This guy is doing it 10 times in 10 days for charidee. Respec’!! 😯

http://10fw-in-10.blogspot.com/

Lordy – he’s going to be sick of the A66 and some of those hills!
Hope he gets better weather than today – quite a few with Hypothermia apparently. I felt guilty popping home at half way for tea, toast and a change of warm clothes. Made a slow time slower, but it was nice.

That is commitment, much respect.

Maybe he could make himself an even bigger hero by collecting all the gel wrappers that some people feel it’s their right to dump on the road along with empty bottles and flat tubes. It actually took some of the shine off the ride for me yesterday.

He’s only doing a 16.7mph average. He should be ashamed of himself. There’s loads of people here who are faster than that.

Good luck to the guy, tough challenge!
Don’t get me started on gel wrappers dropped in the road.

LOL @ samuri. 😉
Yeah, saw a news article on that 10 in 10 over on road.cc, hats off to the guy not only for doing it but actually finding something that no-one has done before. Loads of people go off and do the Three Peaks (Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Scafell) or some other done-to-death challenge so it’s great that he’s found something a bit different.

I watched a lot of the riders from 2/3rds the way up Winlatter yesterday, I think some riders were surprised to see a muddy MTB’er clapping and cheering them on! I stayed until just about all the tailenders went past, there were some tiered looking riders there, and that was about the half way point. Respect to all that took part.

We left the Black Bull at 6.30 and there were 2 riders at the Skelwith junction at about 6.45. Hope they made the 7.00pm cut off, fair play for sticking it out, especially in the hail storm that came down between 6 and 7.

To do 10 in 10 is unreal, especially without the support that was there yesterday, i think ill have a ride to Coniston on Tuesday week to offer some support over the line!

Anyone know how the guy was who had the accident coming down Kirkstone Pass? Hope he’s ok.
Yes all the discarded gel wrappers were a disgrace, but I never spot anyone throwing them away.
The hail was fun at the top of Wyrnose as was the thunder and lightning! Though my choice of a mtb was the right bike for the course though even though i was accused of cheating!

What bike were you on DD? I saw a hardtail 29″ go past.

that was me. Best bike for the job bar none!

using an mtb for that event is more like handicapping yourself than cheating. tell them to foxtrot oscar.

Eh why is using an mtb for a road ride the best bike?

Maybe they meant cheating yourself if you believe an mtb to be the best bike.

Probably the unfit roadies who were too weak to cycle up the hills moaning about the mtb, as mtbs have lower gear ratios.

Eh why is using an mtb for a road ride the best bike?

It isn’t but some people want the extra low gears for Hardknott and Wrynose. I’ve done the Fred Whitton on my CX bike with slicks and I also flipped the stem down to give a more roadie like position. Best of both worlds – almost a road bike but with the low gears to ride Hardknott and Wrynose.

If I did the ride again I’d just put a bigger cassette on my normal road bike.

davidtaylforth – id love to see you push a 25t sprocket and 39t ring up Harknott…..or Honister…or Kirkstone…or Newlands….or Wrynose….or Winlatter….or anything other than flat. Compact and 28t cassette was just barely manageable on Hardknott after 95 miles. 😀

Its been done, although not after 95 miles!

I did use a compact yesterday and the climbs were all done as fast as I could, although we were riding at a gentle pace the rest of the time so my legs felt ok when I got to the climbs.

I think some people probably just gave up to easily, I did see a guy infront of me on the last section of hardknott fall off, cos he physically couldnt turn the gears anymore. Thats dedication! I managed to avoid him but the guy directly behind him crashed into him i think,

Gary_M seemed the best bike as it’s not a typical road event, if that had escaped your notice. It weighs the same as a road bike and has perfect gearing for the climbs at the end of the route. Descending was easy in the wet to. Sure, for a Fens sportive I chose our road tandem any day!

