Sometimes you just have to do certain things.
Like - when there is good weather in the Lakes and you want to go for cycle ride with the wife rather than Do Some Training :o)
When we were here in November we did a really nice ride on our Mountain Bikes. Entirely appropriate on the roads given the weather and the state of the roads which almost had more Fell on them than the Fells did ;o)
But this time we had our road bikes, and simply gorgeous weather. Warm and sunny with a light cooling breeze..... :o)
I like planning routes that avoid the busier roads, and here in the Lakes it is always a good plan. It is impossible to completely avoid them, of course, but you can still find some absolute pearls if you are imaginative enough.
This particular route I can see becoming one that we do regularly when we are cycling. It's a nice distance and there is a superb Tea Room that deserves plenty of patronage because of its fantastic welcome and service, and food that is astonishingly good quality at a price that is (IMO) ridiculously good value!
We will visit Mae's Tea Rooms in Uldale whenever we are up this way. And although it's a little off the beaten track - it's well worth a visit!
Anyway - the ride itself.
We set off from Keswick having been fed to the hilt by the lovely Pauline, who has been our regular host since we discovered her little B&B a few years ago. She clearly thinks that we don't eat enough and makes it her mission to give us at least a months worth of fantastic food every time we draw breath ;o)
We headed past Castlerigg Stone Circle to Thelkeld along the back roads, and then after a teeny bit of A66 headed into the hills from Scales. We happened across Grandad Grockle in his JAAAAAAG (you have to imagine Jeremy Clarkson saying that) who was driving slower than we were riding - and on this uphill section we were averaging 8mph!!!!!
We passed through Mungrisdale and Mosedale and headed up to Caldbeck, and from there to Uldale for a planned break, cuppatea and some high quality homemeade nosh!
They also has some magnificent artwork and photography which is for sale - and a multifuel burner which will defrost the coldest of cyclists :o)
Adequately refreshed, and with a little tweaking of Lorna's bike gearing, we headed down towards Bassenthwaite so that we could ride past Ling and Sale Fells towards Buttermere and up Whinlatter Pass from the West.
That climb is just really enjoyable - helped on no small part by the fact that the views up towards Buttermere were spectacular and the riding was not particularly taxing!
The descent gave out forearms a bit of a work out, and we discovered that the bridge at Little Braithwaite had been rebuilt since we were last here, so we got to ride the tiny road past Ullock this time. Nice!
The entire route was 44 miles and we took 4:06 and it included 1150m of ascent and descent.
More importantly, it was a wonderful day out with my wife. REALLY enjoyed that!
Here is the route
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Hill Work - NOT by Stealth!!
The plan was to get a reasonably early start and head over to Church Stretton so that I could do some 'hill reps' over Long Mynd.
I'd discovered that the climb up The Burway was included in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book, and when I looked at the map, I also found that there was another decent climb on the other side of the hill which was steeper for longer, but shorter overall.
And the base of the Burway to the base of this climb over the Mynd was a few pennies over 5 miles in distance.
A plan started to form.......
My initial idea was to park at the top of the Burway, ride down and back up again 6 times - but thinking that it might get a bit tedious I decided to link the two climbs as they are on the same road - and climb them both 3 times.
This gave me a nice section in the middle which, although not entirely flat, gave my legs something else to do - and gave me a chance to practise cycling on bumpy narrow hilly roads. Nice and event-specific :o)
I still parked at the top of the Burway, and decided to head to the 'other' climb first to warm up the legs.
I'd forgotten how steep 25% is in descent - and was VERY cautious the first time. Glad I've been climbing a lot though..... you need pretty robust forearms to maintain control!!
The first climb was great! Slow! But just a case of pedaling it out and not falling off.
[note to self - wet grass in the centre of the road doesn't give you any traction when you are climbing 1:4!!]
I met my first car on this section, which is only just wide enough for..... one car. But I negotiated the restart and clipping back in fine!!!
The meat of that climb is 160m of uppage in about 690m of horizontal distance - and when it eases off it still climbs for another mile - just much more gently. And I had expected a tail wind from the forecast.
