The Fred Whitton Four Seasons - Take One

Having arrived in the Lake District on Sunday afternoon to beautiful weather with almost no wind, I avidly watched the weather forcast to try and see which day would be the best to do the challenge.
I wanted to get the challenge done as quickly as I could so I was hoping that the Monday would be OK.
I looked as though the morning would be fine, but that rain and strong winds would arrive at around 10am and be set in for the rest of the day.
The wind though was to be coming in from the South-West and that would mean that it would be helping me over Hardknott and Wrynose but hurting on Honister (little did I know).
My plan was to set off at first light and be through Ambleside and Windermere before the school run, then hopefully past the stretch along the A66 before the road got too busy. I have cycled in Lake District rain before, so I thought that I would be pretty well prepared as it pretty much always rains here - the perfect plan - wrong.
Today, everything went wrong that could go wrong. We were so well organised it was untrue. I loaded up with all the usual stuff, puncture kit, pump, gels, food, jelly babies you name it.
Amanda, acting as my support vehicle had a satnav programmed with the whole route and all the checkpoints marked so she could follow me round, (or so we thought), spare inner tubes, large pump, change of gloves and so on.
We arrived at hills garage at 6.30am (a little later than I had hoped but it was a beautiful morning), and began getting everything ready. It started with my phone falling out of my pocket and falling on a grate, but fortunately it did not fall through, but I was all ready to go five minutes later, just my shoes to put on - arrrrrggggghhhhh!!! - I had forgotten to put them in - the one thing that you cannot do with out when you have road pedals is cleated shoes. At the same time Amanda was discovering that the route had inexplicably not transferred to her satnav and she had no reference of the route - something that she was not comfortable with at all. What to do...... Amanda insisted that she wanted to go back to the house and download the route on to the satnav and at the same time would pick up the shoes...... Something that was actually quite doable since that first part of the route almost took me back to where we are staying, near the foot of Kirkstone Pass.
And so it was that I started what is possibly the hardest cycle route in the U.K wearing trainers with overshoes on pedals specifically designed for cleated, hard soled shoes. It was awful.
Amanda took the most direct route back to the house while I headed for the first climb of the day, Hawkshead Hill - a lovely climb but I hated it. Every bump in the road, everytime I changed gear, my feet would jump off the pedals and those squishy trainer soles soaked up a good deal of my effort. A slight wrong turn at the top did nothing to improve my mood, but I was gradually getting used to it.
Once through Ambleside, I turned left and started the long climb up Kirkstone Pass (which I have done before but not from this direction)  - still no sign of Amanda though so I pressed on, and tried to film some of the stunning views on my helmet camera - still no sign of Amanda. Continually looking over my shoulder I was expecting her to come past me at any minute, since it was over an hour since we went our different ways - still no sign - she must already be at the top waiting for me - can't wait to get my proper shoes on - still no sign. Oh crud, I had been filming the ascent, with the blinking lens cap on. How dosy can you get - what next I started to think, are there enough signs now to tell me that this is not the day I should be doing this.
The top of Kirkstone Pass was now just ahead, shrowded in mist but still dry and there was no Amanda. Where could she be?...... I swiped in at the check point and pulled out my phone - no signal. Two other cyclists had appeared by now and one was generous enough to lend me her phone, which did have a signal. Turns out that Amanda had tried to intercept my route, but I had already gone past the point that she had decided to wait. I had already been at the top of Kirkstone Pass for ten minutes and the wind was really picking up - I was starting to get really cold. Amanda said that she would get there as quick as she could but it was 15 minutes before she arrived - I was shivering now and was so delighted to get my shoes on and going again that I forgot to check back out at the timing point. Not really a problem as any chance I had of doing a good time had already gone and now the 30 minute wait would not be removed from my total time.
Pressing on, things seemed to be going remarkably smoothly as I rounded Ulswater and turned left to begin the climb of Matterdale End.
Amanda had got ahead and was taking photos and I went over the top and began refuelling on gels, water etc while there was chance, as the route was about to reach the fast stretch of the A66.
Glancing at the time, it was 9.21am when I felt the first spots of rain and by the time I got half way down the A66, I had to pull my glasses down so I could look over them while they still kept most of the wind and rain out of my eyes. It was really starting to come down now though and I had turned into the wind so that it was now coming from about 10 o'clock, occasionally blowing me into the road a little.
"What have I done to deserve this?" I remember thinking, but determined not to get demoralised I thought, that this wind would help me later. It's not going to beat me - it's thrown a lot at me today - it's trying to make me give in. That is when I got a front wheel puncture. Amanda had gone on ahead but could not have helped anyway. The road was too busy and 15 minutes later I was back on the road. Still smiling through gritted teeth.
The next section is basically there to deliver you to the foot of Honister Pass (which again I have done but from the other side), and is scenic but not overly taxing, other than that the rain just came down harder and harder, and the wind just got stronger and stronger.
Honister Pass is stunning from this, the Seatoller side. It has a stream running all the way on the left hand side ( for stream, now read raging torrent) but it starts very steep and water was gushing over the walls on the side and down the road. Traction was beginning to get difficult, and the wind was now straight into my face, and just never let up.

