first ride of the passes...

Well, it's only 4 weeks until the fred whitton challenge and as my weekends from now on are fully booked with rounds of the national youth circuit series, CDNW league and Rudy Project Time trial series, i decided to just get out and test myself on some of the climbs.

It was the first time since last April that i had been over any of the passes, not including whinlatter as that features quite regulary in training rides, and boy had i forgotten the pain they put you through!!!

I had decided to get a decent ride in my legs before heading towards the first "hill", as then i would get a better feel for how it will actually be on the day. So, after fueling-up i set off on my adventure. Following the start of one of my 4 hour training rides, i set off towards cockermouth before taking the back roads towards keswick, heading round braithwaite and cat bells. After crossing the bridge and turning left to head towards honister, i realised i had a nice 100min ride already in the bag, so i settled down into a nice rythm and carried on. i've got to say, i thought it was quiker to the foot of honister! Anyway, i passed through the little village and started to head up... up... up... up!

That gave the legs a shock, and the lungs, and the arms! it was a case of trying not to drop below 6mph, which i nearly managed to achieve... the last bit before the cattle grid got me! after that though it was all good and i got to the top 2hrs into my ride.

After dropping down the valley and getting along to buttermere, i was at newlands. I have to say, i have never been up there better in my life! The kick honister gave me must have got my legs working, and i set about a nice rythm all the way up the climb, before reaching the top and plumiting down to braithewaite.

Whinlatter was next, and how i love that climb! again, i just kept my rythm going and pushing over the pedals and before i knew it, i was at the top. The best part about whinlatter was the applause i got passing the lay-by where the ice cream man seems to live... it made me feel like a true pro!

Well, that was all the big climbs over, and i wasn't feeling that bad. So i decided to prolongue my ride. i set off towards eaglesfield and did a 10mile loop around some back roads before heading towards deanscale, where i jumped back onto the main road. Checking my ride time now, which was around 4hrshrs, i carried on adding on extra loops, and extra hills until it reached 4.30hrs. By this time my legs where starting to feel heavy, so i decided to get home.

Of course that meant getting back onto the top of cold fell... I just out my head down and grinded my way up, selefield traffic charging down towards me! after hitting the cattle grid, i checked my time. 4hrs 45mins. So i decided to kill myself and get home before 5hrs!

I managed, all be it I got cramp washing afterwards and fell out of the shower landing on the floor in a heap! all in all a good ride. 83miles over some big hills in 5hrs seemed like quite an achievement!

But for now, i'm off to the second round of the Rudy Project time trial series on saturday, and then the first round of the national youth circuit series on sunday. i shall write a report on how i did when i return.

adios