The Lakeland Loop: Day One - Bowness on Windermere to Patterdale

If you ever get the chance to do the Lakeland Loop grab it with both hands and say yes; don't what ever you do think about it first. There are a million reason why you should decline but once you've said yes there's no going back and you'll do it whatever it takes. After all anyone can turn the pedals just one more time, anyone can put one foot in front of the other and anyone can do the Lakeland Loop if they say yes.

Mark had done the Loop before with some like minded mates over four days but I was clear from the start that if we were doing it, it was by the book or in this case the Mountain Bike Route Pack and that was a more sensible 6 day ride. We left home in North Yorkshire early one Saturday morning and by the time we arrived in Bowness it was obvious that it was going to be a very, very hot day. Bone meltingly hot. The kind of hot that makes it insane to be thinking of carrying your bike 1400' to the summit of High Street and on, and on, and on ...

But given how much organisation it had taken to ensure our kids would be safe and sound for the duration of the trip there was no option but to proceed with plan A. There was no plan B. So there we were on our bikes and wending our way towards High Street and the start of that infamous (to me) mountainous ridge that runs between Haweswater and Ullswater. We were like two little kids let out to play when as we came shooting down a steep rocky section rather too enthusiastically Mark got his first puncture of the day ....

As we were travelling light and didn't have a never ending supply of inners we really needed to try and take it a bit steadier. Luckily the sight of the mamouth climb slowly being revealed ahead of us was enough to make us see sense, for a while at least. As the climb steepened the conversation slowed and a gap started to open up between us. There's just no point going any pace but your own pace over a route like this still it was reassuring  when every time I looked up, there he was a splash of red ahead. It felt like I was toiling in an oven, everything smelled hot, hot dirt like toasted ground singeing through my airways. On and on the narrowed trail climbed, the next step always higher than the last; on the steepest sections I would count my steps allowing myself a few moments of motionless breathing before continuing to drag body and bike skywards.

The views from the top were worth every moment of the long ascent with first Brotherswater and then Ullswater far below on one side and Haweswater on the other. It felt wild, remote and mad to be on our bikes in such a place, the distant Lakeland water accentuating our heavenly height.

 
Once the main climb was done the ridge rose and fell, an endless journey of mountain biking pleasure Rampsgill Head, High Raise, Raven Howe, Red Crag, Wether Hill all came and went. And then finally Loadpot Hill and we were in free fall like two stone gathering speed on this massive mountain descent. We checked for a moment at The Cockpit Stone Circle, turned back on ourselves and surged forward once again over dusty, rocky singletrack. With the height loss came a people gain, it was a fabulous Saturday afternoon and the walkers were out in numbers as we swung past Barton Park Woods in a haze of dust covered sweat. We'd appeared out of nowhere and civilization felt strange even after a few hours on the those more singular fells. Again we were brought to our senses by a flat, this time a pinch puncture which was in reality a lucky escape given the force with which bike hit rock!

Howtown Hotel and the lure of pints of cold, sweet coke couldn't be missed although we looked a little out of place compared with the other cool, clean clientele. It was easy to think we had nearly finished but in reality there was some very technical singletrack yet to do. The route skirted the edge of Ullswater from Sandwick to Patterdale and as the afternoon wore on towards 5 o'clock the temperature never let up for a moment. Day one of the Lakeland Loop and I was already adding to my wish list - I definitely want to ride this section of the route again on fresh legs.

Patterdale YHA was a welcome sight, the end of the first day's biking. It was years, make that decades, since either of us had stayed in a Youth Hostel but that school-like, institutional feel was so familiar. Memories of backpacking round Europe in my twenties burst into my consciousness from nowhere and added to the sense of being on an adventure. We were meeting another Mark (brother in law) for an evening meal that night so it was a quick shower and change into the only alternative set of clothes we'd brought before heading off for some extra large portions of dinner. We ate sat outside the Ratcher's Tavern where the sound of a babbling brook and yet more of that endless sunshine made our re-entry into the civilized world a little less strange.

Racing for fun - the 2010 British XC Series at Dalby

Holy moly what a blast yet another chance to bike the World UCI Cross Country circuit at Dalby this time as part of the British XC Series for 2010. Having just raced this circuit a couple of weeks before at the Nutcracker I knew what I wanted to achieve and I'm not talking about times or positions cos you don't have those sort of goal when you're doing it for fun! But there was a certain rock feature that I'd totally bottled last time round that just had to be faced down. 

