to try to hang on to the wheels of the local ‘crossers over the Yorkshire fells. The beer will taste extra sweet in the pub with them afterward. And that, after all, is what the Three Peaks Cyclocross is all about.