I saw a few gel wrappers dropped but I think when riders are rooting around in their jersey pockets they get dropped accidentally.
I fitted a 11-36 mtb cassette to my compact which saw me up all the passes.
It was the coldest and wettest I’ve ever been on a road bike, huge relief when the sun came out towards the end. 🙂

Gary_M seemed the best bike as it’s not a typical road event, if that had escaped your notice..

Few more hills maybe, it was still on thecraid and I don’t think suspension is a requirement. Weighs the same as a road bike you say, well you must have either a very heavy road bike or an unbelievably light mtb. Still if it’s the best bike for you that’s all that matters.

Gary_M Think 22lbs is about average, unless you’re lucky enough to live a Colnago/Pinarello/DeRosa tainted world. What did you ride yesterday?

22lb! Are you living in 1973. Even £500 bikes are around the 20lb mark.

Yesterday – 104 mile solo road ride in the Wanlockhead area including mennock pass, green lowther, devils beeftub, tala climb. Just over 2200m climbing. It was great. Why do you ask?

Stayed in boot last weekend and did some road riding then too.

Sub 22lbs for £500, wow show me and I’ll get one!

Will do tonight when I check the models in this months cycling plus. So why do you want to know my riding yesterday?

I’m with Gary M here, to say that a 22lb MTB is a more appropriate tool for a road ride than a road bike is a little daft. Made it easier for you perhaps, but it’s not the ‘best’ tool.

As an aside, I have a 20lb MTB and a 21lb roadbike (£600 new, added PowerTap wheel and mudguards – about 20lbs out of the box), and I’d never in my life consider using the MTB for a road ride.

Each to their own and that…

for normal road sportive neither would I, but for the Fred Whit, worked for me!

Careful njee20, he’ll want to know how far you’ve ridden for your comments to be valid.

I remember standing on the summit of Wrynose a couple of years ago watching the FWC and saw Rob Jebb and Stuart Reid looking like they were out for a quick cafe run. 39:25 no probs.
For most mere mortals though, 34:27 is required for Hardknott, it’s a proper brutal climb, probably the hardest road climb in the UK.

I would agree with that last statement crazy-legs.

I’ve got a 22lb MTB (a Ti Zion) and a road bike that’s well under 20lbs (a £900 Boardman Team Carbon). There aren’t many road rides where I’d prefer the MTB however if I was doing a sportive with some big climbs (the Bealach for example) I’d definitely consider it for the low gears.

My road bike has a compact up front and a 11:28 on the back, but if I was doing sportives I’d probably change the rear mech to an Apex and fit something like an 11:32.

The bealach was fairly manageable on a compact, hardest bit is the 2 mile section up the climb. I just couldn’t put up
with the relative slow pace of an mtb, even a rigid one with slicks. I did used to use one for commuting but a road bike is so much quicker.

And I’m still waiting for dd to tell me why he asked what riding I did yesterday.

Gary M do you have a gps for the route you did, was riding in that area on Friday but seeking a better loop!

Sorry for the hijack 😳

thought Jebby used a 28 on the back?

I did the route of what was the ‘radar ride’. Route is on the website Radar ride

I just find everything wrong with an MTB on the road, position, gearing, cornering, all horrible!

Yeh he(jebby) had a 12-28 last year, bad fettle this year so gave it a miss.

Re the casualty on kirkstone. The rumour was he hit a car head on. He didnt, the account says he was passing a car and hit the opposing side wall. He still in ICU in Lancaster. There were 4 other admissions from the Fred to Lancaster yesterday. Thoughts go out to them all particularly the rider who crashed on kirkstone.

Gary_M cos you seem to know all about the Fred Whit yesterday, and I was wondering how you found it on your road bike?
end of the day, rode the route, was comfy and had the gears for the climbs. Will ride it again for next years Fred Whit.

Happens every year on kirkstone, its early on, the riders a bunched and you can do 50-60mph if you wish. One of the years i did it a ambulance was attending a badly injured rider who’d gone over the wall. Another rider for whatever reason missed the brightly coloured van with blue flashing lights parked at the side of the road and went straight into the back of it……! 😆 Still if you’re gonna hit something i suppose a ambulance is a good choice.