Honister Pass, Newlands Hause and Whinlatter - Day 4 - All in the same day

Although its Day 4 of riding chronologically its Day 5 with a rest day on Wednesday!

Planned for a biggie today - 3 climbs in one day with 2 of them in a single ride. This was partially because the next day is/was forecast to be very wet. The plan was to drive to Buttermere, and ride to Honister Pass, then turn round and ride Newlands Hause. Then later in the day I'd have a go at Whinlatter Pass.

All went OK - we drove up to Keswick but then missed the turn for Borrowdale so ended up on the road to Buttermere that would take us up and over Newlands Hause from the opposite direction, so at least I got a look at what I would face later. We parked in a small carpark behind the Bridge Hotel in Buttermere (problems with it not taking my debit card and cash meant we didn't pay) and I got ready to ride. The weather was good - warm and sunny but some wind. I rode up to the road and turned left to put in extra mile or so before turning back towards Honister.

There was a reasonable tailwind but as before I didn't really get properly warm in the time available. I could feel the burn in my legs and my heart rate rose but was not sustained despite trying. The road was rolling and after a couple of miles I got to what was the start of the pass - i.e. there was a warning sign! Despite this the road, like Kirkstone Pass did not really start going up - in fact it probably took another mile of gradual ascent before it really started climbing - I was in the big ring for most of this phase.

However once it started climbing it properly started! There was a short steep section for which I needed the 34-28 but was then able shift up a gear or two for a few meters. This didn't last long though and I was soon back in the 34-28. From this point the climb got harder and harder.

It was incredibly difficult - I was having to stand on the pedals at some sections, and was pouring with sweat. The easiest gradients were around 10-12% but more often than not it was in the high teens and low 20% range.

Slowly I could see some form of building ahead and was hoping it was the summit. Gradually it got closer, just as the road got steeper again. It seemed that it might be the top and I was really digging deep to keep going. A few people were looking down at me from the building so it was clearly not a time to stop. As I approached the building I could see a slight bend to the left and an easing of the gradient. I was finally at the top and cruised a few more yards on past the Youth Hostel, turned around and paused to put my Gilet on for the descent as it was quite cool at the top and the wind was blowing quite hard by then. 30 seconds or so later I was on the descent. Like Kirkstone the gradients weren't stupid steel but the road surface was not great and 30mph was more than fast enough. At one section I was bounced all over the road and needed to brake quite hard - fortunately there was no traffic in either direction and the strong headwind helped to keep the speed down. Once at the bottom it was a slog back to Buttemere to attempt Newlands Hause. Climbing Honister I thought I might be too ambitious to do 2 climbs so quickly but its amazing how quickly you recover and are prepared to go again.

I stopped just outside the Buttermere YHA and took my gilet back off and rode the 100 yards or so to the bottom of the next climb. Immediately it was very steep, and the road surface was poor. I ground my my past the parked cars to the left hander and needed the 34-28 again. It remained steep for another few hundred meters and then eased off for another several hundred meters, even at one point going down hill. This down hill section was just before it kicked back up again for the long drag up the side of the hill to the summit. Here the gradient was a persistent 12-16% or so but the surface had improved. Going off the road to the left was not an option - it dropped away almost sheer so it was sensible to keep towards the centre - and very little traffic helped. It seemed like a long drag but soon there was another left turn just below the top where the road kicked up again to over 20% before easing as it swung right. This was the only part of the climb that I stood to ride up. Before you know it it was at th top. I stopped and took a few photos (with my rubbish iPhone3) before setting of back again down to Buttermere (again I put my gilet on for the descent).

My Scott at the top of Newlands Hause

At the top of Newlands Hause looking North East (Ambleside Direction)

Another view looking NE

At the top of Newlands Hause looking SW down to Buttermere (the Official 100 Climbs route up)

Taking my bike apart again to put it in the boot of the car I noticed how warm the front wheel was. Although there was some sun again at the bottom, there was no way this down to solar heating and it was a lot warmer than the frame, so it was clear how much heat goes into the rim and tyres on long descents. The rear wheel was warm as well, but I used the front brakes much more on the descent as the rear wheel kept locking on these steep hills.

Having completed these 2 climbs we drove off to Cockermouth for some lunch and a stroll around. Perhaps we didn't see it on its best day but there was not a great deal to do or see (and we're not that bothered by William Wordsworth!

