For my 3rd BR(M) of the month I was planning what turned out to be a near reversal of the Fred Whitton Challenge, which having discovered I'd need to divert my Whinlatter climb due to road works, and asking on YACF about the diversion and a "I think this might be over ambitious" statement in my post, Paul Revell suggested I could adapt his "The Cumbrain" calendar event to suit.
I was staying at the Yorkshire Ramblers club hut at Low Hall Garth for a long weekend with my hiking club, having arrived as Wednesday turned to Thursday I knew I was getting only a short sleep before getting up to set off.
The Kling Klang of Tour De France woke me in the bunk of the hut and I set down for my Weetabix in the cold communal area. I had set the route to start and finish on the main Ambleside to Coniston road so I wouldn't need to ride from the hut or from the start of the tarmac at Stang End. I drove out to the road end in the darkness, as dawn started to break I mounted my Orange steed and descended into the inversion, I shivered on the bike struggling to make enough heat as I rolled though Skelwith and onto the Ambleside one way system before picking up the near deserted main road down to Troutbeck Bridge where I would start my ascent to the Kirkstone Pass; the road I climbed had felt steep in Robbie's Hire Van after Brant and Slape but I found it reasonable going at this early stage of the day. Past the grand buildings of the hotel and youth hostel then into the hamlets built of slate before the Kirkstone pass proper, all the time the temperature rising as I escaped the chill of the inversion.
374m in 11km, the Kirkstone Inn showed signs of life, but no open doors to tempt a cyclist in for a second breakfast, the struggle plunging down into the inversion over Windermere. I plunged too but down into the inversion in Patterdale, before climbing back out and over to the other Troutbeck.
Blencathra stood in front of me, as did hordes of ramblers, standing in the middle of the road waiting for their group hike to start, too distracted by their chatter to observe another road user. The loop of Blencatra and Skidaw saw my first stop at Hesket Newmarket at the shop there for sweets and water, sadly Bassenthwait village needed dodged due to a road closure that I'd scoped out on the county council website in advance (I was once again following a mandatory route as I hadn't been able to stop google trying to make me do CX riding for an advisory route) which mean a fairly boring spin down to Kewsick on the A road.
I nearly passed the Filling Station Café in Keswick but turned back to stop in for a cooked breakfast which I was just in time for (they switch menu at midday) though I was toying with the stack of pancakes I stopped that madness in favour of a protein load. Next up was the Newlands pass over to Buttermere, I was climbing fine until the last sharp dig near the top where my legs decided they'd had enough and forced me to walk. It was around 23% at this point but it's disturbing to think that only a year ago I got up the Cockbridge ramp on the Lecht without resorting to walking, but this year not only had I walked that but I'd walked a lot more too including this.
As I descended towards Buttermere I was forced to hang back a bit as a car crawled some sections where I could have had a bit of speed up, a drone flew overhead controlled from a van at the top of the pass.
I now turned for that famous landmark of Cumbria the Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station visible as soon as I'd climbed yet another rise and got a sight of the Irish Sea. Although better known as Sellafield there are two sites there, Calder Hall and the Windscale piles not operational since the fire in 1957 it will not finish decommissioning until 2040!
Thankfully Cumbria's hidden hand is just round the corner, in Wastwater and Wasdale, if anywhere in England does not deserve the Lord George Gordon Byron's call of "England! thy beauties are tame and domestic" it is here, steep hillsides lead to England's summit at Scaffel Pike and the lake at the foot gives you a scene that could place in his playground of youth.
I rode up to the Wasdale Head inn with enough time in hand for a coke, crisps and pork pie but little else and as I set off again my average was back down in the concerning zone, particularly as I could see there was 3 big lumps to drag myself over.
That first great lump was Birkerfell, from Eskdale to Ulpha, this I scaled with only a grumble of complaint as my tired body and mind took in the last of the daylight.
Then it was time for Kilnbank Cross, Dusk was coming in and the climb was relentless and steep, my momentum was broken by a cattle grid on the climb, enough dig to get over but not to then make the sharp uphill turn it launched me onto, I was walking again. I walked a while as I struggled to find a hill section shallow enough to get going on. I finally summited with a bit of light left and entered my light bubble on Old Rake, thankfully a gentle climb on the Coniston road. I rolled through Coniston in the dark finally reaching the Stang End Road with 12hrs 23m on the clock, just over an hour and a half in hand for the minimum 14.3km average speed (14hrs 7m) maybe I could have eaten more in Wasdale after all.
I decided not to head down to the hut but instead needed to visit a shop, the Co-Op in Ambleside would do but I spent the best part of half an hour trying to find a parking space that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg for the 5 minutes it would take.
I returned to the hut with my sweets and next days lunch food and planned a gentle hike for the following day. I had great weather for my gentle hike to the shop ni chapel stile and then up Silver How and back, but heavy drizzle and compass bearing visibility for Wetherlam on the Saturday with my club mates, the Sunday started off a washout so I sat and read until the sun came out. Only Dom and Amy did sport that day and I set off late afternoon for home.
Tuesday 30 October 2018
Monday 29 October 2018
Galashiels Autumn Weekend 13th and 14th October 2018
It was time for the Galashiels Autumn double header, with 200km on the Saturday followed by 100km on the Sunday.
Unfortunately I had signed up early in the year and entered the 150Km Dick McT's Century Classic rather than the 200Km Etal-U-Can route that I enjoyed in 2017.
Sadly the original route for this using the two valley roads out of Selkirk was considered unsuitable due to road surface deterioration on the muir road to Moffat so it was rerouted to Etal via Wooler and returning via Kelso to get my distance up to the 200Km to keep my RRTYs alive I found a 50Km loop to ride afterwards taking in Lauder, Stow and Thornylee more on that later!
