Sorry if it’s a silly question but do they close the roads at all for this?

Would imagine it gets quite interesting with 1000 bikers and cars on the narrow bits

No, can you imagine closing so many roads in the Lakes in summer? 😯 Bad enough with just the A591 closed at Dunmail Raise because of the December flood damage. After the first few miles everyone will be spread out anyway so it’s not like a peloton of 1000 heading along.

cool, thanks. I’ll be way off in the lead so shouldn’t be affected by the cars….

or way off the back more like!

Would imagine it gets quite interesting with 1000 bikers and cars on the narrow bits

i don’t remember any real issues with cars.

Apart from the idiot who had flipped his harley trying to ride it up hardknot…

i don’t remember any real issues with cars

2013 was quite congested with cars on the climb up Whinlatter – it’s often a popular place for folks to rendezvous with their support vehicles significant others and change their jerseys.

Cold fell … never was there a more aptly named part of the UK! 😉

The cut off points at 12 and 3.30, how slow do you have to be going to get chopped off at the end?

slow

I got in, secretly hoped not to get selected! Very hard to find an equivalent hill to Hardknott round Bristol..

Very hard to find an equivalent to Hardknott anywhere really! Just out of interest, where are the cut-off points?

http://www.fredwhittonchallenge.co.uk/the-route/

60 miles (bottom of whinlatter pass) and 87miles (after cold fell and before hardknot/wrynose).

Oops, got in there before me there!

Start is from 6am to 8am though, apparently starting early helps!

With less then a month to go how’s everyone’s training going ? For me it’s been ok upto now, good turbo sessions during the week with longer,steeper and harder rides at the weekend. The only problem is I’ve been so obsessed about the Fred I’ve completely ignored my mtbing ! In fact I haven’t got down and dirty since Christmas 😳

Just opened this thread forgetting I’d started it.
I’m glad I’m not doing it because I’ve done naff all riding this year and not for want of trying. It was hard enough last year with plenty of training. My advice would be to stop thinking about distance now and attack what hills you have and spin between them to recover.

Gearing? 50-34 front and 12-30 rear ok for the climbs?

The gearing’s not the issue so much as using power and balance effectively. Using too small a gear will have you wheelying out the back or spinning the back wheel if you stand up and power. You will be in 34/30 though if you have it.

34-30 is fine. You can do Hardknott/Wrynose on a 27 or 28 sprocket but a dirty 30 allows you to sit down and spin in the easier sections, which is handy if your legs are shot.

Thanks for the info. My legs are always shot!

I ran 34-32 last year. For me, meant I was able to keep going up hardknot because I wasn’t completely shot to pieces from all the prior climbs. Nowhere near enough prior training meant I started with three targets.

1: finish 2: ride everything 3: finish under 10

Did all three. Happy with that, not going back to do it again in a hurry 😉

Well how did everyone do ?

Not aswell as Rob Jebb 😉

I didn’t do it; not done it for years now. A headwind over Corny Fell was enough for me yesterday, just went and sat by Coniston lake today. Would’ve been a goodun’ though; first sunny one in about six or seven years I think?

Did rob jebb win then? I saw him at the beginning so was a bit surprised I thought it was only a sportive. That’ll be 3-0 to robb then in our head2heads. I’m sure he’s keeping count.

Was a cracking event and so many people come out to watch, help and cheer. Can’t praise the organisation and marshalling enough.
The lakes is a truly glorious place to ride any kind of bike.
It was damn hot today.
Hardknott is just a freak show farce.

Actually sett of in the group that Rob was in. Going great guns up until the top of Kirkstone. Then there was an accident halfway down the decent. Some of the group got through before they shut the road for the ambulance (guess which group got stopped, yep I was in it) healing vibes to the guy who came off, looked like a nasty crash. I then got a puncture at the bottom of Kirkstone so it was game over for a good time 😥 managed to tag onto a good group from glenridding to Honister then it was just two of us from then on until Wrynose (suffered cramp big time from the bottom of Hardknott to Langdale)
Came in at 6:41 (moving time was only 6:21, that puncture cost me dearly :cry:) Apart from the organisation and marshals (that were fantastic,as always) the thing that stood out for me was the standard of riding of some of the participants, it was shocking. I fully understand that everyone is at different levels of bike handling/abilities but to get grief just because I had the audacity to overtake (safely I hasten to had) someone then get loads of flak is not good. If I did a dangerous overtake I’d fully understand but to for me to shout out “rider on the right” 3-4 times then get grief for it is pretty poor. Last time for me, it’s a shame because I really enjoy the route 🙁

Was wondering how the event had gone. Weather was stunning which actually brings it’s own hazards of dehydration and heat exhaustion.

Going great guns up until the top of Kirkstone. Then there was an accident halfway down the decent.

There’s one tricky corner mid-way down Kirkstone. The start of it is nicely open and it’s one of the few Lakes descents you can properly batter it down. Except for one right-hander which starts gently and then suddenly kinks. Caught me out on the CX bike in heavy fog and pouring rain a few weeks ago, only the disc brakes stopped me going through the wall.
I’d misjudged it in that weather, not been able to recognise the corner coming into it.

Twas hard but awesomes.
Kirkstone decent crash looked nasty, was also a couple of the Honister decent.
Looks like a chap planted it into the bridge wall on the way down, ouch.

