Salzkammergut Road Trip

This year for me has been pretty disjointed... with the advent of the new Genesis Bikes/Alpkit team coming late last year this year has been all about sorting the little details.. getting new riders.. deciding how the team will operate and what are goals are..

In all this although I have been following my normal training as laid down by Mark Forgy in Colorado I have struggled to get a race calendar together that fitted really with my new goals on the bike of going as big as possible... I had a cool 2 week cycling tour planned which I had to shelve due to finances... my 24 hour race goal was cancelled... I tried to get racing as much as possible but I felt like I was a little lost.... then I remembered Salzkammergut Trophy.

I had a set time booked off work and it just so happened that this race fell on the first weekend of this time... my friend Matt Barton had done it a year or so previous and it took him 15 hours and he is a good rider... the basis of this event is an almost single lap 208km race with 7000m of climbing... singlespeed rideable... I had to find out.

I mentioned the possibility to James at Genesis Bikes of hitting this race road trip style..driving out to Austria and doing the race then trucking to France to catch the tour and bag some big road climbs and cheeky singletrack... luckily he was instantly sold on the idea and convinced the gods at madison to provide a van for the trip and generously contribute fuel and ferry costs too the cause.

With the trip loosely planned we still had to find another passenger to share the driving and luckily my brother, Guy, decided that it was a trip he couldn't miss and joined the now 3 bound for Austria and big climbs:)

My Brother and me left Manchester on the Thursday morning and en route called in at Alpkit for some supplies for the trip.. namely excellent t's and a sleeping bag for my bro... the guys also sorted some stickers for some guerilla marketing on the trip.. leaving there we drove to Madison at Milton Keynes to meet James and load the van up... load up we did.. with a good supply of spares and now 2 bikes each we were set.. only one more stop to meet Paul West to collect a couple of jerseys and new shorts for the race... all that was left after this stop was to catch our ferry which we did with about 20 minutes to spare.

Arriving in France it was my turn to drive and the idea being to drive for a few hours then park up and camp but being the endurance type I decided I could drive straight through to Bad Goisern, Austria from Calais in one hit only stopping to refuel... a drive of around 10 hours... to say I was a little tired would be an understatement but my bro kept me entertained during the small hours and we arrived at the race campsite on the Friday morning leaving all day to relax in the sun and eat and drink..

Drink I did... the weather was scorching... I sunk bottle after bottle of SIS electrolyte drink fearing dehydration before such a massive effort.. in the sun we set my bike up with an 18t sprocket on the back instead of usual 16t.. 32x18 I hoped would be just low enough to muscle the long climbs but not so small I lost a ton of time on the fast open descents.. we then fitted a fresh set of Continental Race Kings.. 2.2 on front and 2.0 on back.. bike was looking real fast.

Out of nowhere you could hear thunder in the distance and black clouds were rolling in fast... in no time we were forced to take refuge in the back of the van as the rain hammered down... this didn't look good.. after an hour it stopped and seemed to be moving further down the valley.

After a trip to the race village, which was full of trade, stands.. a big area to eat and generally a great atmosphere it was decided a reasonably early night were needed as race start was 5am.

I woke up with my alarm at 4am.. at first I didn't register the sound all around the tent but quickly I became aware that this sound was rain.. and lots of it:( My brother told me I was mental for going out in this and I had to agree although you don't drive over 1000miles to cry off racing for fear of getting wet... I had already laid all my gear out in the van so quickly got ready adding to the layer a waterproof jacket... forcing food down my throat trying to cram in as many calories as possible James joined me in the van.. I was expecting no one to be up at this hour but he said he was going to come down to start and take some pics.. welcome company.

The ride down to the start was in the dark and by the time I got there I was already soaked... reassuringly allot of people were already there and the big crowd eagerly awaited the start.. while I am sure by no accident the organizers played AC DC's 'Highway to Hell' track as the start gun went... what had I let myself in for.



As everyone shifted up the gears on the flat road I had to jump wheel to wheel spinning like a mad man trying to get up the field although this flat didn't last too long.. after about 2km we started what I knew was the first climb of 10km and 800m gain.. I soon started to make my way up the field as everyone eased into a steady pace and I had to turn my gear of choice.

The weather showed no signs of letting up with lightening and claps of thunder nerve rackingly close.. especially when I realised all these euro boys riding their exotic carbon machines and me riding the biggest piece of steel on the mountain!!!