Hope this picture does it justice - this is right at the top of Honister Pass looking east. Click it to see the full size picture. Many thanks to Amanda for braving the rain to get this photo.

Never have I cycled in such adverse conditions - even Cairn O'Mount, which was also very windy, but was at least dry. As I got past the steeper sections the trees disappeared and the wind had nothing to to even slightly break it up. I can remember thinking to myself  "this just isn't fair. I am on a super tough climb in torrential rain and a headwind strong enough to almost blow you over".
Finally the top and Amanda waiting at the Slate Mine. She beckoned me inside, and said "I want you to stop, the decsent off here is too steep and the whole road is covered in running water". She was right, but I didn't want to admit defeat. "You can stop here and restart another day", she continued, "It's too dangerous".
I spent around 10 minutes deliberating it in my mind, but when I removed my jacket to find both my shirt and base layer soaked I realised that, coupled with sopping wet sock, shoes and overshoes, I had probably carried an extra 5 kilos up that hill. Amanda was right - it was time to stop - but rejoin at the same point, never.
The weather looks good for Wednesday and Thursday so I will go to the start and try again. I have come all this way to do the whole challenge, so that is what I will do........... Until then.

Cairn O' Mount

I really wanted to cycle whilst in Scotland as I have been there a number of times and never had the chance.
My wife knows the area well as she is half Scottish and has often told me of her lovely holidays there as a child, but there was one thing that she had mentioned to me that had stuck in my mind - Cairn O'Mount, a mountain just north of Brechin, with very steep sections of road which her family had driven up many times when they were children.

I love climbing mountains on my road bike...... I can't exactly say why but I just do. My wife says that it is because they represent such a challenge and I can't resist trying to get the better of them - she may well be correct.

My mind was made up - I wanted to cycle up Cairn O'Mount come rain, wind or shine (or probably just the first two knowing how the Scottish weather can be!).

So on the Thursday morning, myself and Amanda set off on an 80 mile round trip, designed to take in the Cairn, and to visit some relatives along the way. The wind was blowing from the north, so the climb would be directly into the teeth of the wind and this toughened it up making it very hard going. Add to that, the fact that the climb has two very distinct steep sections - 16% right at the start and 14% through a hairpin at the end - making it a formidable proposition. You can see the profile here courtesy of climbbybike.com.

The great thing about climbing on a bike though, is that you see everything that nature has to offer on the way up. Every stream, every waterfall and the birds of prey that are so easy to miss whilst in the car (I am sure that many walkers will also echo these comments). Add to that the feeling when you finallly get to the summit and look at the incredible view knowing that you have really earned the right to soak it all up.

I enjoyed the ride so much that I went and did it again the following day - this time though, the northerly wind was much stronger, no place to hide. Once over the top, I got down the far side and to the bottom I turned round and came back up the north side, which proved to be considerably easier, as the climb is longer and therefore less steep - not to mention the wind helping from this side.

On the decent I hit an unbelievable 53.4 mph, the fastest I have ever been on a bike and beat the car down by about three minutes - totally exhillerating, but don't take my word for it, here's the screen shot from my GPS.....

Please have a look at the video below as Amanda recorded some of the day while she followed in the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXHYK4vPbk

This short trip had made my mind up - I was going to do everything I could to get place on the Etape Du Tour 2011 and try and raise some money in the process.