Al Goes to Fat Camp - Day 3

As many people had left on the previous evening, it had been decided that only one group would go out on the final day for a short 30 mile ride to stretch our legs. It had also been decided that the group would go at a nice steady pace as everyone was tired and like myself, faced a substantial trip home.
Heading North out of Skipton the ride was just that, a nice gentle roll round. Then a rider had a chain snap, and the group took a few minutes out while a repair was made.
As the morning progressed I became increasingly aware of a new rider that had not been with us on the previous days. He clearly had fresher legs than us and was determined to force the pace, although it was funny to watch as the group "hung him out to dry" and no one followed him, forcing him to stop and wait - with a thoroughly disgruntled look on his face.
It was inevitable though that as the end of the ride came, the stronger riders began to pull away from the group and a bid for first to the hotel was being made. Everyone let the new face sit on the front and just sheltered behind him, knowing that he would simply ride himself into the ground, and so it proved.
We entered Skipton on the final run in and myself and the new guy managed to anticipate the traffic and pulled far enough clear of the rest that they would not be able to catch us back up. From there, I simply sat on his wheel and waited until about 500 yards to go before sprinting to the finish and leading the way into the hotel car park in a completely meaningless and childish display of waining strength - still, I was really pleased to have finished strongly, it's good for the confidence levels.
It brought to an end a thoroughly enjoyable and informative weekend and one that will hopefully set me up nicely for the Etape in what is now less than two months time.
I am now really starting to look forward to the trip to France and with the fundraising having gone well in the last month or so, I feel that things are now starting to come together.

Anyone that reads this blog and would like to sponsor me for either Parkinson's UK or the Alzheimer's Society can do so by clicking the following links  http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-Hawkes-Parkinsons-UK or http://www.justgiving.com/Alex-Hawkes-Alzheimers - Many thanks in advance.

In the meantime, here is a short video that I have created showing some of the sights of the weekend.

Al Goes to Fat Camp - Day Two

Once again I rose early on the Sunday morning and, with only a little soreness in the legs, was very glad that I had taken the time to stretch my muscles before going to bed the night before.
This ride, the second of three was slightly shorter than the first day at 60 miles and only had three climbs of note.
Breakfast was duly dispatched and I readied myself and the bike for another fast, long day in the saddle with the fast group, and to my surprise, all the same people put themselves up for the challenge for a second day (although one would later drop back into the slower groups after suffering cramp).
We headed off again through Skipton but then turned North West and on to the first climb of the day, Scosthrop Moor, which was challenging but more memorable if truth be known for the descent into Settle which was fast, twisting and utterly unnerving thanks to a rippled road surface which constantly threatened to destroyed any control that you had over the bike. More interesting though was that at the bottom, the welcome into Settle was in the form of cobblestones - ouch!!
The first feed station was located here and after a short session of taking on all the food and drink that you could we turned right and with the warning "make sure you are on the small ring here" (i.e. your easiest gears, indicating a nasty climb). They were not kidding, immediately the road narrowed and swept left, steepening rapidly. Fortunately this was short lived and the, now single track road levelled and followed a hedge line before meeting up with the main road.
A right turn later and we began the main climb of the day - Heading almost North from Stainforth, we turned into what was again a howling wind and the road was very steep at the start.
To use a cycling commentary term, the steepness of the road, coupled with the headwind "blew the group to pieces" and I ended up in the second of four groups, trying to play a cagey game by shielding behind another two riders. Eventually though, one rider dropped away and just myself and Darren continued to the top.
The gradient had now relaxed somewhat and although the wind got even stronger as we ventured further out on to the moor. Courtesy of www.sportivecentral.com

I was becoming aware of a mountain to our left-hand side , and it looked strangely familiar. It almost looked like a forehead...... Darren told me that it was Pen -y - Ghent. Now it made sense as I had been camping there with my Dad many years ago when we did the Three Peaks walk.

