Training Weekend - Day 3: Slow and Steady...

We got up on the third day of our trip feeling a little exhausted. This would be the first time I'd ridden 3 days in a row and my legs were screaming in protest after the heroics of the previous day! But we set off in decent time and stopped in Keswick for a hearty Greggs breakfast, which gave us the kick-start we needed.


From the moment we turned South we were cycling straight into a vicious headwind. It seems the change in wind direction we'd spent the last two days praying for had showed up a day late, and the thought of spending yet another day fighting against the wind was a definite low point for me. This wasn't helped by the fact that we spent much of the morning climbing uphill towards Thirlmere. It was really tough going, and our pace slowed considerably. What goes up however, must come down, and as we coasted down through Grasmere at 40+mph my spirits picked up and I began to enjoy myself again. The rest of the morning turned out to be really enjoyable, and we cruised into Windemere for a hard-earned pub lunch at about 12:30. Having covered just 25 miles that morning, it began to dawn on us that while our 'slow and steady' mantra was ideal for 50 mile days, it might not hold up during an 80 mile day on the LEJOG trip itself. We decided that pub lunches should be restricted to special occasions (a decision that also makes financial sense, given that I spent about £200 on the weekend trip!).


The afternoon saw us take to the quieter country roads as we headed back towards Kendal. This started out fine, and we made great time as far as Crosthwaite, where we decided to cut straight over to Kendal via Underbarrow in order to give us plenty time to get showered and have some dinner before I drove back up the road...


Mistake. By choosing the more direct (read: lazy) route to Kendal, we had unwittingly signed ourselves up for another brutal climb, that took us up over 600 lung-busting feet in under 3 miles. Nightmare! A slice of particularly cruel and ironic justice from the cycling Gods, but our suffering and repentance was rewarded with ice-cream at the top! Result.

A photo op can be a great excuse for a break on a tough climb...

All that was left was a gentle coast down the other side into Kendal, where I left to cycle back to Oxenholme station to pick up my car, before getting a shower at the local swimming pool and heading back into town to meet Malc for some food.


Here's the stats for the day:

All in all I think we both thoroughly enjoyed our weekend and found it to be a really worthwhile exercise. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it as I was expecting the physical demands to overshadow pretty much all other aspects of the weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't the case. I think we learned a few crucial lessons that will stand us in good stead for the LEJOG trip itself, and if anything I'm looking forward to it even more now.


BRING ON LAND'S END - JUNE 26th!


- Cal

Training Weekend - Day 2: 'The Struggle'

Ever since the Lake District was agreed upon for this trip, I had been eyeing up the area's notorious climbs with a view to conquering one or two while we were there.  Looking back on it now I've no idea what possessed me, but having talked ourselves into it we set off from Ambleside and headed straight for The Struggle, an infamous climb that is widely regarded as the toughest in the country.  From Ambleside it winds its way up over 1300 ft over 3 excruciating miles, with gradients of 20% in places!

The final stretch up to The Kirkstone Inn. Brutal.

Malc at the top.... the Inn was shut.

It took us the better part of an hour to slog our way up to the Kirkstone Inn, which included 2 rest stops.  We were absolutely battered by the time we reached the top, and I rounded off the misery with an exhausted yet elegant dismount/fall in the general direction of a picnic table upon reaching the Inn car park (see the above pic, featuring my bike in a crumpled heap. I came up just short of the picnic bench, but I think I carried it off quite well...)


We set off down the other side towards Ullswater praying for a let up in the headwind and for flatter terrain.  After an un-planned but much-appreciated stop for bacon rolls and ice cream (don't knock it 'till you've tried it!) our prayers were answered and we meandered our way along the water's edge.  Rather than take the busy main road along to Keswick we decided to add some extra distance to the day and take the back roads to Bassenthwaite.  This turned out to be a great shout, and after a pub lunch at the Clickham Inn in Pallethill we spent the afternoon cruising along deserted and mostly flat roads, lapping up the scenery and sunshine.  This took us past an array of radio/telephone masts, which strangely managed to fry both of our wireless bike computers.  Something to watch out for on LEJOG - we don't want to be screwed out of hard-earned miles!

The 'publicity' shot, taken by a kindly old man.

After stopping for a quick photo op, we breezed down the hill to Bassenthwaite before heading through a packed Keswick to our hostel at Derwentwater.  We couldn't get over how busy Keswick was, we must have passed a good 3 miles of tailbacks on our way out of town! Turns out we weren't the only bright sparks who fancied a trip to the Lake District on the weekend of the Royal wedding...


We arrived at the hostel just in time to order a good hearty dinner. It's just as well, as it's miles from anywhere, and there was no way we were getting back on the bikes! I think we ended up calling it a day by 10 o'clock. A tough day, but still a few miles short of the shortest LEJOG day we have planned. However I took a great deal of comfort and satisfaction from the fact that we are unlikely to face as many hills on the big trip, and that we managed to conquer the mighty Struggle!

View from Derwentwater Hostel.

Unfortunately I decided against using the Cyclemeter app on my phone due to it's shoddy battery life (which I'm hoping to remedy on the LEJOG trip with a battery pack thingymajig) so I don't have the usual plethora of stats for you to pour over, so you'll just have to try and contain your diappointment...

Distance cycled:  55 miles

Ascent:  4700 ft

Descent: 4600 ft

Total weekend distance: 103 miles.

Training Weekend - Day 1: Passed without a 'hitch'

So the dust has settled after our training weekend in the Lake District, and it's about time I got you up to date.  I think we both felt that generally the weekend went really well, and we learned a few useful lessons relating to kit, navigation, planning and riding as a pair.

Day 1 started with a drive down the road to Oxenholme station on the edge of Kendal, where I met Malc off the train.  After we'd agreed on a route for the day and fuelled up at Greggs (God knows how we'll cope without them in the deep South) we set off towards Lake Windemere.  Almost immediately we were cursing ourselves for picking one of the hilliest regions in the country as the location for this trip!  But the sun was shining and it felt good to finally be on the road.


We made good time down the side of Lake Windemere, but faced a pretty gruesome climb across Kirkby Moor that warranted a breather at the top.  Luckily for us we lost all the altitude we had gained almost immediately, and we were rewarded with an epic 2 mile descent that saw us reach eye-watering speeds (Malc hit 48 mph, while the best I could manage was a lowly 44 mph) that left us buzzing!  The fun came to an abrupt halt when we turned North at Broughton-in-Furness, and began a long slog over to Coniston Water.  The wind had been ferocious at points throughout the day, and we climbed up to the more exposed areas it really dented out progress. Not appreciated!  But by the time we made it down to Coniston we were nearing the finish line, and we coasted in to picturesque Ambleside at the back of 6pm.

We found the Youth Hostel in Ambleside to be ideally located, well equipped and the staff were friendly and helpful enough.  Admittedly we do have limited experience of hostels in the UK, having spent most of our hostelling days in Eastern Europe, so any comparison was perhaps bound to be favourable.  After a much-needed shower and a stretch, we headed out for some pub grub and a medicinal pint.  We decided a 2 pint limit was probably sensible given the next day we had planned, but it took some will power to resist the array of ales on show.


Here's the stats for the day. Stand-outs include max speed and the total ascent for the day, which is nearly double that of my previous best effort (even with the 500 ft glitch at the 15 mile mark, as shown in the elevation profile)