With the Motorhome still off the road and the tent pitches in Moffat being closed for winter I went looking for stone and mortar based accommodation, my first choice the Kailzie bunkhouse near Innerleithen handily with a nice looking 25Km ride each way that could have made the ECE was sadly booked out until Jellember when I contacted the owner back in September however I found a decent B&B that rarely appears as available on Booking.com for the two nights.
The forecast was looking horrific, similar to what was originally forecast for the 600Km Borderlands Explorer back in July, but as with that time the conditions forecast eased off to a slightly more tolerable minging. This had however reduced the number of riders starting considerably and a large number of cards remained on the table while I sat and socialized with the other riders who were braving the weather.
The day actually started out not too bad with only a bit of occasional drizzle for the 9am start which saw my departure delayed by trying to get the back up GPS recorder to work, this was necessary in case the Wahoo failed as the ECE was to be following a mandatory route so paper proof of purchase as a back up even if it was possible, wouldn't suffice.
Riding out of Galashiels Dick directed us via the Midlem route towards Morebattle before joining the St Boswells route near Nisbet; I had decided to generally follow the route even though I had extra time pressures, but I made my first diversion at Nisbet by carrying on and taking the Eckford corner cut. Despite the delayed start I had started to catch the other riders and appologising for battering on rather than taking the social pace that comes with the less demanding average speeds of a Brevet Populaire, because I was having to ride at Brevet Ranndoneur speeds as I have to complete the full distance of both the BP route and ECE in the time limit of a BR, and also I don't get the BPs route distance I have to ride it at BR time for 150km and this ride was nearer 170km.
I had fitted my mudguards during the week due to the forecast and was starting to regret it as the noise from the rear guard was becoming increasingly irritating. On arrival at Morebattle I took one look at the rear guard, swore and walked into the shop to get a control receipt before setting out to tighten up the stay nut which required lifting the wheel out of the drop outs to get room. The bulge of other riders arrived while I was doing this and they chatted while I grumbled. This however did give me a chance to explain my hurry to them.
Setting off again, I made it a few meters before stopping to make another adjustment, this time the stay was rubbing on the tyre, however only a few KM later the bike was on the ground once again and this time the guard was removed as the bolt had loosened off and now was nowhere to be seen. Once again the other riders arrived as I was working on it and one even offered to carry the guard for me on his Carradice!!!
I shot off into the distance again at my unsocial pace, rolling through to Town Yetholm still amazingly dry and promptly rode into the rain somewhere on the Kirknewton road; some of the other riders caught me on the main road towards Wooler and I advised them I was taking the fast route into Wooler for a short sharp hill to the Co-Op; they carried on the back road and rolled in as I was exiting the Co-Op with a top up of water.
From Wooler I took the Doddington road and then the back roads which were in places more like Canals towards Etal.
The first Etal-U-Can rider I saw was just after Fenton, I was not surprised to see it was Richard who is a pretty quick rider, however what was surprising was the hoard of Bromptons that seemed to be chasing him down! I rolled into Etal absolutely soaked and found Russell and Michael who were also on Etal-U-Can had just sat down for lunch. I joined them after ordering after as usual searching the menu for items that work without cheese!
We were joined by another rider before Russell and Michael left, after which the café owner made a joke about cleaning chairs for the next soggy person to occupy!!!
Cracking on again as 200km and 160km riders dripped in I decided to return on the Doddington route, with the amount of rain falling I was preferring the quiet canals to the main road, that was despite knowing in places the puddles were bottom bracket deep, something I thought I had left behind when I stopped MTBing so much! Back in Wooler I decided an ATM receipt would do as I didn't need anything from a shop, I did my best to protect my wallet of reciepts from the rain at the Barclays hole in the wall.
The return route via Kelso I knew from the Borders 600km and this time my knees weren't aching and I discovered that after 120Km the lumps over to Kelso from Mindrum is actually pretty easy going. I did now have a technical problem, my Wahoo wasn't charging from the USB-Werk and I was starting to run low on battery; I had spotted issues on the last few rides so thankfully was carrying my Powermonkey Explorer II however I didn't want to go plugging things in while it was raining.
I rolled into Kelso still in the rain and went to the Sainsbury petrol station for a water top up and sweet; on inspecting the reciept I spotted there was no date and time, that was no use, so I went up to the main shop for another ATM reciept. After Sainsbury's I promptly got my directions wrong and started to follow the Selkirk road, and on realizing the error doubled back and headed into the town centre where I spotted a Blue Cycle Route finger post with the distance to Melrose on it. As I didn't feel there was enough battery left in the Wahoo to use turn by turn navigation for any period of time and my routesheet was getting rather soggy as I constantly extracted it I decided to follow the cycle route, this actually took me onto Dick's recommended route and eventually it stopped raining!!!!
The air now dry, me soaking and Dicks route doing a bit more climbing up to Smailholm I decided to stick with the blue signs, these took me down a quiet road with suspiciously major road looking markings, past a "No Motor Vehicles" sign, round a barrier, and onto a wooden bridge and narrow path. Typical! Fearing a dirt track I pressed on aware that there was no time to return to Dick's route now and cursing myself for listening to a Sustrans route over one of the most experienced riders in the area. Starting to climb on a widening track that I was still unsure of the surface due to bumps and a layer of leaves I soon heard the rumble of a pickup truck descending the hill. After the short climb I discovered I was in Newton St Boswells and all I needed to do was follow the signs to the "Rhymers Stone" road and I know the way back from there.