There wasn't one - so I was climbing into the wind on the exposed ridge of the Mynd :o)
The descent down the Burway was much less scary! There is better visibility (apart from when you are in the cloudbase, which came and went all morning) and although it's easy enough to get to 35mph, for the most part it is also pretty easy to control your descent.
I realised just how much easier this climb was by the fact that bottom gear wasn't actually necessary, and once the steeper section was done, the rest of the climb could be done comfortably on the middle chainring.
Yes - I have a triple!!! I could start hurling testosterone about and use a compact or a standard double - but I'm not doing Fred Whitton just once - so I need to be able to treat my legs with some respect!!!
I really enjoyed that climb. the 100 Climbs book gives it a 9/10, and for the views down into Cardingmill Valley alone I have to agree. The drop off to the right is very severe though. Not one to fall off!!
And so it continued.... I became more confident with my bike handling on the descents as the session went on - although it DID give my forearms a decent workout!
The cloudbase hugged the top of the Mynd for most of the time, and there was one surreal moment where, having climbed past a Mountainbiker, I happened across a number of mountain ponies and their foals who had chosen the road to stop for a quick cuppa! I was a little wary of the the Boss Pony who squared up to me at one point, but I gave them plenty of space and was able to carry on my merry way!
All in all this was a good workout. I confirmed to myself that I climb pretty well, and I'm improving at descending. The bumpy roads might need a slightly lower tyre pressure though!!
Here is todays session
I'd discovered that the climb up The Burway was included in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book, and when I looked at the map, I also found that there was another decent climb on the other side of the hill which was steeper for longer, but shorter overall.
And the base of the Burway to the base of this climb over the Mynd was a few pennies over 5 miles in distance.
A plan started to form.......
My initial idea was to park at the top of the Burway, ride down and back up again 6 times - but thinking that it might get a bit tedious I decided to link the two climbs as they are on the same road - and climb them both 3 times.
This gave me a nice section in the middle which, although not entirely flat, gave my legs something else to do - and gave me a chance to practise cycling on bumpy narrow hilly roads. Nice and event-specific :o)
I still parked at the top of the Burway, and decided to head to the 'other' climb first to warm up the legs.
I'd forgotten how steep 25% is in descent - and was VERY cautious the first time. Glad I've been climbing a lot though..... you need pretty robust forearms to maintain control!!
The first climb was great! Slow! But just a case of pedaling it out and not falling off.
[note to self - wet grass in the centre of the road doesn't give you any traction when you are climbing 1:4!!]
I met my first car on this section, which is only just wide enough for..... one car. But I negotiated the restart and clipping back in fine!!!
The meat of that climb is 160m of uppage in about 690m of horizontal distance - and when it eases off it still climbs for another mile - just much more gently. And I had expected a tail wind from the forecast.
There wasn't one - so I was climbing into the wind on the exposed ridge of the Mynd :o)
The descent down the Burway was much less scary! There is better visibility (apart from when you are in the cloudbase, which came and went all morning) and although it's easy enough to get to 35mph, for the most part it is also pretty easy to control your descent.
I realised just how much easier this climb was by the fact that bottom gear wasn't actually necessary, and once the steeper section was done, the rest of the climb could be done comfortably on the middle chainring.
Yes - I have a triple!!! I could start hurling testosterone about and use a compact or a standard double - but I'm not doing Fred Whitton just once - so I need to be able to treat my legs with some respect!!!
I really enjoyed that climb. the 100 Climbs book gives it a 9/10, and for the views down into Cardingmill Valley alone I have to agree. The drop off to the right is very severe though. Not one to fall off!!
And so it continued.... I became more confident with my bike handling on the descents as the session went on - although it DID give my forearms a decent workout!
The cloudbase hugged the top of the Mynd for most of the time, and there was one surreal moment where, having climbed past a Mountainbiker, I happened across a number of mountain ponies and their foals who had chosen the road to stop for a quick cuppa! I was a little wary of the the Boss Pony who squared up to me at one point, but I gave them plenty of space and was able to carry on my merry way!
