Off we go to the Lakes...

As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!

--
Ron

Ron Lowe wrote:

As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake
district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri
), get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!

Have a good one.

--
Paul - xxx

"Ron Lowe" wrote in message
...
As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the route
of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.


I'll be setting off on this at the same time.

http://www.eastyorkshireclassic.co.uk/cyclosportive/

Have a good one. :-)

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

On 28/07/2011 22:29, Ron Lowe wrote:
As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!


Report:

The 27t on the back made it, but only just!

The entire ride is hilly, from the start.
That's what I expected, and I'm a reasonable climber.

But nothing prepares you for Hardknott.
The approach is foreboding, as you know what comes.
You are already 100 miles in, with goodness knows how many thousand feet
of climb on your legs.

From the phone box of Doom, it kicks off at a brutal gradient for half
a mile or so. It then slackens off, and you *must* use the next half
mile or so to get yourself out of the red. I mean staying in bottom
gear and going as slow as you can. Meter out your offort as slowly as
possible. You then hit the second steep section, where it hits 33% on
the switch-backs.

You need to get the correct line to lessen the gradient: there are
'passing places' at the switch-backs, and you need to go deeply into
each one, and then switch around and go deeply into the opposite one,
zig-zagging the best course you can.

Under no circumstances can you come near the inside of these bends: it
looks close to bloody vertical there.

You are using every muscle in your body. Legs, upper body, core
strength. Your cardio-vascular is running at 100%, and you are gasping
for every cc of oxygen.

And then, on the steep switch-back, 2 cars meet, and the one in front of
me begins reversing down towards me. I have to stop, un-clip and
reverse 10 feet. 'Oh botheration' says I. Trying to re-start at 30%
is damn near impossible, and the road is too narrow to do a loop.
Somehow, on the second attempt, I manage to push off and clip in on the
30%, and push on up. I'd been in the lead, but now Phil passes me as I
was floundering trying to get going again. But I pull level, and past.
We zig-zag round the final bend, and there's a brutal straight up to
the finish. Zig-zags, legs at 100%, upper body strength, bursting
lungs, and there we are.

Done.

Just under 11 hours to get round, with just over 2 hours of stopped
time, giving moving average of 13.2 mph as shown on the trip computer.

What a day.

--
Ron

On 28/07/2011 22:29, Ron Lowe wrote:
As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!

Have you tried getting a life?


--
Dave - Cyclists VOR. "Many people barely recognise the bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transport; it is either a toy for children or a
vehicle fit only for the poor and/or strange," Dave Horton - Lancaster
University

On 29/07/2011 08:33, Simon Mason wrote:

Have a good one. :-)

You mean, other than the bit where he was driving?

"Ron Lowe" wrote in message
...

Done.

Just under 11 hours to get round, with just over 2 hours of stopped time,
giving moving average of 13.2 mph as shown on the trip computer.

What a day.


Good stuff, Ron.
Well done.

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

On 01/08/2011 01:11, Dave - Cyclists VOR wrote:
On 28/07/2011 22:29, Ron Lowe wrote:
As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake
district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!

Have you tried getting a life?


So what would make a great weekend in TMH-life?

--
R

"Ron Lowe" wrote in message
...
On 01/08/2011 01:11, Dave - Cyclists VOR wrote:
On 28/07/2011 22:29, Ron Lowe wrote:
As previously mentioned, this is the weekend we are going to do the
route of the Fred Whitton Challenge around the passes of the lake
district.

We will meet at my work in Montrose around lunch-time tomorrow ( Fri ),
get all the bikes on the land-rover, and set off for Coniston.

One other will meet us by train at Windermere.

We will set off around 08:30 on Sat.

I've just put the 12-27 on the back wheel!

Have you tried getting a life?


So what would make a great weekend in TMH-life?


Getting blasted on whisky while dusting off his knuckle dusters for
imaginary fights he will chicken out of?

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

On 29/07/2011 08:33, Simon Mason wrote:


I'll be setting off on this at the same time.

http://www.eastyorkshireclassic.co.uk/cyclosportive/


So how went it?

--
R