Back in Gala I got the Wahoo on charge while I stumbled into the Arriveé soaked and aware I needed to crack on, I handed Lucy my Brevet card and the jumble of receipts to sort while I got stuck into some of the food on offer. She also spotted that the Sainsbury's petrol receipt had the date and time and other Audax useful information on the rear of it so I had no need to go to the main shop after all.
Now I just had to haul myself round the 50km loop and keep my average speed for that section over the 15Kmh BR minimum; I also now had to follow the GPS trace that I had submitted for the ECE.
Setting off into Gala town centre to get onto the A7 before climbing Station Brae into Langlee and then turning up onto the backroad to Lauder, it now hit me just how much of a climb this was and I had decided to ride anti-clockwise in order to avoid the Stow Hillclimb course! Darkness set in and I returned to existing in my small bubble of light.
Houses and street lights started to add light to my bubble and then my Wahoo chirped a turn off and suddenly I was in market place in Lauder, people, cars, rain... I rode through the town, another chirp, a turn off and back into my bubble; the road started to climb again and the mist set in.
My bubble and I moved slowly through the mist, climbing 198m, 269m, 322m, 357m the road summit of Lauder common, and then down into Stow, out of the mist, out of the dark, over the A7 and back into the dark.
A long gentle climb followed, the A7 across the valley and the railway were visible, the mist not covering the sky here, I could see beyond my bubble, but not much, houses dotting the country side, their dry occupants safe and warm, I wet and cold passing through the country side. A train passed, the road diverged from the line and A7 and I climbed on in the dark. Bowland, Windydoors, Blackhaugh, the house lights shone in the dark. Blackhaugh, a junction I turn off for Thornilee and the dark narrow road starts to descend, eventually spitting me out on the A72.
My average speed for the ECE so far was low, around 16kmh, it seems so tight close enough that a mechanical would leave me with only the 150Km Calendar Event. THankfully the A72 descends on an old railway alignment to "The Nest" roundabout and my speed was considerably higher than my average along here and down to Fairnlee Farm, 8km and 30m of descent on a good road makes all the difference for maintaining speed. All I needed to do now was carry on over the hill to Gala town cross to finish the ECE and then head back to get the car from the Swimming pool.
Soaking wet I rolled into Gala, Dick and George were just leaving the Arriveé as everyone was back, so I collected the car, drove the 500m to my B&B and got warmed up. By the time this was done all there was left for tea was the late night Subway. That'll be a steak and cheese, without the cheese please.
Once I extracted the GPS data I discovered the Wahoo reckoned I'd climbed less than 1000m since Bikehike had the ECE loop down as 750m alone I knew this was rubbish, the corrected climb being 2691m in 222Km; 22km over points distance with no allowance for the extra, just like ACP validated rides, I was fine with that.
A rather pleasant ride from Gala over to the Tweed and then along the south bank from the first crossing, passing various MTB locations before climbing over to Mountbenger in the Yarrow Valley from Innerleithen on a rather pleasant climb. At the Gordon Arms we were served tea and cake in the breakfast room while the residents made do with breakfast in the bar and then we set on for another couple of long muir land climbs first over to Tushielaw in the Ettrick Valley before climbing once again towards "Little Bleak Law" and then down to Roberton by the Borthwich Water and continuing down to Lilliesleaf for tea, cake and sanwich for lunch, before a short sharp climb back over to the A7 route and into Galashiels on the now well known route to the town cross.
What always makes these rides special is who you come across along the way or at controls.
As I climbed one hill I was surprised to discover Michael catching up with me! My first thought wasn't "what happened" it was "huh I didn't see you at the start or at the Gordon!", Michael had had a bit of a mishap, he was today ECEing from home and had misremembered the start time arriving 30mins late to the start, thankfully able to obtain his Brevet card and crack on!
I caught up with George Berwick near the top of one of the climbs, where he was later adamant he heard a bird that sounded like a telephone ringing, I never heard it but I know the bird call he heard, it does indeed sound like an old landline telephone buzzing, of course modern landlines and mobiles tend to ring like birdsong, or at least human attempts at birdsong.
Rolling into Lilliesleaf, it was a bit of a riot, bikes propped everwhere, non-cycling customers confined to a single table in the corner probably wondering what they were doing there! I found a seat that had just been vacated at the table with Aidan and Dick, Dick on card stamping duty doing his best to shout across the riot whenever anyone arrived to get their attention. I was also jammed against the counter so all I could do to order was stand up an ask, my food was also passed over to me directly over the counter!
There were two trikes on the ride, Aidens and Edwins, unfortunately they look identical and I'd spotted that one of them had a single rear disc brake, I asked Aiden about whether that causes brake steer, he of course doesn't know as his has two rear wheel brakes and a front v-brake although I did learn a few other things about trikes.
George arrived asking everyone if they heard the bird which no one had, Dick suggested it was his phone with his wife calling him and the pair kept me and anyone else in earshot amused with their jokes, stories and general hilarity probably until they had to leave the café.
The last wee dig up over to the A7 was a reverse of the previous days route and that was it, 100km done in a leisurely 6 hours.
The Yoga for Cyclists session was interesting although I could do most of the routine, there were extended periods spent with weight on the hands and I was getting pain from where I had been holding the hoods and there was some extended time with the head lower than the neck and that causes me reflux problems.
After the previous day's soaking, the dry, gentle, sociable ride was a great wind down; I did spend the next few days with discomfort from some areas stretched by the Yoga session that don't normally stretch!
Unfortunately I had signed up early in the year and entered the 150Km Dick McT's Century Classic rather than the 200Km Etal-U-Can route that I enjoyed in 2017.
