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7.30 for me which is way better than I expected. Rode all the climbs, the MTB skills came in very handy on the upper steep bit on Hardknott with a stream running down it which prevented getting out of the saddle for fear of wheel spinning. The descents weren't nearly as bad as I expected after all the warnings. Even so a guy managed to come off in front of me on the top bit of Honister and broke his arm I think. I saw the aftermath of the nasty crashes on Whinlatter and Wrynose. Not nice. I guess it lives up to it's reputation for carnage.
7:40 for me. Agree with the above, some shocking riding skills. Some utter twerp on the A66 riding in the MIDDLE of the lane for about half a mile with a car behind him. Despite shouting "car back" several times he didn't move. The car was very patient and sat well back. I could only shake my head and hold my hand to apologise as he drove past.
Hardknott - **** me, it doesn't get any easier does it. Even on 34-28. Managed the bottom half fine but the second bit bloody hurt!
Was hoping for a quicker time but stuck with my mate who hadn't done as much training. I only left him on Hardknott after when he insisted I press on. Finished 8 minutes ahead of him.
Just spoke to my mate and he did 6hr 46 😯 46th overall, bloody fantastic result
http://www.resultsbase.net/Results/IndividualResult.aspx?Id=920059&Round=2510&Page=1&Search=Tim
bjj.andy.w, I saw and heard you! Looked like you were going strong, great time to do it in, well done. 8)
I hung around on Winlatter until the cut off at Braithwaite had passed, some of the tail enders looked pretty knackered and there were some fairly heavy shows passing through. A hard day for them!
I saw someone on a full sus and shouted if it had lockout, apparently it didn't! Was that you vondally?
Well done all who did it.
Anyone got a link for the photographer on hardknott Pass!
Google Steve Fleming photography or Racing Snakes for another one.
Yep, great day and well organised as usual. Friendly and sensible.
I was 7.06 so not quite sub-7 but I paced it pretty well so happy with that.
The riding wasn't too bad IMO although I did see one bloke knock another one off alongside Ullswater, which was clumsy.
But the thing that struck me was the generally poor descending skills. I know the descents are steep and bumpy, and wet, so it will be a challenge to newcomers but some people were comically bad, like they'd never ridden down a hill before. Oh well.
Brilliant day out - healing vibes to the injured.
Less kindly vibes to the muppets who are too pro to pocket their gel wrappers. Unmitigated bell-endery.
There seems to be a correlation between people who use the free High5 gels and throwing the wrappers away...
Dobbo that was me thanks for the call
agree about the wrappers and made the same observations
going into the challenge one of my fears was being knocked off never ridden in a large group/s on road so I took it easy for the downs tried to tuck in and get out of the way but I have to agree some incredible bad descenders also some real good descenders and then some who thought they were and lucky not to have a crash
Interesting day on reflection, some thoughts
cycling is a very white sport
sportive riders have a certain disposable income...lots of rapha on display
generally people were brill and there for the right reason
great support from the people on the side of the road
some really
the lakes are truly stunning
I was asked today air ambulance if call do the organisers foot the bill????
Further observations:
surprising number of significant looking mechanicals within the first few miles- surely people got their bikes ready beforehand?
Lots of castelli, seems to be the kit of choice.
Lots of expensive bikes making horrible creaks and groans as the day went on.(see point 1)
Some people are very fit!
Re the air ambulance, no there won't be a bill to the organisers. There isn't a mechanism for this to happen. However, hospitals can recoup insured losses as a result of road accidents
some good points Tom.......loads of mechincals.....my partner in the car stopped and got the track pump from the boot for one rider who was struggling with a very mini mini pump......
incredible amount of creaks ............ I think some were the knee joints on the steeps
some really fast folk......and some really determined people as well some true grit out there
respect to all those who finished
Lots of castelli, seems to be the kit of choice.
most of it was Gabba jerseys! I bet the Castelli guys selling wet weather kit on the Saturday did a good trade...
"yeah it's going to pour down tomorrow, you need a Gabba jersey! £150 plus 15% off...."
Haha I noticed the huge amount Castelli on show, seemed every second rider had it on (myself included 😳 ) got to say the Fawesome vest I had on was brilliant though.
Also noted the disgusting amount of dropped litter, absolutely no need. Witnessed a rider seriously berating another for dropping a gell wrapper too. The mind boggles why they do it, if you can carry it in you can carry it out.
Anyone done the Fred whitton and the Dartmoor Classic? Distance and climbing seem roughly comparable. Doing the classic for the third time this year and fancy the Fred next.
It wasn't all gel wrappers, the amount of discarded banana skins I saw and had to dodge on the roads made me feel like I was in a real life Mario cart game....
Cracking day my first Fred.
Started early and took it nice and easy. My mates were at the top of Matterdale (after Ullswater) handing out Bacon butties!
Felt really low going up Whinlatter which was really early days and I was dreading an incredibly long rest of ride. No idea why I got like that but my mojo came back not long after and felt pretty good all the way to the finish.
Got a puncture at around 80 miles not long after the 2nd feed station. Fixed it and 3 miles after that had a massive blow out. 3 inch tear where the bead had separated from the wall. I thought that was a DNF for me but a nice man in a Saddleback van came by about 5 mins later and gave me a new tyre. So I finished but the puncture faffage cost me 40 mins or so in total.
I'll stick my hand up. I pushed the steep bits at the beginning / end of Hardknott.
Some riders passed me very close / quickly on the Newlands descent without any warning and surprised me. One of them was peeling himself from a wall a bit further down the descent. It didn't look like he had damaged himself seriously thankfully.