All in all this was a good workout. I confirmed to myself that I climb pretty well, and I'm improving at descending. The bumpy roads might need a slightly lower tyre pressure though!!
Here is todays session
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Hill Work By Stealth!
The weather forecast presented me with a great opportunity today.
Riding the Scotty Dog route in reverse would give me a greater proportion of uphill miles (less gradient but longer) and all of the 'easy' flat and downhill sections would be into a 16km/h wind.
I also had time to add in a little extra loop to make the miles up.
It was another very nice morning. One thing I hadn't factored in was the fact that I would be passing more schools at "Little Johnny can't walk 400m to school" time so it was very busy until I got out of town. But after that it was great - really quiet.
And I achieved what I set out to do - simulated climbing for the majority of the ride
One thing that I DID notice was that my left hand got a little nerve-numbness at times. My gloves are pretty old now and a bit threadbare, and I've been thinking for a while that my bar tape could do with being replaced. So a couple of little jobs.
The ride today was a little over 47 miles and took just under 3 hours.
I'm thinking that as a training pace on *this* terrain, 50 miles in <3 hours would be a reasonable goal over the coming weeks. I know that it is fairly meaningless in terms of what I'll be able to do over the Fred Whitton course - but it is a reasonable one for me to measure myself against, I think!
I think that tomorrow I'll have a change and head over to some steeper hills and bat up and down them a few times.
Riding the Scotty Dog route in reverse would give me a greater proportion of uphill miles (less gradient but longer) and all of the 'easy' flat and downhill sections would be into a 16km/h wind.
I also had time to add in a little extra loop to make the miles up.
It was another very nice morning. One thing I hadn't factored in was the fact that I would be passing more schools at "Little Johnny can't walk 400m to school" time so it was very busy until I got out of town. But after that it was great - really quiet.
And I achieved what I set out to do - simulated climbing for the majority of the ride
One thing that I DID notice was that my left hand got a little nerve-numbness at times. My gloves are pretty old now and a bit threadbare, and I've been thinking for a while that my bar tape could do with being replaced. So a couple of little jobs.
The ride today was a little over 47 miles and took just under 3 hours.
I'm thinking that as a training pace on *this* terrain, 50 miles in <3 hours would be a reasonable goal over the coming weeks. I know that it is fairly meaningless in terms of what I'll be able to do over the Fred Whitton course - but it is a reasonable one for me to measure myself against, I think!
I think that tomorrow I'll have a change and head over to some steeper hills and bat up and down them a few times.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Weather!!
People may have noticed a small amount of breeziness about the place over the last few days. That, combined with a fairly busy weekend which involved loads of indoor climbing and being sociable, meant that the bike stayed firmly on the Turbo Trainer, and got some serious servicing! And I'm actually pretty sure that the overall strength conditioning that climbing gives me is beneficial to all the other activities that I like to do!!
Anyway - this morning saw a return to some lovely bright and clear weather and hardly any wind. Some, but nothing like that which has been whipping around the place for the last week or so! I planned to do a route that is a little longer than my 'standard' 42 mile circuit, but that was scuppered when one of the kids missed the bus to school.
Ah well! Still had time to get the 42 done! So I decided to up the effort level a little.
I knew that the direction that I was doing it in would see me heading in to the wind on the flatter and slightly downhill section - but that pretty much fitted the "Work A Bit Harder" plan. And it was a really nice day to be out riding. Even the traffic was behaving itself! I'm happy doing this particular ride (clockwise) in 2:30 or less. When it takes longer it's normally because the wind is whistling across the flat bits, and not in a helpful way!! There are a few places where it funnels straight at you, and with more than the prevailing force. Still, I guess it's hill-work by stealth ;o)
I had a chat with the lovely people at Macmillan Cancer Support too. They have kindly put a bit of information about the challenge on their website, and I needed to chat to them about another matter as well. They are a fabulous group at the local fundraising office - really friendly and helpful :o)
A friend of mine from the 'running' side of my life had heard about the challenge and has pledged to sponsor me €10 (she's from mainland Europe!) for each time that I manage to cycle up the section of Hardknott Pass that has a gradient of 33% (1:3 in old money) - now THERE is a motivating challenge!