The riding was good... the climbing although relentless was pretty much manageable in gear I had chosen.. the descending was a mix of fast fire road with some tech stuff thrown in too.. although I was running technically a dry tyre I still had an acre of grip and past alot of the guys that seemed to be struggling in the technical stuff... great thing about riding rigid is usually the only way to get away with it is ride everything full on so you can 'glide' over as much as possible without getting bogged down which means you can be as fast if not faster than guys on suspension and in the mud rigid singlespeeds are king:)





At well placed intervals on the course were feed stations stocked with locks of good things to eat and isotonic drink to restock bottle as on advice I had ditched the hydration pack and gone for water bottle instead... good move as it would have driven me mad... the number of people manning the stations was amazing.. the weather was horrendous but still people were out there marshalling and manning the stations.. not to mention the spectators on the course.



I had no watch, gps or computer so just had to guestimate my position... this wasn't an issue as I felt super comfortable on the bike.. stacks of power and was following a well laid down feeding plan which kept me feeling good and although it never stopped raining you can only get so wet and as I was warm enough I was happy...




This was until the raindrops started to get bigger and come down slower.. and settle! SNOW!!!



At the tops of the climbs the temperature really started to drop and the feed stations took on more of the appearance of POW camps with riders huddling for warmth and shelter.. luckily this weather is standard fair for any British rider so it was not felt so bad.. although my hands went numb I couldn't brake so descending was tricky as soon as you got lower you warmed up and were good again.. some of the feed stations had warmed some drinks up which was most welcome and at one feed station I drew a small crowd of disbelievers at a single speed bike competing in this distance race. I had one guy poking my chain and another trying to shift an imaginary gear with my brake lever.. felt like I had just wandered into a different world in which its inhabitants although may have read fantastical tales on these one geared beasts they had never actually experienced one first hand.. I also discovered that singlespeed is called singlespeed in all languages:)

As time passed I worked out I was over the half way point.. we had had the 100km leading race guys pass us now I was mixed up in the much shorter race entrants... at a feed station I was listening to a marshal explain to a racer where he was a gesticulating a cut off at around 150km... unfortunately no one spoke English and I have no experience of Austrian or German so I guessed that we were maybe a little off the pace and were going to come close to missing a time cut off... how had this happened?? I had felt good the whole time out on the bike...I really pressed on after this point out of the saddle on the gas on all the climbs and not stopping for anything.. when I got to a railway crossing the barriers were down and I was told to stop... I assumed that we would be going over crossing when we could and as I waited a marshal cut off my transponder.. I was a little lost and the same happened to a fellow competitor that had also stopped..my heart sunk.. I had missed a time cut off.. devastated I rode back to the campsite... how could I have felt so good and been so slow?? how was I going to explain to James, my brother and sponsors that they had backed me to complete this epic race on a singlespeed and I had had come up short?? I was a little angry too as glancing at the marshal’s watch while he cut off my transponder I noticed I had 6 hours till race end and only I guessed 60km to do.. I would easy do it.. my toys came out the pram and I tore off the race number from the front of my bike... as I got to the campsite ready for the disappointing looks of James and Guy I saw James coming towards me relieved he had found me.. apparently the race due to the snow and severe weather conditions had been stopped... I was immediately relieved that I hadn't failed but then just as quickly very angry that I hadn't been able to finish.. I had ridden the worst and been out on the bike for 10 hours... this was the first race that I had ever ridden that had been stopped.



Nothing left to say or do a well earned shower was taken... and plans discussed about next year and how we would come back and do it again.

Bikes and kit packed we drove towards France.. think again after an epic post I will dodge more text and photo diary the rest of the trip:)

Results are up although not sure what they are based on but when they called it a day i was 31st.. not too shabby for a man with one gear and no suspension in a world of carbon fibre pervery

Iceland ... Photo Diary

Iceland roadtrip - the words and riding

All through my life i have had a keen interest in geography.. well maybe not a keen interest but i understood the subject and it came easy so i followed it right through to degree level.. and not this human/political geography either.. no rubbish demographics i mean proper geography.. mountains and stuff:)

It is inevitable that if you study geography then at some point you will use a case study or some images from Iceland.. the place is crazy looking with its glaciers, volcanoes, mountains and vast pan flat lava fields stretching out to the sea... and its growing too.. this is an island moving forward ( well more sideways).. sitting on a boundary between two of the huge jigsaw pieces that make up the surface of the earth which are moving away from each other ( its a divergent plate margin.. i'm not a geek).