Sadly the original route for this using the two valley roads out of Selkirk was considered unsuitable due to road surface deterioration on the muir road to Moffat so it was rerouted to Etal via Wooler and returning via Kelso to get my distance up to the 200Km to keep my RRTYs alive I found a 50Km loop to ride afterwards taking in Lauder, Stow and Thornylee more on that later!
Dick McT's Century Classic plus 50Km ECE 13th October 2018
With the Motorhome still off the road and the tent pitches in Moffat being closed for winter I went looking for stone and mortar based accommodation, my first choice the Kailzie bunkhouse near Innerleithen handily with a nice looking 25Km ride each way that could have made the ECE was sadly booked out until Jellember when I contacted the owner back in September however I found a decent B&B that rarely appears as available on Booking.com for the two nights.
The forecast was looking horrific, similar to what was originally forecast for the 600Km Borderlands Explorer back in July, but as with that time the conditions forecast eased off to a slightly more tolerable minging. This had however reduced the number of riders starting considerably and a large number of cards remained on the table while I sat and socialized with the other riders who were braving the weather.
The day actually started out not too bad with only a bit of occasional drizzle for the 9am start which saw my departure delayed by trying to get the back up GPS recorder to work, this was necessary in case the Wahoo failed as the ECE was to be following a mandatory route so paper proof of purchase as a back up even if it was possible, wouldn't suffice.
Riding out of Galashiels Dick directed us via the Midlem route towards Morebattle before joining the St Boswells route near Nisbet; I had decided to generally follow the route even though I had extra time pressures, but I made my first diversion at Nisbet by carrying on and taking the Eckford corner cut. Despite the delayed start I had started to catch the other riders and appologising for battering on rather than taking the social pace that comes with the less demanding average speeds of a Brevet Populaire, because I was having to ride at Brevet Ranndoneur speeds as I have to complete the full distance of both the BP route and ECE in the time limit of a BR, and also I don't get the BPs route distance I have to ride it at BR time for 150km and this ride was nearer 170km.
I had fitted my mudguards during the week due to the forecast and was starting to regret it as the noise from the rear guard was becoming increasingly irritating. On arrival at Morebattle I took one look at the rear guard, swore and walked into the shop to get a control receipt before setting out to tighten up the stay nut which required lifting the wheel out of the drop outs to get room. The bulge of other riders arrived while I was doing this and they chatted while I grumbled. This however did give me a chance to explain my hurry to them.
Setting off again, I made it a few meters before stopping to make another adjustment, this time the stay was rubbing on the tyre, however only a few KM later the bike was on the ground once again and this time the guard was removed as the bolt had loosened off and now was nowhere to be seen. Once again the other riders arrived as I was working on it and one even offered to carry the guard for me on his Carradice!!!
I shot off into the distance again at my unsocial pace, rolling through to Town Yetholm still amazingly dry and promptly rode into the rain somewhere on the Kirknewton road; some of the other riders caught me on the main road towards Wooler and I advised them I was taking the fast route into Wooler for a short sharp hill to the Co-Op; they carried on the back road and rolled in as I was exiting the Co-Op with a top up of water.
From Wooler I took the Doddington road and then the back roads which were in places more like Canals towards Etal.
The first Etal-U-Can rider I saw was just after Fenton, I was not surprised to see it was Richard who is a pretty quick rider, however what was surprising was the hoard of Bromptons that seemed to be chasing him down! I rolled into Etal absolutely soaked and found Russell and Michael who were also on Etal-U-Can had just sat down for lunch. I joined them after ordering after as usual searching the menu for items that work without cheese!
We were joined by another rider before Russell and Michael left, after which the café owner made a joke about cleaning chairs for the next soggy person to occupy!!!
Cracking on again as 200km and 160km riders dripped in I decided to return on the Doddington route, with the amount of rain falling I was preferring the quiet canals to the main road, that was despite knowing in places the puddles were bottom bracket deep, something I thought I had left behind when I stopped MTBing so much! Back in Wooler I decided an ATM receipt would do as I didn't need anything from a shop, I did my best to protect my wallet of reciepts from the rain at the Barclays hole in the wall.
The return route via Kelso I knew from the Borders 600km and this time my knees weren't aching and I discovered that after 120Km the lumps over to Kelso from Mindrum is actually pretty easy going. I did now have a technical problem, my Wahoo wasn't charging from the USB-Werk and I was starting to run low on battery; I had spotted issues on the last few rides so thankfully was carrying my Powermonkey Explorer II however I didn't want to go plugging things in while it was raining.
I rolled into Kelso still in the rain and went to the Sainsbury petrol station for a water top up and sweet; on inspecting the reciept I spotted there was no date and time, that was no use, so I went up to the main shop for another ATM reciept. After Sainsbury's I promptly got my directions wrong and started to follow the Selkirk road, and on realizing the error doubled back and headed into the town centre where I spotted a Blue Cycle Route finger post with the distance to Melrose on it. As I didn't feel there was enough battery left in the Wahoo to use turn by turn navigation for any period of time and my routesheet was getting rather soggy as I constantly extracted it I decided to follow the cycle route, this actually took me onto Dick's recommended route and eventually it stopped raining!!!!
The air now dry, me soaking and Dicks route doing a bit more climbing up to Smailholm I decided to stick with the blue signs, these took me down a quiet road with suspiciously major road looking markings, past a "No Motor Vehicles" sign, round a barrier, and onto a wooden bridge and narrow path. Typical! Fearing a dirt track I pressed on aware that there was no time to return to Dick's route now and cursing myself for listening to a Sustrans route over one of the most experienced riders in the area. Starting to climb on a widening track that I was still unsure of the surface due to bumps and a layer of leaves I soon heard the rumble of a pickup truck descending the hill. After the short climb I discovered I was in Newton St Boswells and all I needed to do was follow the signs to the "Rhymers Stone" road and I know the way back from there.