I wonder if she also means when I'm doing a training rides on it..... ;o)
Hoping to get up there soon to recce the sections of the route that I haven't ridden before, and I will do the whole route as a training ride before May as well!
Anyway - this morning saw a return to some lovely bright and clear weather and hardly any wind. Some, but nothing like that which has been whipping around the place for the last week or so! I planned to do a route that is a little longer than my 'standard' 42 mile circuit, but that was scuppered when one of the kids missed the bus to school.
Ah well! Still had time to get the 42 done! So I decided to up the effort level a little.
I knew that the direction that I was doing it in would see me heading in to the wind on the flatter and slightly downhill section - but that pretty much fitted the "Work A Bit Harder" plan. And it was a really nice day to be out riding. Even the traffic was behaving itself! I'm happy doing this particular ride (clockwise) in 2:30 or less. When it takes longer it's normally because the wind is whistling across the flat bits, and not in a helpful way!! There are a few places where it funnels straight at you, and with more than the prevailing force. Still, I guess it's hill-work by stealth ;o)
I had a chat with the lovely people at Macmillan Cancer Support too. They have kindly put a bit of information about the challenge on their website, and I needed to chat to them about another matter as well. They are a fabulous group at the local fundraising office - really friendly and helpful :o)
A friend of mine from the 'running' side of my life had heard about the challenge and has pledged to sponsor me €10 (she's from mainland Europe!) for each time that I manage to cycle up the section of Hardknott Pass that has a gradient of 33% (1:3 in old money) - now THERE is a motivating challenge!
I wonder if she also means when I'm doing a training rides on it..... ;o)
Hoping to get up there soon to recce the sections of the route that I haven't ridden before, and I will do the whole route as a training ride before May as well!
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Longer ride... and loose plans
I need to start building up the long rides in preparation for this challenge, and for the moment I'm planning to stick in one decent long ride a week, pad out the rest of the week with 40-50 mile efforts, and have one day when I seek out some silly steep hills and do lots of repeats on them to get used to, and strong enough for the climbs on the Fred Whitton.
I can't really mimic the gradient locally, so I'll use bigger gears on the climbs that I do use.
I had a look at the forecast for the next couple of days, and it seemed to me that the best window of half decent weather was going to be today. So I had a play with my mapping software and came up with an 86 mile route that seemed to fit the bill. It was also going to be a good opportunity to work at the food/drink strategy.
I had previously thought that I would have a quick off-bike 5 minute break ever 20 miles - but that translates to 25 minutes of not riding on the Fred Whitton. So today I thought I'd seee how I went with a 40-mile stint between rests.
I knew that it meant that I'd possibly stop quite close to the end, but these things need experimenting with!!
Once again the roads were really mucky - some were more mud than tarmac! But as a whole this was a fantastic ride. There were a few more easy climbs than on the 70 mile route I did the other day, and the hilliest bit was from 55-70 miles - and again my legs seemed to perk right up then!
So - a planned 5 minute break for food and wee stop at 40 miles. Found a lovely little sun-trap for it, and it WAS nice to get off the bike, albeit briefly. Coming to a village at 77 miles, I had been thinking that I'd just ride through..... but I was actually getting stomach-knawingly hungry, so decided that I would stop there as well. I'd also been riding into the wind for the past 6 miles!!
It was a good decision!
Overall I was really pleased with the way this went. It's the longest ride that I've done in a long time, and I got the pace/effort about right, because there was still some oompfh left in my legs even though they were a little fatigued. One thing that I may have to look at.... I was feeling slightly cramped on the bike, especially cycling into the wind, so I may put a slightly longer stem on.
All in all - an excellent day.
86.5 miles in 5:43
I can't really mimic the gradient locally, so I'll use bigger gears on the climbs that I do use.
I had a look at the forecast for the next couple of days, and it seemed to me that the best window of half decent weather was going to be today. So I had a play with my mapping software and came up with an 86 mile route that seemed to fit the bill. It was also going to be a good opportunity to work at the food/drink strategy.
