This sportive has been on my radar and on my ‘Biking to do list’ for years and was very high on the list.  It is heavily over subscribed and hard to get a place.  There was the option of paying £250 for charity and getting a guaranteed place.  I though this was the way to do it, give a little and get a place.  So early March Helen (friend from uni) and I joined.

Come closer to the event, I was getting a little nervous – a winter of snow and ice ment not much riding was done and what I had done was reasonably short – so to complete this monster was a little daunting.  The Fred Whitton is a route that circumnavigates the lakes going up over Kirkstone, Honnister, Whinlatter, Hardknott and Wrynose pass in a loop of 112miles and just under 4000m of climbing. – Pooping it a bit we were!

The day before the event I bumped into a few old friends from chamonix  and arranged to ride it together, it will at least stop me listening to my voices in my head!

Come the day, up at around 6 and Helen headed off early as she totally under estimated her speed, she went a hell of a lot faster than she thought she would.

The first half was a bit of a blur, Kirkstone pass came and went with no issues, total respect to the guy i went past on a hand cycle, I saw him pull over and unvelcro his hand from the bars and it flopped down.  So this guy only had one working arm!!!  Utterly inspirational stuff,  I doth my hat at you sir.

Down the A66 in a big chain gang at 40kph+ all the way was quite a nice break from the slow trudging up the passes.  Through Keswick and up to Honnister.  Honnister was a big milestone in my ride, as I saw it as the second hardest climb, which it was!  People were already pushing up it at this stage in the ride (about 60 miles in), and not surprisingly so as it was bastard steep!  Got up to the top and waited for the rest of my group, and off we went.  The descent is dangerous, and we went past two guys who were in a complete mess as they must of ploughed into dry stone walls at 40mph+.  Hope you are ok guys, fast recovery.

Next was Whinlatter – this one in my mind was easy, as I knew it, I could map it in my head and for some reason there were hundreds of people up it cheering and clapping, thank you to them, they lifted a lot of cyclists spitits that day.

The ride from here is undulating to Hardknott,  I spent this time trying to eat and drink as much as I could, I could already feel my legs starting to fatigue, and I was getting the odd twinge of cramp!!  Oh no, not my dreaded cramping problem.  From previous experience I know once this sets in I am knackered.  I have had two races end prematurely before due to cramping.  This is due to my excessive sweeting!  Nice!

I rummaged in my jersey pocket….. oh shit!  I had left my salt tablets in the van.  this was going ot hurt.

I saw the climb ahead of me – Hardknott, a steady snake of multicoloured jerseys, not moving quickly! This is why I’m here. I looked ahead to suss out where the ultra steep parts were. And then it started. Soooooo steep! One pedal stroke…stop….balance…another pedal stroke…..stop…..balance…and so on, the other three I was riding with had already got off and started pushing – I was not, i would get up this! Then a respite (the respites were still 10% + I reckon) before it kicking up again, this time for longer and lasting 2-3 hairpins. Buuuuurn and cramp!! Then 2/3rds of the way up another viciously steep few turns, and here – for a brief moment – I thought I was going to stop, my quads where spasming hard with cramp and really, really hurt,  but my head disagreed and I kept going. I could not believe the effort I had put in to get to the top. Total elation.

I got down the other side in one piece (these descents were horrible – bumpy and tight and really sore on the hands and shoulders after this length of time (around 7 and a half hours of riding )) Wrynose now. Ahead of me  looked just as steep! Wait a minute though, it’s not as long. OK stay positive. Two ultra-steep sections of 20-30 pedal strokes, but hardknott had taken it out of me, the cramp was too bad this time, I had to stop and stretch.  God it hurt, so I stretched for a few minutes and got to the top.  Not what I really wanted, but happy that  I had got up Hardknott!  That was my real goal.

From here it was a long down hill and another 30 minutes of undulating to the finish.  My final time – 8hrs 43 min – Probably 650-700 out of 1000 starters, so I wasn’t quick, but we stopped a bit and took it gentle.  They say that 75% have to walk on Hard Knott, and a lot of riders have to walk on Honister and Wrynose too, so I achieved my personal goal.

Will I do it again, probably, unless I can find something as difficult (the harder the climb the bigger the buzz if you succeed) and if I do then I will maybe push the flat parts a bit more, and go for a PB, maybe under 7:30 hrs.

If you like climbing like me, then I dont think you will find steeper hills anywhere, AND they are 100 miles into the event! Someones outrageously sick joke is a reality!! Also, the organisation is first class, the scenery is simply stunning, the mountains are special whether you are a cyclist or not. This is a seriously difficult challenge.

What next? I have no idea. Alpe d’Huez and Fred Whitton ticked off. Will everything else be a bit of a disappointment? Some ideas would be helpful.  Thanks again to the organisers of FW 2010. What an event!