Saw the helicopter come in to land to pick up the injured rider between Hardknott / Wrynose but got through before they closed the road for the 'copter.
Ditto the comments on the discarded gel / energy wrappers and even a few inner tubes. WTF? I just emptied my pockets at the feed stations and at the finish.
Best part of the day for me was the Marshalls and Supporters. Encouragement all the way round. Especially the cheering, encouragement and cow bells at the top of the summits and in every town and village. Thank you it spurred me on.
+1 on the gel wrappers. It was even worse than some MTB events, and doubly annoying when I had to empty a jersey pocket at the end that had turned into a horrible gel wrapper and banana skin stew.
On the descending, I too was surprised. From all the warnings and stuff I'd read I expected Hardknott to be some crazy pothole dodging nightmare but it was fine. A lot of people were going down it at walking pace which was harder than going a bit faster. It was quite good fun I thought once I let the brakes go a bit.
Observations from an observer:
I went for a spin up Honister and Newlands last night and saw a lot of gel wrappers lying about, they stand out as well due to the garish colours they make them.
While I was watching on Winlater I noticed a lot of creaky bikes going past, I'd be worried about finishing if my bike was making the noises some were making. In fact going back to Keswick I saw a rider whos rear mech had come off going down Newlands, I gave him a tow to KMB and a cafe.
The car drivers going up Winlatter were a PITA, overtaking groups of bikers on bends....then meeting a car coming down while they are n the wrong side of the road. A lot of the cars seemed to be associated with riders, ie car with wife and kids and bike racks with no bikes on them!
Dobbo the guy with the rear mech problem was my mate I was doing it with. He mentioned he got a tow off an MTBer to Keswick and was very thankful. His rear dropout snapped for some inexplicable reason. He'd checked it beforehand too so we've no idea what happened. One of those things I guess. I suppose he was lucky the mech didn't mangle the back wheel and take him off. He has a history on road sportives, on the polkadot challenge in the Peak a few years ago his stem snapped going over a cattle grid. That day he wasn't as lucky.
The marshals and support on the road were great. One gave me a full hamstring stretch at the bottom of HK. not sure I would have got up otherwise. It was a tough day out. The way everyone silently soft pedalled up eskdale like condemned (mainly) men before the climb amused me no end. Some seriously hard riders out there. Tried to follow a guy with full rack and pannier bag who was hooning along. Hopefully be back next year
The way everyone silently soft pedalled up eskdale like condemned (mainly) men before the climb amused me no end
that bit was VERY sobering. I was riding along looking at the number of miles thinking "I should have a gel soon, it can't be far" then I saw it looming ahead and almost stopped pedalling... "I should have already had a gel 10 minutes ago"... "I can't get up there".... "there are a lot of people walking"...."mummy!"
Hi dazh, glad to have been of help, I wasn't implying anything about his bike maintenance! That could have been nasty if it had gone in the wheel you can get a fair pace up coming down Newlands :-S
If I'd been closer to home and not got the promise of a bacon sarnie from a mate in Keswick I'd have given him a lift to Grasmere. Must have had a bit of hanging around in Keswick, although he did say you were going quicker (don't tell him I told you though ;-)).
pressfit Bs are more common on road than mtb aren't they 🙂incredible amount of creaks ...
Well done everyone who did this, the route has been on my list for a while, tho not necessarily the event, I'm a fair weather roadie and the FW seems to get a lot off iffy weather, was bad at home, looks like most of you got lucky tho (did someone say the stragglers got wet?)
Well done vondally managing most of it on an FS.
S'ok Dobbo, he got picked up by a mate who lives in Windermere so wasn't hanging around too long. TBH I thought the marshall's would've organised a lift back to Grasmere but he wasn't getting any offers. Not sure what the score is on this front on sportives like the Fred. It seems a bit harsh to expect someone to find their own way back to the start if stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike. It's still a long way back to Grasmere from Braithwaite if you can't pedal!
brakes - Member
The way everyone silently soft pedalled up eskdale like condemned (mainly) men before the climb amused me no end
that bit was VERY sobering. I was riding along looking at the number of miles thinking "I should have a gel soon, it can't be far" then I saw it looming ahead and almost stopped pedalling... "I should have already had a gel 10 minutes ago"... "I can't get up there".... "there are a lot of people walking"...."mummy!"
Managed to get up to Cumbria a couple of times in the last month and recce'd the climbs on my bike so knew what to expect. Was also advised to neck two gels and most of my water at the King George hotel, Eskdale so by the time your at the foot of Hardknott you should be fully fuelled up. Seemed to work for me, in fact leading up to Hardknott I was chomping at the bit to get going up it. But then again I've often been told I'm weird
Just like to say thanks again for the tow Dobbo, I'd done enough scooting by then.
+1 with the gel wrappers, and the descending skills or lack of.
I had new cables amd STI's so right up until it broke the shifting had been perfect, pretty gutted, but I'll be back next year ( ballot allowing ). Seeing how quick everyone was I'll be doing a bit more training next year as well, since I seemed to go into reverse up all the climbs.
I don't think it had sunk into the marshall that I couldn't cycle, as I freewheeled into the cut-off point and retired pointing at the broken bike, he said that Grassmere was only 15 or so miles away, and I was working out how long that would take to walk in cleats, lol.
An offer of a broom wagon would have been readily accepted, luckily the lift wasn't too long and at least I didn't have to wait for Daz to finish before getting picked up, as I was getting pretty cold by then.
Paul.
Nice one Paul, I'm glad you got back to Grasmere. Sh!t like that always seems to happen when you really don't need it!