Back in Gala I got the Wahoo on charge while I stumbled into the Arriveé soaked and aware I needed to crack on, I handed Lucy my Brevet card and the jumble of receipts to sort while I got stuck into some of the food on offer. She also spotted that the Sainsbury's petrol receipt had the date and time and other Audax useful information on the rear of it so I had no need to go to the main shop after all.
Now I just had to haul myself round the 50km loop and keep my average speed for that section over the 15Kmh BR minimum; I also now had to follow the GPS trace that I had submitted for the ECE.
Setting off into Gala town centre to get onto the A7 before climbing Station Brae into Langlee and then turning up onto the backroad to Lauder, it now hit me just how much of a climb this was and I had decided to ride anti-clockwise in order to avoid the Stow Hillclimb course! Darkness set in and I returned to existing in my small bubble of light.
Houses and street lights started to add light to my bubble and then my Wahoo chirped a turn off and suddenly I was in market place in Lauder, people, cars, rain... I rode through the town, another chirp, a turn off and back into my bubble; the road started to climb again and the mist set in.
My bubble and I moved slowly through the mist, climbing 198m, 269m, 322m, 357m the road summit of Lauder common, and then down into Stow, out of the mist, out of the dark, over the A7 and back into the dark.
A long gentle climb followed, the A7 across the valley and the railway were visible, the mist not covering the sky here, I could see beyond my bubble, but not much, houses dotting the country side, their dry occupants safe and warm, I wet and cold passing through the country side. A train passed, the road diverged from the line and A7 and I climbed on in the dark. Bowland, Windydoors, Blackhaugh, the house lights shone in the dark. Blackhaugh, a junction I turn off for Thornilee and the dark narrow road starts to descend, eventually spitting me out on the A72.
My average speed for the ECE so far was low, around 16kmh, it seems so tight close enough that a mechanical would leave me with only the 150Km Calendar Event. THankfully the A72 descends on an old railway alignment to "The Nest" roundabout and my speed was considerably higher than my average along here and down to Fairnlee Farm, 8km and 30m of descent on a good road makes all the difference for maintaining speed. All I needed to do now was carry on over the hill to Gala town cross to finish the ECE and then head back to get the car from the Swimming pool.
Soaking wet I rolled into Gala, Dick and George were just leaving the Arriveé as everyone was back, so I collected the car, drove the 500m to my B&B and got warmed up. By the time this was done all there was left for tea was the late night Subway. That'll be a steak and cheese, without the cheese please.
Once I extracted the GPS data I discovered the Wahoo reckoned I'd climbed less than 1000m since Bikehike had the ECE loop down as 750m alone I knew this was rubbish, the corrected climb being 2691m in 222Km; 22km over points distance with no allowance for the extra, just like ACP validated rides, I was fine with that.
Ride of the Valkyries 100Km 14th October 2018
Thankfully I didn't need yet another 200Km and could now actually enjoy the 12Kmh minimum of a BP, even better the sun was out!A rather pleasant ride from Gala over to the Tweed and then along the south bank from the first crossing, passing various MTB locations before climbing over to Mountbenger in the Yarrow Valley from Innerleithen on a rather pleasant climb. At the Gordon Arms we were served tea and cake in the breakfast room while the residents made do with breakfast in the bar and then we set on for another couple of long muir land climbs first over to Tushielaw in the Ettrick Valley before climbing once again towards "Little Bleak Law" and then down to Roberton by the Borthwich Water and continuing down to Lilliesleaf for tea, cake and sanwich for lunch, before a short sharp climb back over to the A7 route and into Galashiels on the now well known route to the town cross.
What always makes these rides special is who you come across along the way or at controls.
As I climbed one hill I was surprised to discover Michael catching up with me! My first thought wasn't "what happened" it was "huh I didn't see you at the start or at the Gordon!", Michael had had a bit of a mishap, he was today ECEing from home and had misremembered the start time arriving 30mins late to the start, thankfully able to obtain his Brevet card and crack on!
I caught up with George Berwick near the top of one of the climbs, where he was later adamant he heard a bird that sounded like a telephone ringing, I never heard it but I know the bird call he heard, it does indeed sound like an old landline telephone buzzing, of course modern landlines and mobiles tend to ring like birdsong, or at least human attempts at birdsong.
Rolling into Lilliesleaf, it was a bit of a riot, bikes propped everwhere, non-cycling customers confined to a single table in the corner probably wondering what they were doing there! I found a seat that had just been vacated at the table with Aidan and Dick, Dick on card stamping duty doing his best to shout across the riot whenever anyone arrived to get their attention. I was also jammed against the counter so all I could do to order was stand up an ask, my food was also passed over to me directly over the counter!
There were two trikes on the ride, Aidens and Edwins, unfortunately they look identical and I'd spotted that one of them had a single rear disc brake, I asked Aiden about whether that causes brake steer, he of course doesn't know as his has two rear wheel brakes and a front v-brake although I did learn a few other things about trikes.
George arrived asking everyone if they heard the bird which no one had, Dick suggested it was his phone with his wife calling him and the pair kept me and anyone else in earshot amused with their jokes, stories and general hilarity probably until they had to leave the café.
The last wee dig up over to the A7 was a reverse of the previous days route and that was it, 100km done in a leisurely 6 hours.
The Yoga for Cyclists session was interesting although I could do most of the routine, there were extended periods spent with weight on the hands and I was getting pain from where I had been holding the hoods and there was some extended time with the head lower than the neck and that causes me reflux problems.
After the previous day's soaking, the dry, gentle, sociable ride was a great wind down; I did spend the next few days with discomfort from some areas stretched by the Yoga session that don't normally stretch!