This 'active' landscape has been a place i wanted to visit for many years.. as a mountain biker it looked like nirvana with so much scope for riding.. the only downside to this great place is cost.. with little natural resource apart from the rising heat from the ground which provides free hot water and in turn power they are left with importing most of their goods and this in the past lead to them being pricey but along came a global economy crisis and with it the crashing of Icelands national economy leaving very many embarrased uk councils trying to extract their money from failing Icelandic banks but also leaving the average man on the street an opportunity...

I assume that Iceland is having a greater push to draw on its natural beauty and bring more tourism into the country as prices have come down.. and down alot.. the flight we booked from Manchester return cost only £153.. with the flight booked myself and Grace.. well Grace mostly .. okay Grace totally.. planned a roadtrip around the entire country hitting every tourist attraction we could.. shaving cost by camping and with that also taking most of our own food as we didn't want to chance that food was still a costly item.

Our Flight out was in the evening with a planned arrival at the first campsite in Reykjavik just before midnight.. at check in we discovered that although there was unlimited allowance on my bike bag in terms of weight.. no one item could weigh more than 32kg.. so we quickly repacked meaning i had to check in the tent and a wheel seperately.. al faith faith was placed in careful handling by airport staff to get my new wheel to Iceland safely.
As we flew north it began to get lighter!! very strange at first but expected as this far north and in the summer the experience only maybe 4-5 hours of darkness a night going down to 3 hours on the longest day.. in fact for the entire week we were there apart from our first night we never saw darkness.

Landing we wrestled all our gear to our hire car.. Toyota Yaris which was instantly adjusted to ''no back seat, maximum luggage room' mode.. and a bike bag.. 2 large rucksacks and some smaller bags were packed.

At this point i'm not gonna string out a wordy blog post about every day as it would be very lengthy. instead i'm gonna post a first on this blog.. a picture diary.. hopefully straight after writing this.
What i will write about is the ride i did when i was there... unfortunately it is singular.. although Iceland has the most potential for mountain biking they are not really utilising it to its fullest so don't expect any trail centres or waymarked trails... in fact i had given up all hope of riding with everytime of asking where i could ride at a tourist information point being a negative response... until we got to Myvatyn Lake.. the tourist info response was the same.. 'No these are only hiking trails' .. so i probed a little further being now desperate to ride... the sun was out and i had seen a big crater in the distance .. ' so its illegal to ride them???' .. ' not illegal.. just err... frowned upon' .. only frowned upon!! if only i had known this earlier.. i don't mind a bit of frowning.. hell we get that in the UK when we are on perfectly legal trails.

Quickly got changed and Grace settled in with a book... it was only a short route so maybe 2 hours of riding with the highlight being riding to the top of a crater.. we don't have too many craters in the UK so you gotta take your chance when you can..

The first section was awesome.. pretty flat flowing perfect singletrack.. through a lava field!! .. slightly sandy to very sandy but with so much to pop off and rail and the singlespeed was spinning out nicely.. felt so good to be on the bike and getting involved with this great landscape.. i didn't feel bad about riding this hiking trail as i kept well to the trail and to be fair its made from rock so erosion really can't be an issue.. i came across a group of volunteers maintaining the trail.. with hammers and chisels!! they were more confused than irate to see me riding it.


i expect i may have bagged the first singlespeed to summit this crater..



what a view point..



I rode a really nasty cross wind round the edge of the crater anti clockwise in anticipation of a great descent only to be let down.. the ascent skirted up and across the crater whereas the descent was straight down the side with a series of unrideably tight switch backs constructed from pegs and string.. oh well... from this i entered a volcanic 'sculpture park' loads of crazy little stacks and arches.. a climbers dream i would imagine.. this was more super tech singletrack almost trials in places but the dry rock providing so much grip you could really attack everything.. back onto the road and back to meet Grace.

What an amazing little loop... great scenery and awesome singletrack... so much potential and the man that taps into it will be very rich.

Set 2 Rise 2009

This season as racing goes has been a bit up in the air… I started my training plan back in October with a view to peak around about now for Wildboar 24 then later in the year when I naturally seem to go better.

