Cycling In the Lake District - Day One - Wrynose Pass

(Updated 2-Jul-2014 with some photos)

We're on holiday this week staying in the Lake District. It's a chance to try to knock off a few more of the climbs in the  100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book. We're actually staying by the side of Thirlmere, but this is quite central to a number of the climbs. I plotted off a couple of routes using Garmin Connect before we left but as aware from the maps that some of the roads plotted were potentially quite busy and not cycling friendly.

Of the 2 routes, 1 included Wrynose and Hardnott via Ambleside and another a loop starting from Keswick including Whinlatter. On the way up we drove up the A519 from Ambleside and this experience suggested that it would definitely be better to avoid cycling on this road. So on the first day (Sunday) I decided that I'd try the Wrynose and Hardnott route but to change it and start from Ambleside rather than Thirlmere, although I did not edit the Garmin route. The first problem was that Garmin connect doesn't know about One-way systems so I had a double trip around Ambleside before managing to get out towards the planned route. However I then kept getting the Garmin deciding I was off route, directing me to the right, but when taking the turning was then off route again. This was even after stopping the route and restarting it. I even took a short incorrect diversion up a 25% climb!

Eventually I consulted for the nth time the map I printed off from the Garmin Connect site (although in reality it was too small to see the required details) and followed what I thought ought to be the route. Fortunately I shortly caught another cyclist and confirmed that not only was I on the right road but that in a short time if I turned right I'd see signs, and sure enough there was a sign for Wrynose (thanks to that cyclist) for help. After a short but steep descent and over a bridge there was a warning sign ("30% !!") for a left turn. I paused for a moment and took of my gilet and arm warmers, had a drink and set off into the unknown. It started really quite steep from the junction but then eased off and turned into a rolling ride for several miles.

Gradually some height was gained, the trees thinned out and the surrounding view became more and more barren. Then I reached a cattle grid and a fork in the road. The left fork was signed for Wrynose (and I think Hardnott) and so I took that turn. A few hundred meters further on there was a farm house/guest house and then the road definitely turned upwards. I was in 2nd gear (34-26) at this time already but it did not take very long before I had changed into 1st (34-28) and realised how hard this climb was going to be. The Garmin was showing over 10-12% all the time and beeping away with a High Heart rate alarm (I have set it to 168bpm). This was to be a constant soundtrack for the next 20 minutes or so.

The short 10% stretches were starting to become the periods where it felt like a rest. I rode along and the rode curved gently to the right with a sign warning of 25%. As I rounded the the corner I could see the road climbing up really steeply with a bridge ahead. At this point the gradient was more like 15-16% as a minimum and it was really hurting. My Heart Rate was now about 180bpm - I have never had it this high anywhere at home. I tried standing up to use some different muscles but just could not sustain any more than a few meters.

Passing over the bridge was another short respite but already it turned up again, and at this point it became really steep. A couple of cars passed me but luckily the road had widened at that point and they gave me a lot of room. The Garmin was suggesting 17% but given that by now my HR was 189, the cadence was about 30rpm and the speed only just over 3mph it was clearly a lot steeper. It was at this point that I was beginning to wonder if I would actually be able to get to the top without stopping. I felt that I ought to be close to the top and dug really really deep just to keep going forwards. Fortunately I was right and it started to ease off (anything less than 20% feels like is flat!) and rode up to the top. It looked like there was a false summit so I rode on further and over the top just far enough that I started to go down again.

My original plan for this route was to drop over the back of Wrynose cycle the 3-4 miles and climb up the back of Hardnott, descend it and return back in reverse (Wrynose and Hardnott are on the same road but the climbs are in opposite directions, so to do them both means climbing and descending each one from both sides).

The climb I had just completed was about 1000ft of ascent and the with the riding there over riding to the bottom of the pass meant I was already at 200ft/mile, so to do the planned route would have meant over another 3000ft of climbing just to get back to where I was at that point. Given that I had dug really deep to do the Wrynose climb meant I re-evaluated the planned route and turned around to ride back to Ambleside. I also decided that a better strategy for the week would be to take my bike with us each day and do the various climbs one at a time before or after the more sedate touristy bits we had also planned to do. Further, given that whilst Wrynose is very hard, Hardnott is meant to be even harder, so Hardnott should be a ride in its own right and just to get up would be a massive achievement.

Whilst the climb up was a challenge, the descent was was also very tough. The reasonable surface going up slowly became very uneven and rough going down - bouncing over the bumps became the norm and the back wheel was constantly locking up. I was quite nervous about the descent and was keen to keep the speed down as there was no where to run-off to. Riding the brakes was making my hands ache and I had to move from the hoods to the drops to get the leverage more easily. I also cycled the brakes between front and rear to try to stop too much heat going into the rims and tyres. Once back by the farmhouse the ride was a pleasant ride back to Ambleside.