 Quite a sight. This just about signalled the summit and a long flat stretch which then descended (very steep and fast again), to Halton Gill where the second feed station awaited.

The next section followed the river Skirfare before swinging left over open grassland over to the far side of the River Wharfe, through Hebden and the delightfully named Appletreewick.

A quick descent and a sharp right turn over a very narrow bridge and we were nearly at the final climb - Halton Moor. The group had to stop though as Darren's chain had snapped. He indicated to us that we should carry on (as luck would have it the owner of the local bike shop was in the pub nearby having Sunday lunch and just happened to have his tool kit in the back of his van).

We pressed on up what was a very nice steady climb. My legs were very tired though and I got dropped on the climb and ended up finishing the ride on my own - my only comfort being that I did get back to the hotel a creditable second.

Better still, we were back in time to grab a quick shower and watch the football. I sat there and stuffed my face with all the post ride recovery freebies that we had been given.

Another ride tomorrow and not too sure whether the legs will be up for it.

Al Goes to Fat Camp - Day One

What a fantastic thought that my Mum and Dad had last October, to send me to training camp in the Yorkshire Dales, organised by Sports Tours International.
I laughingly referred to it as "fat camp", but I knew all along that this would be a hard three days and no laughing matter at all.
Having researched the routes in the week leading up to the trip, I realised that this would be hilly terrain to say the least and that at least two of the climbs were in my book of 100 greatest cycling climbs, notably Buttertubs Pass and Fleet Moss.
And so it was that I set off Northwards after being at work, and after making good progress, then hit a huge traffic jam on the A34 and sat in the car with the engine off for over half an hour. Some six hours later, and thoroughly worn out after a long drive and a 4.30 am start, I arrived at The Rendezvous Hotel in Skipton and got checked in to my room. A single occupancy was a sound idea since I knew that rest would be a premium and I could "spread out". Before I knew it, the time had reached 7pm and it was time for the welcome meeting and a briefing on how the weekend was likely to pan out. Three groups would go out each day to accommodate a range of cycling levels. The question now dawned, which group to go in, and this became the topic of conversation over dinner with a group of guys many of whom had completed previous Etapes and had fascinating stories to tell of their exploits.
We all retired early and I continued to contemplate which was the best group to go with... this thought stayed with my right through until the next morning.
I awoke early as I often do and found myself with some time on my hands before breakfast was available so I got all my kit lined up and pottered down for a leisurely pre ride fuelling session, before we were set to meet up for the ride at 9am. The plan was that the slowest group would go out first, followed by the middle speed group, with the fast group going out last. I was toying with the idea of going with the second group but after chatting to the leader of the fast group, I thought to myself that I had come here to train, not to just amble round and take it easy - the fast group it was.

We set off on what was a 90 mile route with four notable climbs, although the road was never really flat at any stage...... Heading North out of Skipton the early part of the route was gentle enough, and the pace was fast but no so fast that weren't able to take in the increasingly beautiful surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales
Our ride leaders indicated to us that the first climb of the day had arrived as we passed through Buckden, known as Kidstones. Profile from www.sportivecentral .com

This was a lovely climb with a few steep sections and sweeping hairpin bends but it was more notable for me for that fact that my chain jumped off during a double gear change. Just as I tried to use the front derailleur to re align my chain, I felt a hand on my back, pushing me for just long enough for me to get my chain back on without stopping. It was Darren, one of the ride leaders who has been alert enough to see/hear what had happened and helped my out before it became a problem - a great help.

Following a fast descent and a water stop we proceeded towards the second marquee climb of the day - Redmire Moor. Approaching from the south west you see the impressive site of Castle Bolton on the left, before climbing up onto open moorland. Profile from www.sportivecentral .com

As you can see this is a significant climb and with the strong headwind, this was a climb not to be underestimated. I really enjoyed it actually as I always think that you might as well make the training as difficult as possible.

The descent was pretty scary, I found. Paul, Darren and a couple of our guys fairly hurtled down this narrow, twisting, wall-lined road. The howling wind gusted and did it's best to throw you off line. I just held on tight and went down as fast as I dared.

The next stretch took us through rolling Dales countryside and past river (although fairly dry) and on towards Thwaite, which signalled the first major climb of the day - Buttertubs Pass, rated at 8 out of 10 in my book of cycling climbs. Profile from www.sportivecentral .com

Turning left off the main road, the start is not too difficult but ahead you can see the road steepening and swinging first right and then left in alpine-hairpin style.

The pace had been quite hard up to this point and a few of the guys had been left behind. meanwhile Alistair, who I had been chatting to and, it turns out, lives only a couple of miles away from me shot off. Not attacking but just riding away, and having established that he is a triathlete, I made no attempt to try and keep up with him.

Alistair was waiting at the bottom of the descent and I joined him to wait for the others to catch up. Glancing south and saw what appeared to be a road going over a very steep hill in the distance - it looked familiar too, having had a good look at the climbs prior to the ride. Yes it was the final climb of the day, Fleet Moss - the highest road in Yorkshire and it looked horrendous from this distance. Profile from www.sportivecentral .com

We headed through Hawes and just as the 100 Best Cycling Climbs indicated, the road climbs steeply at first before all but levelling off. It really is toying with you though as, once you pass all the farm buildings, all you can see is a really big hill, and the road simply takes the shortest route over it. No hairpins to soften the gradient, just straight up and over, and it it just gets steeper and steeper, finishing off with a brutal section of around 20% when your legs are in tears. Once over the road flattens before a short final 18% ramp to complete the climb.

The descent that follows is terrifying - twisting blind corners, uneven road, very steep and a cross wind. Concentration is the key and by the time we had got to the bottom my eyes were nearly popping out of my head.

The final section of the ride seemed to take for ever as my legs, arms and wrists were all tired and all I wanted t do was get back and rest (and have a beer).

We all gave it our best effort to get back to the hotel and with a few mile to go, myself and Alistair had dropped the rest of the group, and the two leaders had gone back to make sure that they were OK.

The two of us eventually reached the hotel together and shared a handshake as we came into the car park together.

A few beers, a seminar on the Etape route and a hearty supper later, my head hit the pillow and that was the end of the end of day one.....

L'enfer Du Nord - The Fred Whitton Four Seasons - Take Two

Please note all the photos can be clicked on to see the full size picture.

With due deference to the famous cycling race, Paris-Roubaix,(aka L'enfer du Nord - The Hell of the North), the Fred Whitton Challenge could easily take on the same name for someone like me who lives in the south of England.
After having to abandon the challenge on Monday 4th April (see previous post)  due to horrendous weather, we continued to check the weather forecast for another window of opporutnity - Wednesday seemed to be a good day following a wet start - Thursday seemed even better.
Amanda's sister Jenny had arrived for a couple of days break and decided to tag along in the support vehicle to keep each other company - really kind  of her as she is not a cyclist and must have been pretty bored, but it was a real help to Amanda.
It had rained all of Tuesday and following the 50 mile abandoned ride we spent Tuesday walking around the  Aira Force waterfall near Ullswater - not the ideal preparation for the legs but the whole week did not quite go as planned in a cycling sense.
At 5am on Wednesday 6th April we awoke to ....... rain. Never mind, it was forecast and was scheduled to clear up fairly early, so we got the car loaded up (putting my cycling shoes in first).
As we drove to Coniston and the start point it was throwing it down again, and there was more than a little aprehension in the car as we could see it all happening again. Amanda was very quiet, I just wanted to get going and Jenny just thought we were both mad (she was probably right).
This time though, things were different. We had remembered my shoes, my mp3 player and I didn't drop my phone - bonus.

And so it was that I "dobbed" my card in at the start point and got underway, heading for the first climb of the day at Hawkshead Hill.
I remember enjoying this climb first time around and this was even better now that I had the correct footwear on. It was still raining, if more lightly, but it was still pretty dark.

Things continued to improve when I also didn't take a wrong turn at the top of Hawkshead Hill, and headed down the descent - carefully. The roads were soaking wet and the heavy rain of the previous days had washed a fair bit of debris onto the roads, just making you watch your step a bit.

Moving on around the head of lake Windermere and through Ambleside the rain finally began to ease and this was welcome as I turned left to Troutbeck and began the steep introduction to the start of Kirkstone Pass again.

I arrived at the top for the fourth time during the week and yet again it was shrowded in fog. You can just about make me out logging in at the checkpoint.
There was so much moisture in the air that the video camera started to pack up.

Heading quickly off down towards Ullswater the road was wet and slippy, so anxious not to create any problems, I took it nice and steady and hit the climb to Matterdale End in good spirits.....

......then I saw it...... The Sun..... admittedly only milky behind the clouds, but neverless it was there.

The wind was also beginning to pick up but this was not a problem at this stage - it was just nice to have the sun coming out.

Here you can see the conditions getting better as I start to descend from Matterdale End towards the long stretch along the A66. Not a nice section really, yes it is fast and there is a "safe" strip to the side of the road but this disappears for a while and the wind blows you into the road, especially when it gusts. The "cats eyes" are also very high so are a real potential problem when they are wet.
The next stage of the route takes you through Keswick, past Derwent Water, through Borrowdale and on to Seatoller which is at the base of the first real test of the day, Honister Pass. It was at the top of this climb that I had to abandon on the Monday due to the terrible weather conditions. I took a quick stop at the public loos here and a wringing out of the socks (there was no hand dryer unfortunately) before the climb probably saved me a few extra grams of weight.

Today was different though, the 25% warning sign at the bottom did not seem quite as daunting with dry roads and a quick look over my left shoulder gave a view of a group of school children "river running" in the gushing water at the side of the road.

I was setting a (very) steady pace, not wanting to tire myself out both in terms of the climb but also because, at 48 miles I was still 8 miles from the half way point.
This climbs teeth are all at the start with a sustained, very steep section which gradually gets steeper until you pass over a cattle grid when the gradient relaxes until a steepening towards the end. Halfway up the steepest section, I realised that my front tyre was starting to go down - I couldn't believe it. The road is so steep here that I was struggling to find a spot to park the bike up so that I could repair the puncture. I put the new tube in, checked the inside of the tyre and used my mini compressor to inflate the tyre. The tyre seemed really hard, but that is the whole idea of the compressor I thought, so I put the wheel back on and got in position to continue - no mean feat when the road is so steep and you have to clip back into cleated pedals....
I must have got five yards maximum before there was a huge bang from my front tyre. I looked down and saw my tyre off the rim - that's it I thought my ride is over - but on closer inspection the tube had blown and the tyre had simply been blown of the rim. My only option was now to repair the original tube and pump it up (by hand), but knowing how long this would take, I thought that I had better ring Amanda and tell her what was going on as she had gone on ahead to go to the slate mine with Jenny- no signal, not for the first time.

By the time I had repaired the tube and pumped the tyre up I had probably wasted about 20-25 minutes and finally reaching the top of the climb, in strengthening winds, Amanda and Jenny were waiting at the top, frozen, and had not even been in the mine shop as they didn't want to miss me.
As I passed I said that I would meet them at the Buttermere check-in point where I could "stop the clock", use the facilities and wait for them.
Once the girls arrived I replenished my stocks of food and water, changed my soaking wet socks, fully pumped up my front tyre and headed off for my favourite climb, Newlands Pass.

I love the way that the road clings onto the side of the mountain. I think it is the most scenic of all the passes that I have done in the lakes.
The spectacular Moss Force waterfall awaits at the top before that best, fastest and most exhilarating decent on the whole route, as the road is fairly straight and you can see everything in front of you and before you know it you are arriving in Braithwaite and the start of Whinlatter Pass....

.....which is fairly straightforward with two or three steep sections to keep you honest and the whole climb is sheltered by trees so, no wind and pleasant shade. As you can see from the photo,  the sun was now shining and for the first time in the week I took off my rain jacket and stuffed it in my back pocket and looked forward to the descent and the section of the route that I had never done before

Normally, the descent from Whinlatter is long and fast but the wind was now fully blowing and was it was really slowing me down as I headed towards the next climb - the beautifully named Fangs Brow - followed by Kelton Fell.

Amanda and Jenny had taken a well earned lunch break at the Whinlatter visitor centre and they did not catch me back up until the climb of Cold Fell.

This is the upper section of Cold Fell, which is not the most invitingly named place that I have ever come across but the climb is a nice one with spectacular views to the coast on your right hand side. As the name suggests though it is very open and that meant that the whole climb was straight into the wind - very punishing indeed and my whole body was starting to feel really tired and I was very conscious of not pushing too hard knowing full well what was not too many miles away....

The descent from Cold Fell takes you straight to the final check-in station at Calder Bridge.....

......but all this is just the prelude of course to the main event. The route now heads through Gosforth and Santon with a short climb up Irton Pike and a descent into Eskdale Green. By this stage though you have cycled about 95 miles and all you can think about is Hardknott Pass.

The irony is that this is really the longest, flattest part of the whole ride, but as you ride down the Eskdale Valley alongside the railway you get a glimpse of what faces you next. I have read so many peoples accounts of this climb and so many descriptions, but one of my favourites describes Hardknott Pass as looking like "Mordor" in the distance..... but not today. For the first time I was seeing Hardknott in the sunshine, and it really is an incredible sight. The road was built by the Romans and how they managed it, I have no idea.

By the time you see this sight, you have already been through the killer first section,over the cattle grid and past the car park. This is the so called "flat section" which in reality is around a 7% to 9% gradient.

As I looked ahead a car had stalled on the infamous 33% left hand hairpin bend and had had to reverse down and have another go.

My legs were dead by now and I would like to say that I bombed up without any fuss but that wasn't the case - I did ride every single inch of the pass but I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath.

I was greeted at the top by my lovely lady who had driven all the way to the top - no mean feat believe me, and she still had the other side to drive down which is probably worse as the road is more twisting and the road surface is very poor. I has been likened to "riding down the side of a house" It really is a nerve shredding experience with your brakes on full throughout, your arms locked and your weight as far back as you dare.

Once down, all that remains is the short, spectacular ride up the Duddon Valley to the foot of Wrynose Pass.

Wyrnose is another formidable climb but it is much easier from this side, and although very steep, is do-able. This picture shows me coming up Wrynose with Hardknott in the background, looking like a river as the road is wet.

With the descent of Wrynose complete all that remained was the final run into Coniston to the finish - about seven miles but it seems to take an eternity and I had nothing left to give. I almost rolled to the final check-in.

....and here is the final moment 111.7 miles, 8 hours 52 minutes and 7838 calories later, I dobbed my card in and The Fred Whitton Four Seasons was complete - a great, scenic but formidable and tough ride - highly recommended.

All that remains is to say that I instantly tried to put on some of those calories lost by having the biggest plate of chilli and nachos I could manage, and to be fair, if you have managed to read all of this, you probably deserve some too.

Here is a little video that I have created of the day - and don't forget to watch it in HD - just click the 240 or 360 in the bottom right corner of the player and change to 720.



Next stop, the Dragon Ride......

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.

When You Fall Off Your Bike...... Get back on etc etc

Had a great weekend just gone. Amanda took her cycling ladies out for a jaunt around the Hatchets Pond area and I elected to do my so called Killer route again - this time doing the whole route and not falling off.
The weather has been very dry for March and nice daytime temperatures with little breeze made for a perfect cycing day.
I did do the whole route - nearly fifty miles in 2 hours 50minutes with an average speed of 17.3 mph. Got home feeling good and happy that my climbing legs seem to be coming back. Just as well since the timing chip for the Fred Whitton Four Seasons arrived yesterday - no turning back now, and in a way, I am actually starting to look forward to it. Huge challenge.
I had a go with a helmet camera while on the route and got some (very shaky) footage of Winchester Hill and Beacon Hill which I will edit and then put on here - when I work out how to.
Old Winchester Hill

Beacon Hill

Sunday brought another superb day for weather and myself and Amanda took to the New Forest for a gentle 64 mile route that she designed. Very good it was to with a few areas that I had not been to before.
Lake District next week and hopefully a report on a successful Fred Whitton Challenge.
Hardknott ( and Honister, and Wrynose, and Matterdale, and Kirkstone, and Whinlatter) here I come! - bet they are not very scared.....

Al's First Crash

It has been a sore week, and hence the reason for no update following last weekend.
Amanda was at her Mum and Dad's and I was looking forward to getting out following a week off the bike to regenerate tired limbs.
I have protected my Madone all winter and resisted the temptation to take him out during the winter months to protect him from salt and mud, but following a dry period, I decided that this should be the first time I take him out this year.
I felt like climbing so I thought a route that I had used as training for London to Paris, which I had called the "Killer", would be ideal - although having done Exmoor and the Lake District since this route, it's killer status is somewhat diminished.
What a difference - I love my trek 1.2 but the Madone is just a completely different beast. Everything about it is fast and responsive, and it seems to want to go up hills.
The Killer route takes in two different ascents of Beacon Hill and the three steepest ascents of Old Winchester Hill.
Unsurprisingly it has a warning sign at the bottom but this is a fairly long climb with a steep start that then steadies off to around 7%.

I fairly bombed up this bit and even had time to ride one-handed to take some pics on the way  up

Feeling suitably pleased I descended down towards West Meon and then turned right, up a short sharp hill and towards Coombe.

This stretch of road is lovely as it clings to the side of a hill in a heavily wooded area. The road was covered in debis and I can rememeber thinking to myself to be careful - only to come a cropper.

Turning left towards a farm building, my front wheel hit a patch of mud and slid away from under me, I nearly got control back but then hit the loose garvel in the middle of the road - down I went. It happened so quickly that I can't really remember what hit what but I picked myself up (very shakily) so see some (thankfully) minor damage to my bike, but as the shock subsided, more painful bits became apparent.

The shredding to my top was the first giveaway as I felt pain in the left side of my chest, but also pain around my right elbow and left thumb, both of which were swelling up as I watched.

Realising I was in shock, I sat down on a wall for a bit and started checking my phone and music player, all of which seemed undamaged. Relieved, I looked up to see a elderly gentlemen making his way towards me with a mug in his hand - This very kind man had seen me come off while he was in the car park of the Meon Springs Fly Fishery and had made me a cup of coffee - what a lovely, kind thought, and many thanks to him.

After probably 15 minutes I thought, "this is no good, I am about as far from home as I could be and I have got to get home before things really start to hurt". Getting back on I now realised that my right hand was also hurting just below the palm. Still, I thought, I have full movement in everything so nothing is broken.

The first obstacle to overcome was the ascent of Old Winchester Hill from one of the North Easterly routes which are by far the steepest - I used to think that these were horrendous but it wasn't too bad on this occasion and I got to the top with no issues.

Riding home was not too bad either. I got in and after cleaning my bike down, I got straight into the bath and found various scrapes, a nasty burn to my right forearam and a very sore left thumb.

One week on and I have been back out on the bike with Amanda and have all but repaired...... all in all a very lucky escape.