When I heard that Wildboar 24 had been cancelled this was a bit of a blow as it effectively meant I would waste a good period of fitness and a lot of work would have gone to waste.. I did a few local events but nothing that was really my forte... to remedy this I needed to find a good honest endurance event to go test the legs.

There was nothing ‘local’ so the net was spread further a field and the only option seemed to be Set2Rise.. a night 12 hour endurance race with rave reviews on how good the course was last year but over 200 mile drive I had originally discounted this as just too far and too costly to get involved with.. with nothing else available I had no option but to go check it out.

Quickly texting fellow racers I found that I would at least know 2 other people there… fellow Genesis rider James Leavsley and the fast female Fi Spotswood... they had decided to race solo and mixed pair respectively.

The day of the race the weather was amazing… hot with clear skies… the drive down was nice and relaxed as the start time wasn’t till 6pm.. I arrived at 2.30pm.. tons of time to spare so got seat out car and began eating.. this race was the first trial of the ‘Paul West Diet For Champions’ feeding approach.. West has continuously chastised me for my bad eating habits and poor race feeding so I gave this one totally to him and followed his instructions to the letter.

James arrived sporting shorts and flip flops and looking decidedly like he had thrown his bike and kit into the car without much prep.. as it turned out he had thrown his bike and kit into the car without much prep, Still awaiting delivery of his team bike he was using an old hardtail which was held together by chance and luck I think… was great to have a few hours in the sun just chatting and eating before we had to do any prepping or racing…

The Solo pit area was gradually filling and it looked like a lot of people were riding singlespeed.. some really nice bikes around too with Tim Flooks sporting what looked like a ti Independent Fab … I put my bike together.. Decided that one light would be enough as I had the Light and Motion Seca Ultra so I donated my Stella 200L to James as a helmet mount.. I was gambling that the big battery and running a lower output would still give me plenty of light and mean I wouldn’t have to change.

Kitted and ready an effort at a warm up was made.. Circling a nearby tarmac area… then a roll to the start.. En route bumped into Fi .. She had done pre ridden the course and was raving about the quality of the singletrack and the harshness of a tarmac steep climb.. all in thought it sounded like a fantastic course.

The start was tarmac and slightly uphill and as the clock ticked over to 6pm we were off at a fast pace.. I was spinning out my gear and James was mis shifting just in front of me.. His bike was grumbling after 30 seconds.. It didn’t look good.
The course was amazing.. After the start we hit a grassy downhill.. Then into the woods on some wider tracks.. We then popped out onto field again then through a short wood to the first steep tarmac climb… once you had done this you were rewarded with a twisty singletrack downhill.. this eventually ended with the start of the long climb on the course.. it was up and down on a field before turning right and hitting a steeper section that went from grass to chalk to tarmac to wood and then back to tarmac.. I had to walk the chalk section every lap but I think it was the quicker option… the climb was long and the tarmac section steep but I seemed to have developed the ability to ride at a cadence of 10rpm on the singlespeed.
After this climb you hit a totally flat out grass downhill… this was purely blind faith as to get the most out of it you had to go with no brakes and point and go.. the level of faith on this increased as the darkness set in and you could only see a few metres in front of you… this left you with lots of wooded sections left and a slightly uphill grass climb upto a fantastic view ( when it wasn’t dark) of the surrounding countryside.. the singletrack was tight and i body rubbed the same tree every lap trying to squeeze extra sped and contort around it… even fully rigid this course was a total blast… somehow they have managed to coax all the trees to grow their roots at right angles to the trail so you can ride straight over them without them wiping your wheels out.

I started leading the singlespeed race but lost this position mid first lap… I figured myself back in 3rd by end of the lap so just settled into it… I had planned on a 12 lap race but laps seemed to be going by quickly and I had done 4 before it was really dark enough for lights… with lights on it was clear that my single light choice was more than adequate with the Light and Motions throwing out plenty of light even in the lowest setting.. My feeding plan was easy enough to follow.. Bottle every 2 laps and then a gel or energy bar every lap… I never felt hungry and energy levels never faltered.. I felt consistent as the laps went by.



During one of my midway laps I caught sight of James ahead of me and I had somehow managed to catch him up.. This was unnerving as he is a top class rider and riding gears so I shouldn’t have been this close to him.. as it turned out he was having a nonstop mechanical issue with his gears which eventually led to his total retirement from the race.