Statistics for the ride:
Distance: 18.6 miles
Ride Time: 1hr 34mins
Height Gained: 2464ft
Average Speed: 11.9mph
Link to Strava Ride: http://www.strava.com/activities/159384847

When I uploaded the ride to Strava I was very pleased. On the 2 segments that mattered I placed quite well
"Wrynose Pass Full Cat 2 Climb", 3.8 miles, 1053ft, 5% average - my time 27:04, placing 139 of 815 (just outside the top 15%)
"OFFICIAL 100Climbs No 85 Wrynose Pass", 1.6miles, 915ft, 11% average - my time 15:56, placing 172 of 1222 (just about the top 15%)

Here are some photos (sorry about quality, batteries in the camera were flat so had to use my iPhone3):

At the top looking East just at the very steep part

About 2/3 way up (although looking down) at the bridge

At the top again looking down (east)

A Training Ride for my Upcoming 100 mile Rides

On 13 July my son and I are riding the Dynamic Rides 100 (link) and I'm doing the Ride London 2014 in August. I have not ridden 100 miles for quite a long time 2012 although I have done a lot of 80 mile rides in the last few years. I have no issues riding the London route - its pretty flat, but the Dynamic Rides is likely to be a bit more challenging I think, based on the other Mac Rides that I have ridden - its included Saintbury Hill for example which is a reasonable slog. Given that the Dynamic Rides event is only 4 weeks away I felt that I really needed to push up the mileage - mainly to get used to sitting on a bike for 6 hours or so again, and also getting the food and drink better over the ride so that I still felt OK at the end. Finally I really wanted to get more time in the sun as during the Parkinsons ride I was feeling a little too much sun by the end. A 100 mile ride is more of a whole day and if the sun is too strong it can be unpleasant.

So this weekend I decided to go for another 80mile ride and go down to Evesham, loop back and do enough miles to get the 80 (there was another carrot in that this would complete the June Strava challenge as well. The weather was a bit overcast, but there was a reasonable tail wind and the pace was really high down to Evesham - in fact I had 19.7mph average by the time I got to the bridge over the river. However after riding up the pedestrianised section to get heading back I was turned right into the wind and realised at the point that there was no chance of keeping anything like that pace home - especially as its uphill back. It was a drag but I felt that despite this I was able to keep some level of pace. At Astwood Bank I turned off to go up to The Lickeys. My legs were start to feel it but I was still able to keep a reasonable pace. The flat run from Beoley to Hockley Heath was OK - 20mph cruise - and that sort of pace is useful to bring the overall average up. 

Back at home I was very pleased - 86miles, 18.2mph average, 4:44 ride time. I had thought of doing another few miles to do a hundred but the high pace that I was pleased with was not really doing me any favours by then - and I wanted to be home for other things for the day. 

The only downside was that it stayed overcast for the whole time, so no benefit for the time in the sun objective! But I felt much better prepared for a 100 miler

Here's the Strava data:

What is it to be a Road Cyclist

Cyclists are Hard

Say no more:

Pedal for Parkinsons 2014 - Stratford on Avon - June 8th

Update 14 June 2014 - Pictures Added 
Update March 2015 (belated) - a video was posted to Youtube and myself and my son are in it - here's a link: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2015, and its embedded at the end of this page.

Pedal for Parkinsons in Stratford on Avon has been running for 4 years now - it first ran in 2011 and this is the 4th year its been run. I rode it in 2011 (and came first), rode it again in 2012 (and came first again). In 2012 my son also rode (the shorter route) and came first as well. I wrote about it here. So up to that point I had a good record on the ride (even though its not a race!).

I was going to ride again in 2013 but there were a number of personal issues and I left it quite late to enter only then to find the entry closed - I was quite disappointed! It's a different sort of event - its quite small - the first 2 years were probably 60 riders max, although I believe that Parkinsons are trying to be more professional and get more publicity out of all the events they run and hence there were more riders in 2013

However I was keen to ride again this year on June 8 and my son was also keen to join as well as he was back from university in time - although he was doing a triathlon event the day before so was not 100% sure how fit he'd feel.

We were all ready to go on the Sunday morning (its quite a civilised start time at 9am) and set off from home. Within less than 1/4 mile the car felt really strange so I stopped and found the nearside rear tyre flat and running on the rim. Disaster!!!. A quick U turn and race back home finished the tyre of completely and we had to take the bikes off the roof, get the bike rear wheels off and squeeze them into our second car - a Fiesta. As a result my wife was now unable to come so she was very disappointed. It also meant that instead of a nice leisurely drive to Stratford-upon-Avon we were now on quite a tight schedule to get to the racecourse to sign on by 8.30. We made it with about 10 minutes to spare.