I had previously thought that I would have a quick off-bike 5 minute break ever 20 miles - but that translates to 25 minutes of not riding on the Fred Whitton. So today I thought I'd seee how I went with a 40-mile stint between rests.
I knew that it meant that I'd possibly stop quite close to the end, but these things need experimenting with!!
Once again the roads were really mucky - some were more mud than tarmac! But as a whole this was a fantastic ride. There were a few more easy climbs than on the 70 mile route I did the other day, and the hilliest bit was from 55-70 miles - and again my legs seemed to perk right up then!
So - a planned 5 minute break for food and wee stop at 40 miles. Found a lovely little sun-trap for it, and it WAS nice to get off the bike, albeit briefly. Coming to a village at 77 miles, I had been thinking that I'd just ride through..... but I was actually getting stomach-knawingly hungry, so decided that I would stop there as well. I'd also been riding into the wind for the past 6 miles!!
It was a good decision!
Overall I was really pleased with the way this went. It's the longest ride that I've done in a long time, and I got the pace/effort about right, because there was still some oompfh left in my legs even though they were a little fatigued. One thing that I may have to look at.... I was feeling slightly cramped on the bike, especially cycling into the wind, so I may put a slightly longer stem on.
All in all - an excellent day.
86.5 miles in 5:43
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Terrible wind..!!
Same route as yesterday!
For the first 6 miles I was thinking "This is impressive - averaging 19mph uphill..." i should have known better.
Nope I wasn't "Riding like a Lion" - more like a very small kitten with LOTS of assistance
Turning IN to the wind brought me back to earth :o)
When the "Ear Thunder" suggests that you are doing at least 35 mph, and the cycle computer tells you that it's actually 14mph - you know that you are in for a bit of work!!
With my 'general' rides though, I'm riding to perceived effort, so a headwind just translates to smaller gears and lower speeds.
This was in fact, another very enjoyable ride. A little slower than yesterday, but the training is all about getting the miles in, at the moment.
And then Lorna and I went to climb ourselves to arm-oblivion. Great day :o)
For the first 6 miles I was thinking "This is impressive - averaging 19mph uphill..." i should have known better.
Nope I wasn't "Riding like a Lion" - more like a very small kitten with LOTS of assistance
Turning IN to the wind brought me back to earth :o)
When the "Ear Thunder" suggests that you are doing at least 35 mph, and the cycle computer tells you that it's actually 14mph - you know that you are in for a bit of work!!
With my 'general' rides though, I'm riding to perceived effort, so a headwind just translates to smaller gears and lower speeds.
This was in fact, another very enjoyable ride. A little slower than yesterday, but the training is all about getting the miles in, at the moment.
And then Lorna and I went to climb ourselves to arm-oblivion. Great day :o)
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Some proper riding
The roads are pretty mucky at the moment. With farmers doing farmer'y things and seemingly loads of things requiring large lorries driving on mud then back onto the roads - I found myself regretting having removed my bikes winter garb, because it got ridiculously dirty.
I had another fiddle with my riding position too.
Today I decided to potter around the Scotty Dog 42. My plan was to just use easy effort and see what happened.
The start of the ride was wet and mucky - spray off the vehicles overtaking me was particularly muddy and gritty. And I got absolutely filthy!!
But about half way around, that all changed. The sun came out, and it was gorgeous. I almost regretted having limited time for todays ride....... but climbing with my wife is just as important!!
I was really surprised that I finished the route in 1:24, the fastest I've ridden it by about a minute, and with far less effort.
Enjoyed that!!
I had another fiddle with my riding position too.
Today I decided to potter around the Scotty Dog 42. My plan was to just use easy effort and see what happened.
The start of the ride was wet and mucky - spray off the vehicles overtaking me was particularly muddy and gritty. And I got absolutely filthy!!
But about half way around, that all changed. The sun came out, and it was gorgeous. I almost regretted having limited time for todays ride....... but climbing with my wife is just as important!!
I was really surprised that I finished the route in 1:24, the fastest I've ridden it by about a minute, and with far less effort.
Enjoyed that!!
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