We then drove across country to the top of Whinlatter Pass for a go at this climb. We parked in the visitor centre at the top and I rode down through the village at the bottom to the A66, turned round and rode back up again.

Whinlatter Pass was quite different to the other Lakes climbs I have done this week. Firstly it was through trees all the way, apparently because its a lot lower than some of the others. Also its longer and less high so the gradients are nothing like as severe (I think the solitary warning sign was just 15%) and there were quite long stretches of relatively flat road (so flat I was in the 34-15 gear for some time). It was steepest immediately out of the village, and just before the summit. I won't say it was easy but it wasn't Wrynose or Honister.

I rode over the top for a few hundred meters and then back to the car, put the car in the boot and drove into Keswick so that we could ride the old Keswick Railway path (see later post)




Stats for the rides (and the key climbs) are:
Honister and Newlands Hause
Link to ride: Honister and Newlands Hause 
Distance: 12.5 miles
Time: 1:00:37
Height Gain: 1995ft
Average Speed: 12.5mph

Whinlatter
Link to ride: Whinlatter 
Distance: 5.4 miles
Time: 23:28
Height Gain: 778 ft
Average Speed: 13.8mph

And the 100 Greatest Climbs Segments:
Official 100Climbs No80 Honister Pass
Distance: 2.3miles
Height: 810ft
Avg Gradient: 7% 
Time: 15:02 (vs suggested time of 17:00)
Position: 119 of 1557

Official 100Climbs No81 Newlands Hause
Distance: 1.2miles
Height: 678ft
Avg Gradient: 11% 
Time:10:52 (vs suggested time of 9:00)
Position: 486 of 3179

Whinlatter Pass - I found that my GPS Trace was too noisy for me to match the Official segment (drat) so there was an almost identical segment
Distance: 2.0miles
Height: 747ft
Avg Gradient: 7% 
Time: 13:13 (vs suggested time of 13:00)
Position: 434 of 4152

Cycling In the Lake District - Day Three - Kirkstone Pass

Day 3 - Kirkstone Pass

Day 3 saw us spend the day on the Ullswater Steamers, at Ulsswater funnily enough. The steamers (dieselers now) sail between Glenridding at the souther end to Pooley Bridge at the northern end with a stop off at Howtown

The weather was superb (just a little cool on the lake when the sun went behind a cloud) with bright sunshine. We started from Glenridding and rode up to Pooley Bridge, had lunch out side then sailed back again. My wife then settled down to read a book and I put my bike together again to ride up to Kirkstone pass.

The pass itself started around 4-5 miles from Genridding so I felt there was probably just enough distance to get warmed up properly - although at about 3 miles my legs were really full of lactic acid and I felt less than great. Fortunately that passed quite quickly and my heart rate went to ~160bpm with about 1/2mile to go - just as I was about to turn round again and get another few miles in.

The pass didn't start with a bang like Wrynose or Hardknott - it seemed to just start going up consistently so I was not really sure when it had started.

It was never massively steep, just a long slog to the top. It was probably steeper for the first few 100m or so, eased of in the middle section and then kicked up a little to the end, before cresting the top and a short descent to the pub just over the other side. It was a nice day, although the cloud had come across for most of the climb, but it was warm and I was sweating freely on the ascent. Despite being a relatively major road traffic was light and what there was gave me some space. The friendly local who stopped near the top to tell me "you're nearly there" was appreciated.

On the descent, unlike Hardknott and Wrynose, it was fast and flowing. I managed around 30mph on the way down, with fast sweeping bends and again, luckily, minimal traffic. A pleasant 3-4 miles back to the steamer car park and the ride was done.

On the was back to the cottage I stopped and took a few photos about 300m from the top. We also drove back to Ambleside via "The Struggle" - a ride for anothe day I think.

From Strava the ride data was:

Distance: 13.0 miles
Ride time: 47:50
Average Speed: 16.4mph
Height Gain: 1135ft

And again the segment that mattered:
"OFFICIAL 100Climbs No 83 Kirkstone Pass", 3.3 miles, 965ft, 6% average - my time 18:38, placing 98 of 1445 (well inside the top 10% and also in the top 100) .

So this was a monster achievement for me:

Some photos of the pass:

About 200m from the top, looking down

About 200m from the top, looking down

About 200m from the top, looking up (final steep section)

About 200m from the top, looking down

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)