We'd received an email in the week before stating that there were 197 riders signed up - obviously this was a mix of people doing the 20 mile route (probably the majority) and the 60 mile route. On arrival it was clear that since 2012 the even had grown- there was a marquee as a central focus, a number of portaloos around (rather than the 2 previously) and a marked out car park. We went over to the marquee to sign on and then got ready. There were quite a lot of people milling around. There were 2 colours for the numbers - red and blue, ours were blue so we assumed that the red were for the 20 mile people. It looked about 50-50 red and blue numbers. We were keen to be near the front for the start so we went over with about 15 minutes to go and were hence right on the front of the start. I chatted to a woman on a nice (men's) Trek 4.7 Domane bike (with the decoupled seat tube design) and sporting a new Garmin 1000 on the out front mount - this was bigger than I expected although the screen was not quite as big as I thought, but the map looked good so its obviously much higher resolution than my 800 unit. There was a general gathering of the other riders after us, then a small (token) safety briefing, some photos and then we were off just after 9.05am.

Inspecting My Bike!

Listening to the briefing

And we're off

 My son went off like a rocket. I had some clipping in problems and by the time I'd got clipped in he was 50-60m away and I had to push quite hard. I looked behind after the 1st mile or so and saw the nearest person about 2-300m behind - I was stunned as I thought people would be a lot closer. The high pace my son was setting had got my heart rate right up and I was getting concerned. By mile 3 there was no one in sight behind us!. We turned towards Long Marston and into a strong headwind that we had most of the way to Admington which is just on the northern edge of the Cotswolds. This saw the biggest climb of the ride up Camden/Nebsworth Hill. This is quite tough - steep at the bottom (~10%), plateau for a while in the middle and a kick up again at the end - about 1.5 miles and 400ft of climb at an average of 5%. This was where I blew the people with me in 2012 away. I managed an improved time up the hill this year compared to 2012 mainly as I was trying to live with my son who pulled out probably 30s by the top. There's then a quick flat section before a drop down to a level crossing. As in 2012 it was down again although for less time this year and a wait for only one train. I took the opportunity and ate half a cereal bar.

Somewhere around here (I think) we caught a lot of the 20 mile riders - they were all over the road (but having a nice ride) but we were riding over 50% faster than them and raced through. It felt like great fun but they weren't really expecting other cyclists to be passing them with such a speed differential.

There was then a rolling ride to Chipping Camden and then a short sharp climb to get to the top of Dovers Hill. Fortunately we were going down. My age shows as my son pulled out a big lead here that I was not prepared to match on the descent. At the bottom the route pulled onto the road down to Bidford on Avon with a dead tailwind. The slog south earlier was worth it as I was riding at over 25mph in a high gear without too much effort. I managed to catch my son as he was thwarted by the traffic lights at the single carriageway railway bridge. We didn't follow the road all the way to Bidford as we turned eastwards to Pebworth for the middle check point. I think we were earlier than they were expecting but with some water bottles topped up, another cereal bar for me and a banana for my son we were off again. Once past Bidford we worked our way towards Spernal which marked the general turn east and then south for the route. Again a favourable tailwind was helpful. The final checkpoint was at Great Alne Village hall and we definitely caught them out as not being expected. Another banana for my son and a couple of cereal bars for me and we were off again.

The final third through Wooton Wawen, Aston Cantlow etc was familiar territory and although there was a headwind again it seemed nothing like as strong as at the start - possibly the route was more sheltered. There was a not very picturesque run through NW Stratford past Anne Hathaway's cottage and then we were back at the start.

My son, who'd done probably more than 50% on the front (although we did share the load) pulled away in the last mile or so and there was no way I could live with him at that pace. He crossed the line about 20-30 seconds in front of me, a well deserved winner. However we were again too fast for the organisers who missed the pictures and video. So we got presented with the medal and some photos and then we rode back off site to ride back in so they could get some publicity material. Then they asked if we'd be ok to be on Video so we then did a sort of video interview for something they are planning to use to publicise the rides a little later in the year. So we did that. Then there was a small chat to camera and that was it - no one else had arrived back even by then - some 20 minutes or so since we had. We rode across the field and started to get ready to go home - it was not for a further 10 minutes or so before we saw anyone else return - so we were about 30 minutes faster than anyone else

The "Winners"

We had planned to try and go out and win - we thought it would be good publicity for Parkinsons for a father and son to do well and we had some "history" with me winning in 2011 & 2012 and my son winning the 20 mile route in 2012.

My son started a JustGiving page once we'd signed up - its here: http://www.justgiving.com/Jack-Bristow with a target of £100. With some support from the family he got to around £200-250 and I sent a begging email around work and managed to get another £250 or so, so on the day we were at £520 which was really well done. Part of the pitch at work was that 60 miles was not a challenge so we'd set ourselves the target of winning. This put on a level of pressure that I haven't felt before, hence why the puncture on the Sunday morning was especially unwanted.

Given that pressure, we tried pretty hard. The ride statistics were 57.8 miles in 3:14:36 - average speed 17.9 (was hoping for 18.0), height gain 2870ft (so about 50ft/mile). Given the gap to the other riders we were in the region of 30s/mile faster!

Here's a link to the ride on Strava: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2014

So a great ride - really good weather (tan top up), great pace and a good achievement all round:

Here's the route and profile:

There were some photo's on Flicker and I have now posted some in the blog.

A video was also made and its on YouTube: