Fred Whitton Challenge

Really looking forward to hearing how you get on Paul, it's a tough day out but well within you I reckon.

drystonepaul":37kvz8ao said:

I'm actually more concerned about some of the descents on skinny tyres though.

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I'm far from the bravest descender but coming off Honister was absolutely terrifying - road corrugated due to the previous snow and ice, surface greasy after a light shower, rear wheel skipping about, 25% gradient and winding. Oh, and some loose gravel.

Hardknott wasn't much better. I'll admit without shame that after seeing someone leave the road and end up on her head I walked down, cutting across the apex of the hairpins - the route instructions recommend hard on the brakes as soon as you go over the top and with good reason.

It was a proper 'big day out' though even if I'm glad that I had a compact chainset fitted. I nominally rode with a friend but the reality was that I was faster on the climbs and he was much faster going down so we simply met up at the food stops with no significant wait either way. And there are so many riders that you're never really alone, even if at times you perhaps wish that you were.

As for the Four Seasons, that might make a good group ride in summer? Could also split it into two days if we wanted to make a weekend of it.

A couple of my customers do it every year on my handcycles :shock:
Here's Alan Grace on Hardknott...

Handcycle record is around 15 hours.

All the best,

Wow. I'll keep an eye out for them.

It is something i would like to do but i know it is very popular.
I have done Hard Knott and Wrynose when i did the C2C last year which was 180 miles over two days.

I found Hard Knott totally brutal not helped by the horizontal rain and low visibility. I thought i had got to the top until i saw a set of car headlights in what appeared to be the sky :shock: I was pushing down that hard going up hard knott that my seat came loose :shock: so unfortunately (or fortunately whichever way you look at it ) had to stop which was just before it gets a bit easier, well down to about 15% from the 30%+ hairpins.

I was disappointed that i had to stop to repair it but then starting back off was a pain as i had to go down slightly to get my feet clipped into the pedals. It then gets really hard again towards the top and my hands then slipped from the bars, due to the rain and force of me pushing down hard to try and stay seated. This was on a cyclocross bike with road tyres and compact gearing.
It is something i will always remember it left that much of an impression

Fred

I'm in with only 3 weeks of training left not sure if I'm ready, got a hill 100 in 2 weeks ago so time will tell. Need to stop reading and watching video's
And decide on gearing and Tyres. [/quote]