Arriving early enough to go and have a look at the said rocky ramp my mate tried to convince me that it was all in my head. Apparently you just needed to cycle like stink until just before you hit the rock and then hold on while you and bike eased effortlessly up and over? Sounded simply apart from the small streak of self preservation that kept saying stuff like 'are you completely nuts you're going to break at least one bone if you try to get over that' and 'brake NOW'. Doing my best to ignore such voices in my head and following close on the heels of Ruth we tore along the fire track and rocketed up the seemingly vertical stone ... I was over the top and still in one piece. It felt like I had a train in my chest my heart was beating so violently and the ton of adrenaline that had just poured into my system was actually making it pretty difficult to breath but I'd done it. We practised a few more times. I knew I could do it now but I wanted to be a bit more in control rather than on the verge of going airborne, however, as I discovered too slow and you're forced to put a foot down at the top. We decided the mental barrier was sorted and the fine tuning would come during the race, it was time to have a quick recky of Medussa's Drop and consider the options.

We timed our arrival at Medussa's drop to perfection. The first aid crew were carefully helping a battered cyclist to his feet with what looked suspiciously like a broken shoulder. My mind was made up. I really didn't feel the need to take that sharp right hand diversion today; the chicken run would do me just fine. Perhaps I'd come back and get my head round that particular challenge next time. I was pretty sure that the 10 seconds I might save on the more vertical descent wasn't going to make any difference to my race.

So all that was left to do was the race itself. Usually I hate the first lap of a race, struggling to get my breathing regulated but today I'd had so much adrenaline before the race that I felt ready to go and even managed to hang onto Ruth's back wheel ... until we hit our first short ascent and then she was gone. Everything was going well and I was just completing my second lap when I had my one and only mishap of the day. Just before coming back onto the starting field I heared 'rider on the left' behind me and moved over. I must have momentarily lost concentration because the next thing I knew my handlebars were facing the other way and a large wooden gate post was trying to embed itself into the right hand side of my body. After coping successfully with a relatively technical course it was the height of embarrassment to miss a gate way. I scrambled back onto my bike praying nobody had seen and got out of there pronto. Still I did do my best ascent of the day over the rocky ramp on the third lap and then to my total amazement (and everyone else's I think) arrived over the finishing line to hear I had got third place - a podium finish in the British XC Series was too good to be true. It's never likely to happen again but it just goes to show that you never know what you can do until you give it a go!

Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Rookhope to Sunderland

As you can see spirits were high the morning of the third day of the C2C ... we had broken the back of the route and were confident that everyone would be able to finish what they had started! Not only that but there was reported to be just one last big climb at the start of the day known as Crawleyside Bank; this held no fear after we had conquered so many climbs yesterday. Of course ignorance is always bliss, a conclusion we quickly reached even as we toiled on the lower stretches of this final mammoth climb. Eventually, after leaving all signs of civilization behind and continuing onto open moorland we reached Parkhead Station the 100 mile point on the C2C with the promise of downhill all the way to Sunderland.

The Waskerley Way is a traffic free, off road section with a gentle downhill gradient. Finally, I thought I was going to get some benefit from toiling along on a mountain bike but fate decreed otherwise as I got my second puncture of the ride, Chris 2 Everyone else 0! 

Still it was easily fixed and we were on our way again completing the Waskerley Way and on through Consett where finally someone else succumbed to a puncture a 'stonking, dirty nail through the tyre' affair. Cue cold, wet downpour and a time costly struggle to inflate the new inner. For the first time in three day everyone was wearing their waterproofs, gloves and anything else they could find to keep warmish and dryish? Finally we got ourselves sorted and pressed on to find lunch at the Shepherd and Shepherdess Pub in Beamish ... late again. Ravenous we all ordered masses of food including sticky desserts and while we were in the pub the sun came out; so it was with renewed vigour that we set off on the final section of our C2C.

We pressed onto the finish line conscious that there were many waiting partners and children at the Marina at Roker in Sunderland. This part of the route was surprisingly scenic and the final stretch follows the riverside sculpture trail so you get art work thrown in as well. The finish was one of those perfect moments when the sun shines and friends, new and old, grin widely with surprise at what they have achieved together ;)

  

Many thanks to everyone else who put in so much time and effort organising and taking part in this trip they were: Carol, Caroline, Clare, Fee, Liz, Ruth, Sally, Tanya and Vicky. What next girls ....