Monday 8 October 2018
Brant and Slape - 200Km - 6th October 2018
Or Steep and Slippy in Standard English this was going to be a tough ride with 3.75 AAA points on offer in 200km.
Robbie and Élaina collected me from work on Friday afternoon after work and we arrived at the School in Troutbeck Bridge in time for Tea before sitting speaking to Organizer Paul and other riders who had arrived to make use of either the car park or the Gym hall.
Sleeping in a school gym hall in a makeshift bed in one aspect of these Audaxes that I hadn't yet experienced although it was a bit quieter than I expect to find on more popular rides in future.
With riders rising and arriving in the morning for porridge and flapjack the day was looking to be a cracking clear Autumnal day, a chilly wind was blowing lightly from the north and the overnight dampness was providing the "Slape" road surfaces. We set off on what looked like a lakeside road but alas as usual and just like coastal roads, lakeside roads neither follow the lake nor stay at the height of the lakeside much!
We undulated in the vicinity of the lake, faster riders including Robbie were ahead of me and slowly drifting ahead and I know David and Steve to be stronger riders too which comforted me as my legs gave me the warning discomforts of starting off too hard into a ride.
Paul's wife was found at Fell Foot stamping our Brevet cards at the first control just before the first proper climb of the day and Robbie had decided to wait back for me before the climb.
What a climb it was, rising sharply from Fell Foot, we gained 170m in 1.5km at an average gradient of 11.7%; I could make excuses such as it being early in the morning, it being an early first climb, I'd hardly woken up; I stopped for a photo when a fantastic view over the lake appeared over my left shoulder, there was no way I was going to get a picture from the bike while I was trying to keep the front wheel on the tar!
The brief respite taken I carried on to the top of the rise where the route showed it's first hand; a long descent on narrow, twisty, brant and slape roads took us down to Bowland Bridge, a village lower than Windermere is! From here just as it says on my Mukyz top, the "Only way is up!".
Another short climb took us to the top of the descent into Kendal where struck for Tebay on one of the gentler climbs of the day; after a short descent into the narrow valley where the M6 and our minor road follow the River Lune we returned to the order of the day and took the long drag up towards Kirby Stephen which of course is at the foot of a sharp descent!
With the amount of climbing already undertaken being over the 1000m mark in only 70km we had managed to average 20kmh, rather lower than we are used to from "hilly" Scottish rides.
Aware of our lack of time despite making decent progress on the way into Kirkby Stephen we controlled at the first shop we found which was the Spar; unfortunately Spar's lunch offerings are rather more basic than a Co-Op and neither of us were particularly satisfied, however we had the all important receipt for proof of passage. Other riders rolled into town as we were preparing to dodge the queue of traffic waiting at the lights by leading the bikes through the bottleneck so we took some little solace from this.
Now it was time for one of the highlight climbs, we weaved ourway along narrow country lanes with a grand view of the A66 threading through one gap to the north and a wall of hill everywhere else; we of course were about to climb that wall.
Starting with a set of switchbacks advertised as 20% after crossing the River Belah we were then facing a more prolonged but not much easier dig up to Barras where the climbing relented as the moor opened up and the profile returned to "Undulating".
Despite being an info control it would have been rude not to stop for a drink at the Tan Hill Inn so we sat in the shelter of the pub drinking Coke and taking advantage of the heat in the sun that was causing us to switch between wishing we had summer gear on, and wishing we were set up for a winter expedition. Our average speed was plummeting and we set off again with little chance to improve it for the next section of road was the Sleightholme moor road a rough track surfaced mostly with loose aggregate punctuated by craters and the odd patch of tarmac.
Gaetan had passed the pub with a short info collection and we could see his Hi-Vis jacket out on the track as we descended towards the turn, the road turned out to be slightly worse than my Geograph investigation had revealed possibly due to recent rain filling the craters, we eventually caught Gaetan and Robbie having a bit more experience riding skinny tyres off road through CX shot off into the distance while I picked my way between the puddles, piles of gravel and mud at one point being too uncomfortable to check he wasn't behind me cut Gaetan off as I picked a route round a puddle that was the width of the road!
Finally we found tar near Bowes and I could give my aching hands a rest from death gripping the hoods; this also presented the start of a fast descent down to Barnard Castle where we managed to salvage some time though not enough to be comfortable to take Paul's recommendation to sup at the chip shop. We agreed to raid Gregg's and to our horror discovered the receipts don't state the location! This meant wasting time hobbling up to the Co-Op for their reliable receipt format.
Back on the road and it was the start of a long climb up to the Stang 11km averaging 5.7%; which sounds tame compared to the rest of the day but the last 2km averages 10% and peaks at 16% on the switchbacks in the forest. As we struggled up to the summit an old couple parked up and taking in the view cheered us onwards. Thankfully the descent to the CB Inn proved to only be steep but by this stage in the day 5 minutes at 30kmh+ doesn't equate to gaining much on your average speed, and for all that mattered we were launched back into a climb for the next 2km that was only slightly less viscous than the Stang. A large dip in the road took us over a bridge next to a slape looking ford before a good descent from Surrender Bridge into Swaledale, taking the route avoiding Crackpot and a relatively gentle run to Muker for our final Control of the day. Thankfully the shop was still open, self service has never taken over this shops operations and a wall of food options was presented for our selection; spying the Tunnocks Tea cakes the treat was obvious, unfortunately they don't walk out the door at a similar rate to in Scotland and so sadly the biscuit was slightly stodgy and the cream a bit deflated just like my physical state.