Does anyone know how the rider that crashed on Kirkstone pass is?
When I passed him he looked in a pretty bad way (being treated by the emergency crew)

Forks has snapped in two on the bike so must have been a bad crash.

Just heard from my mate who I did it with last year. (Well I started with him)

Was on a flyer, first rider through hardknot and wrynose, got side-swiped by a bmw 10 miles from the end, wrote bike off, lost 45mins & got lent a bike to finish on. Still beat his time from last year by an hour….

First time for me yesterday so I set out with one target which was to finish. Which I did within 9 hours so was happy with that. It was certainly very nice to have some great weather – which helps to keep those tan lines sharp.

The accident on Kirkstone did look very nasty.

Was on Hardknott watching for my mates, having done a ride round Eskdale, the headwind and heat were killer, loads of people battering up it though (getting a lot further than me and stevestunts did on our mtbs!). Serious kudos.

Mate’s got home in 7:15 and 7:25 so awesome efforts they were hoping for better but both blew up on Hardknott, maybe a bit mustard having got to calder at 5 hrs.

Keep thinking I need to do it myself but twiddling up the flat bit on hardknott really thought that a triple would be a mega help, Loads of people still having to really thrutch at it when if they’d had a granny they could have spun for a couple of hundred yards and got their heartrate down before the next helping of pain.

its why hardknott is such a freak show of a climb for me. It really is at the margins of road riding. Its so steep and rough. How many gears do you have to bring before it all gets a bit daft?

the thing that stood out for me was the standard of riding of some of the participants, it was shocking. I fully understand that everyone is at different levels of bike handling/abilities but to get grief just because I had the audacity to overtake (safely I hasten to had) someone then get loads of flak is not good. If I did a dangerous overtake I’d fully understand but to for me to shout out “rider on the right” 3-4 times then get grief for it is pretty poor. Last time for me, it’s a shame because I really enjoy the route

Yeh, bound to happen I guess. It’s the biggest Sportive in the UK so it’s gonna attract people from places like London, who’ve never ridden down a hill before.

Then there’s the fact alot of the participants have probably not been cycling long, and they’re thrown in at the deep end down the most technical descents you’re gonna find. It’s a bit harrowing.

Get this one done; it’s a bigger day out than the FW

http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-95/

Plus you don’t get timed so it’s a nice relaxed affair. You can have as many cigarette breaks as you want!

Part of the event though innit?, Loads of flat sportives about if that’s what you’re after but the very idea of the Fred is its a war of attrition against gravity

Part of the event though innit?, Loads of flat sportives about if that’s what you’re after but the very idea of the Fred is its a war of attrition against gravity

Well yeah. Although everyone seems to put the focus on the climbs; but that’s just riding a bike up a hill. It’s the coming down the other side (where you have to concentrate) that everyone seems to forget about.

Mis-judging a corner in a professional cycling event is one thing, but this is a Sportive. It’s meant to be a good day out on the bike, where you can stop and eat as much food as you like. Ending up in a hospital is, if nothing else, a bit embarassing. At worst, it could change your life/someone else’s life!

Best way to do the Fred, IMHO, is to rock up one day and just ride the route. Fewer people walking up the road, fewer irate motorists, more scope to pick a nice day.

Besides, it ain’t that hard.

Please remember to post a Hardknott selfie. And no stopping to get the camera out. 😉

Never entered the Fred, but similar views on dodgy cycling standards during Hevellyn Tris. Leaving aside blatant drafting or holding on to passing vehicles, the amount of riding without any consideration for other road users was depressing and scary.

I almost hit a stopped car at the bad bend at the bottom of Kirkstone so treat the corners with caution these days.

The World Sportive champs!

I’m all for participation and the Fred etc, but its not a race. If you want to race, race. Take it easy, go to the feed zone, don’t crash into walls. It’s the Fred. Chill out.

And no stopping to get the camera out.

BTW, I meant no stopping on the way up Hardknott, not no stopping anywhere on the route. 😆

Stopping at the Whinlatter forest park cafe for some cake is to be encouraged.

Best way to do the Fred, IMHO, is to rock up one day and just ride the route.

The route is only part of the ride, the marshals & locals out cheering also make it very different to a Wiggle etc. sportive.

Not what I was expecting. Thankfully.

😆 😆 😆

It’s the Fred. Chill out.

That’s the problem – it’s “The Fred”. In spite of efforts to remove the load on one day a year (by opening up the route to permanent chip timing) it’s still a unique ride based largely on

the marshals & locals out cheering

There’s the camaraderie of riding in big groups, the ‘iconic’ nature of the event, it bills itself as the original and hardest Sportive. And up the front, it very much is a race or at least a properly fast chaingang. A couple of years ago Rob Jebb and one other (possibly Stuart Reid?) smashed it round in 2-up TT mode and got a new course record so it’s certainly more than just another Sportive.

Other people then get caught up in that – people whose riding standards are not up to Rob Jebb’s!

Was marshaling at Pelter bridge (just as you come out of Under Loughrigg back onto the main road A591 with ‘about’ one mile to go!)most people seemed to be having an OK day and some even seemed to be enjoying it….. 😉
Well done to all those who finished its not called the Fred Whitton ‘Challenge’ for nothing.