Cycling In the Lake District - Day Two - Hardknott Pass

Day 2 - Hardknott

(updated 2 Jul 2014 with some photos)

It started well enough with a pleasant but long drive from Thirlmere to Ravenglass - in fact Eskdale - as we went for the day on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway. We drove to the station at Dalegarth for Boot Station which is the Eastern end of the line. As an aside it took us over 1½ hours to drive south, east and north around 3 sides of a square rather than driving directly west across Wrynose and Hardknott.

We had a very pleasant ride on the railway (very cheap tickets as we used some Tesco vouchers), and a lunch at the station at Ravenglass before heading back. The weather was OK at lunch time was but we needed a fleece over a T Shirt but the sun really came up and was beautifully sunny for the ride back.

I had chosen the Dalegarth end as it was fairly close to the start of Hardknott, so my wife read in the car whilst I got changed and got the bike ready. I then turn west and rode back to the village of Eskdale Green to try to get a few miles in and warm up a bit before starting to climb Hardknott Pass.

It was a little further than I though from Eskdale Green to the foot of the pass and was nicely rolling so I was as warmed up as I was going to be. With about a mile to go you can see the pass climbing up ahead and from the few cars on the road you could see, even from that distance, how incredibly steep the road was. I won't deny that there was an element of concern about the difficulty of the climb and I was not sure if I would make it, I was in 2 minds - I had completed Wrynose the day before and that was hard but knew that at 30%, some of the slopes on Hardknott would be even tougher.

The bottom of Hardknott Pass

 I arrived at the phone box at the foot of the pass proper (I knew this because there was a huge warning sign!) and immediately in the trees was forced into 2nd gear. 200 yards further on I hit the cattle grid and was in 1st (34-28) and 50 yards further on was standing on the pedals to try to keep going. There was a stretch of 17-25% (25% on the hairpins) for 500 yards or so, that with a very poor road surface meant that the riding was very very hard, and I needed to stand for most of the steeper parts. I hate standing on the pedals as its very tiring and for me means that I have nothing more in the bag as its a last resort.

I was determined not to fail (my assumption was if I could make Hardknott I could do any other climb in the book) and dug even deeper. Fortunately the road eased off a little (to around 12-15%) so there was some respite. At home this sort of gradient would be a monster but here I was just grateful for it as it was so much easier. Given the way the road wound up, this stretch almost looked flat as well! This phase also gave me a chance to drink some water and pour some over me. The good weather earlier was now fantastic. I was in the lee of the wind on this side of the pass and the sun was beating down and I was pouring with sweat.

Although the short less steep section had been a respite, it did not take long before the road really kicked up to the 30% section of hairpins. This was incredibly steep. It was almost impossible to keep momentum. Earlier on the climb I'd needed to stand to keep going but also to try to keep the front wheel on the ground. At 30% it was almost too steep to stand but sitting just kept lifting the wheel off. I made 50-100 yards at a slower and slower speed and was down to about 3mph. At such a low speed it was getting even harder to keep the wheel on the ground as the cadence was so slow. I had a couple of wheelies and just as I was going to stand to get more weight over the front wheel I pulled another wheelie and lost enough balance that I had to unclip to avoid falling over. I managed to push the bike another 50-60 yards to a slightly lees steep section (although walking was hard as well) and then paused for about 30 seconds more as I had a small stitch and form my heart rate to drop from 192 to a more sensible 175-180. I was able to remount the bike and managed to ride to the top which was another 2-300 yards or so.

So I had got to the top of Hardknott but had failed to cycle all the way, having needed to walk that 50-60 yards or so. I rode just far enough over the top to be sure of completing it and then turned around and rode back down. I think this was worse. It felt as if I were going to fall over the handle bars. Keeping the back wheel from locking was almost impossible so all the braking was through the front but I managed to keep the speed to around 10mph or so. I even unclipped at a few points. Once over the cattle grid it was easier and a pleasant ride back to the car.

On reflection - could I have ridden up it? I think just - but I need a 30 tooth cassette to get the cadence up a bit more as I ran out of low end power on the section that I stopped on. Also I need to practice very steep climbing technique to try and keep the front wheel on the ground better and keep control of the bike - with a lower gear again it would be even easier to lift the wheel. The fact that I made almost all of it and failed due to poor bike handling gave me some confidence that I have the base fitness and I could do it again in one pass, although it was incredibly difficult.

When I got back and uploaded the ride I was surprised to see how relatively well I had done on the only segment I cared about:

"OFFICIAL 100Climbs No 84 Hardknott Pass", 1.4miles, 979ft, 13% average - my time 16:35, placing 727 of 3727 (just about the top 20%)

Statistics for the ride:
Distance: 13.2 miles
Ride Time: 1hr 00mins
Height Gained: 1460ft
Average Speed: 13.2mph
Link to Strava Ride: http://www.strava.com/activities/160059334

 Some photos:

From the ruins of the Roman Fort looking up

Not quite sure where this is from!

Another view from the ruins of the Roman Fort looking up

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)