It was now time for the last major climb of the day, the Buttertubs pass, linking Swaledale with Cotterdale it's a tough one! Just to add insult to the tired legs, worn resolve and teacake disappointment the whirring noise of an electrically assisted folding bicycle was heard behind and then shortly afterwards ahead as we turned onto the Buttertubs before it disappeared into the distance above us.
The sun was setting directly ahead of us compounding the problems the gradients presented, three Kilometres of climbing relentlessly into the blazing sun, three kilometers averaging 9.5% on the face of it we'd already done this steepness before, but the >20% ramps posed the extra challenge.
On the speed graph the change from pedal power to pedestrian power is hardly noticeable, nearing the top of the first steep drag I switched from a seated grind to honking, unfortunately with this change came the need to still see where I was going, the blazing sun directly in my face taking this away from me in my standing position and I put my cleated foot on the ground. I walked to where the climb eased off again and got back on, I got a decent enough speed up in the dip before facing the last challenge of the climb; in the shadow of the dip, no sunlight for an excuse the road rose at 25% to climb out over the summit; and now for the fifth time this year and first time this season I put cleats to tarmac and walked. I ran over in my mind the day of the Bealach Beag now many years ago as I crawled up the main drag, the road closure car at the head of a line of riders in sight all the way from behind me to the top of the hairpins, and in close quarters to me the words "Sod it" being uttered followed by the sound of cleats clicking away into the distance behind; today that was me.
Another fast descent took us into Cotterdale but hardly dented our diminished average speed, another hill like the last few would almost certainly have dropped us below the 15kmh average but we knew that was the last of the big climbs; the road rose gently up Cotterdale and then we forked into Garsdale, finally the watershed!
The 20km ride from Garsdalehead to Sedberg finally allowed us to gain a bit more time on our average, and we stopped for a rest and to allow Robbie to check in with Élaina who was waiting at the Arriveé for us before starting the climb over to Kendal.
With only 30km to go the mental boost of being not far from the end was tempered by the knowledge that we still had to drag ourselves over to Kendal and then again to Windermere; more short steep ramps were presented to us, although 10% less steep than on the Buttertubs this was a tough ask this far into such a hilly ride. Another short rest at Kendal after being blinded by the work lamps of a breakdown truck on the roll in, and the final climb of the day started. A miss-direction on a roundabout saw us stick to the busy main road into Windermere, missing out on the presumably nicer Crook road. The final descent into Troutbeck Bridge was at last reached and Robbie managed to maintain more speed on the narrow cyclepath we had picked up at Ings as cars climbing the hill partly blinded us. I was now navigating off of memory of landmarks, the closed pub near the bottom of the hill that I'd memorized as being near the School gates distracted me from turning into the school gates and I had to make a late correction to bump onto the access path; naughty I know, I could at least pretend to plead ignorance if anyone challenged me; what do you mean you don't have land access rights!
Robbie had stopped just through the gates to wait for me and we rolled into the Arriveé together after 12 and a half hours riding what we both reckoned to be the hardest rides we'd done so far. The soup and Crumble that Paul had laid on for finishers was well earnt.
Robbie and Élaina collected me from work on Friday afternoon after work and we arrived at the School in Troutbeck Bridge in time for Tea before sitting speaking to Organizer Paul and other riders who had arrived to make use of either the car park or the Gym hall.
Sleeping in a school gym hall in a makeshift bed in one aspect of these Audaxes that I hadn't yet experienced although it was a bit quieter than I expect to find on more popular rides in future.
With riders rising and arriving in the morning for porridge and flapjack the day was looking to be a cracking clear Autumnal day, a chilly wind was blowing lightly from the north and the overnight dampness was providing the "Slape" road surfaces. We set off on what looked like a lakeside road but alas as usual and just like coastal roads, lakeside roads neither follow the lake nor stay at the height of the lakeside much!
We undulated in the vicinity of the lake, faster riders including Robbie were ahead of me and slowly drifting ahead and I know David and Steve to be stronger riders too which comforted me as my legs gave me the warning discomforts of starting off too hard into a ride.
Paul's wife was found at Fell Foot stamping our Brevet cards at the first control just before the first proper climb of the day and Robbie had decided to wait back for me before the climb.
What a climb it was, rising sharply from Fell Foot, we gained 170m in 1.5km at an average gradient of 11.7%; I could make excuses such as it being early in the morning, it being an early first climb, I'd hardly woken up; I stopped for a photo when a fantastic view over the lake appeared over my left shoulder, there was no way I was going to get a picture from the bike while I was trying to keep the front wheel on the tar!
The brief respite taken I carried on to the top of the rise where the route showed it's first hand; a long descent on narrow, twisty, brant and slape roads took us down to Bowland Bridge, a village lower than Windermere is! From here just as it says on my Mukyz top, the "Only way is up!".
Another short climb took us to the top of the descent into Kendal where struck for Tebay on one of the gentler climbs of the day; after a short descent into the narrow valley where the M6 and our minor road follow the River Lune we returned to the order of the day and took the long drag up towards Kirby Stephen which of course is at the foot of a sharp descent!
With the amount of climbing already undertaken being over the 1000m mark in only 70km we had managed to average 20kmh, rather lower than we are used to from "hilly" Scottish rides.
Aware of our lack of time despite making decent progress on the way into Kirkby Stephen we controlled at the first shop we found which was the Spar; unfortunately Spar's lunch offerings are rather more basic than a Co-Op and neither of us were particularly satisfied, however we had the all important receipt for proof of passage. Other riders rolled into town as we were preparing to dodge the queue of traffic waiting at the lights by leading the bikes through the bottleneck so we took some little solace from this.
Now it was time for one of the highlight climbs, we weaved ourway along narrow country lanes with a grand view of the A66 threading through one gap to the north and a wall of hill everywhere else; we of course were about to climb that wall.
Starting with a set of switchbacks advertised as 20% after crossing the River Belah we were then facing a more prolonged but not much easier dig up to Barras where the climbing relented as the moor opened up and the profile returned to "Undulating".
Despite being an info control it would have been rude not to stop for a drink at the Tan Hill Inn so we sat in the shelter of the pub drinking Coke and taking advantage of the heat in the sun that was causing us to switch between wishing we had summer gear on, and wishing we were set up for a winter expedition. Our average speed was plummeting and we set off again with little chance to improve it for the next section of road was the Sleightholme moor road a rough track surfaced mostly with loose aggregate punctuated by craters and the odd patch of tarmac.
Gaetan had passed the pub with a short info collection and we could see his Hi-Vis jacket out on the track as we descended towards the turn, the road turned out to be slightly worse than my Geograph investigation had revealed possibly due to recent rain filling the craters, we eventually caught Gaetan and Robbie having a bit more experience riding skinny tyres off road through CX shot off into the distance while I picked my way between the puddles, piles of gravel and mud at one point being too uncomfortable to check he wasn't behind me cut Gaetan off as I picked a route round a puddle that was the width of the road!
Finally we found tar near Bowes and I could give my aching hands a rest from death gripping the hoods; this also presented the start of a fast descent down to Barnard Castle where we managed to salvage some time though not enough to be comfortable to take Paul's recommendation to sup at the chip shop. We agreed to raid Gregg's and to our horror discovered the receipts don't state the location! This meant wasting time hobbling up to the Co-Op for their reliable receipt format.
Back on the road and it was the start of a long climb up to the Stang 11km averaging 5.7%; which sounds tame compared to the rest of the day but the last 2km averages 10% and peaks at 16% on the switchbacks in the forest. As we struggled up to the summit an old couple parked up and taking in the view cheered us onwards. Thankfully the descent to the CB Inn proved to only be steep but by this stage in the day 5 minutes at 30kmh+ doesn't equate to gaining much on your average speed, and for all that mattered we were launched back into a climb for the next 2km that was only slightly less viscous than the Stang. A large dip in the road took us over a bridge next to a slape looking ford before a good descent from Surrender Bridge into Swaledale, taking the route avoiding Crackpot and a relatively gentle run to Muker for our final Control of the day. Thankfully the shop was still open, self service has never taken over this shops operations and a wall of food options was presented for our selection; spying the Tunnocks Tea cakes the treat was obvious, unfortunately they don't walk out the door at a similar rate to in Scotland and so sadly the biscuit was slightly stodgy and the cream a bit deflated just like my physical state.
It was now time for the last major climb of the day, the Buttertubs pass, linking Swaledale with Cotterdale it's a tough one! Just to add insult to the tired legs, worn resolve and teacake disappointment the whirring noise of an electrically assisted folding bicycle was heard behind and then shortly afterwards ahead as we turned onto the Buttertubs before it disappeared into the distance above us.
The sun was setting directly ahead of us compounding the problems the gradients presented, three Kilometres of climbing relentlessly into the blazing sun, three kilometers averaging 9.5% on the face of it we'd already done this steepness before, but the >20% ramps posed the extra challenge.
On the speed graph the change from pedal power to pedestrian power is hardly noticeable, nearing the top of the first steep drag I switched from a seated grind to honking, unfortunately with this change came the need to still see where I was going, the blazing sun directly in my face taking this away from me in my standing position and I put my cleated foot on the ground. I walked to where the climb eased off again and got back on, I got a decent enough speed up in the dip before facing the last challenge of the climb; in the shadow of the dip, no sunlight for an excuse the road rose at 25% to climb out over the summit; and now for the fifth time this year and first time this season I put cleats to tarmac and walked. I ran over in my mind the day of the Bealach Beag now many years ago as I crawled up the main drag, the road closure car at the head of a line of riders in sight all the way from behind me to the top of the hairpins, and in close quarters to me the words "Sod it" being uttered followed by the sound of cleats clicking away into the distance behind; today that was me.
Another fast descent took us into Cotterdale but hardly dented our diminished average speed, another hill like the last few would almost certainly have dropped us below the 15kmh average but we knew that was the last of the big climbs; the road rose gently up Cotterdale and then we forked into Garsdale, finally the watershed!
The 20km ride from Garsdalehead to Sedberg finally allowed us to gain a bit more time on our average, and we stopped for a rest and to allow Robbie to check in with Élaina who was waiting at the Arriveé for us before starting the climb over to Kendal.
With only 30km to go the mental boost of being not far from the end was tempered by the knowledge that we still had to drag ourselves over to Kendal and then again to Windermere; more short steep ramps were presented to us, although 10% less steep than on the Buttertubs this was a tough ask this far into such a hilly ride. Another short rest at Kendal after being blinded by the work lamps of a breakdown truck on the roll in, and the final climb of the day started. A miss-direction on a roundabout saw us stick to the busy main road into Windermere, missing out on the presumably nicer Crook road. The final descent into Troutbeck Bridge was at last reached and Robbie managed to maintain more speed on the narrow cyclepath we had picked up at Ings as cars climbing the hill partly blinded us. I was now navigating off of memory of landmarks, the closed pub near the bottom of the hill that I'd memorized as being near the School gates distracted me from turning into the school gates and I had to make a late correction to bump onto the access path; naughty I know, I could at least pretend to plead ignorance if anyone challenged me; what do you mean you don't have land access rights!
Robbie had stopped just through the gates to wait for me and we rolled into the Arriveé together after 12 and a half hours riding what we both reckoned to be the hardest rides we'd done so far. The soup and Crumble that Paul had laid on for finishers was well earnt.
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