Everyone on course was friendly and clearly enjoying the course and conditions… on Lap 9 I noticed I was sliding further back on the saddle so got off to take a look and discovered that my saddle had worked loose.. I retightened it to ride a few meters before it happened again… balls…. I had to balance on the centre on the saddle and climb out of it.. as I got back to the start I tightened it again and went to check out my position in the singlespeed race.. 2nd!! .. no way I could stop riding so made do with my balancing act on the saddle for the remaining 5 hours of the race…

On my 12th or 13th lap I was caught again by the solo race leader Sam Humphrey (Charge Bikes) .. Luckily I was caught on a flat section so we got to have a chat.. He said he had a few dark moments during the night but was winning convincingly and looked strong

The final lap was always going to be the best… the race was nearly over.. I couldn’t be caught by third place and the sun was out and we were riding in daylight again…

I have to be honest in saying that I don’t enjoy every race I do… riding round in circles grinds you down… but this was a great event… the course was possibly the best I have ever ridden and well organised.

I eventually finished 2nd overall and I reckon I was about 15 minutes behind first place but as I hadn’t managed to catch him by 11.45 hours point I called it a day.. I am happy with my ride and my bike and although the talk at the end of the race was no more riding around in circles racing I can’t help but just have a little look and see what other races are out there…




Big thank you to James at Genesis for getting me a bike that works so well… Jim at Alpkit for my super warm and comfy pre/post ride clothing and Paul West for making me adopt his feeding strategy which although I hate to admit it worked flawlessly.

Pictures courtesy of Adam @ photo-it.com and some unknown facebook member.

Hope Series,Lee Quarry Rd3

No matter at what level of this sport you are at… the occasional racer or the professional cyclist you can never escape occasionally having a bad day on the bike..
It can be a combination of many things but the end result is always the same… a depressingly poor performance.
After riding the Colne Valley Challenge last weekend on the SS I was feeling pretty strong... I was able to drop most riders on the climbs and was descending well over the few bit of singletrack… I have to admit that the effort was felt in the legs on the Monday but Mark factored this into last weeks training.
Round 3 of the Lee Quarry racing was happening so thought another good chance to get out and give myself a confidence boost before next weekends drive down to the 12 hour Set2Rise race where I would like to do well.
Great thing about Lee Quarry is its close.. I mean only 40 minutes drive from my house so prep is minimal... the race was only 90 minutes plus a lap so food etc was very low key aswell.. in fact it was a good breakfast..a single bottle and a gel just in case.
I did the unusual thing of pre riding the course.. usually I don’t want to see what I will be lapping for 12 hours but as this was a short race and a short course and would be a good warm up I paid my entry got changed and went for a spin.. or more a slow grind.. the climbing was on the borderline of my gearing being rideable but only just with a few sections just I chose to save the effort and push up.. not so bad I thought … was a little harsh on the fully rigid but if I could get enough speed up I wouldn’t feel the full force of the rocky terrain..

The start… unluckily the start was on a hill… a hill which was on the borderline of my gearing.. I noticed another SS rider in the racer cat and he was both feet clipped in and hanging onto the fence down the right side of the start line.. good idea… I tried to angle my bike slightly to take away starting on the full slope but as the race set off I was left flailing and scooting trying to clip in and went from the first line to near the back and as I looked up I could see the other SS rider cresting one of the first climbs leading the race.. .


I muscled the bike the best I could but my legs didn’t have the strength they had the week before and I was getting a good muscle shake every time I was seated and trying to force the gear… on the flat and descents I struggled to get on top of my gear and pop over the rocky sections so I just got progressively more beat up.. although was good to get some good shouts of support from the marshalls and spectators with much respect being given for the foolish fully rigid SS choice..



I figured on a 6 lap race.. I did have a mid race peak when I could see I was making ground up on the other SS rider.. I could actually see him mid lap but at the end of the lap I did catch him.. but only as he had punctured and pulled over to replace the tube.. I went past and carried on.. most races I will feel awful until I hit an hour then the legs and the brain switch on and I’m away.. this time an hour came and I failed to rise to the occasion in fact I think I slowed down..


As I ended the 5th lap no bell… I was out on my 6th with the prospect of having to do a 7th… to make matter worse the other SS rider caught me on starting the 6th lap.. I am so bad for napping mid race.. I lose focus when there is nothing front of me and sub consciously slow down.. I stayed with him briefly then lost touch as a back marker got inbetween us..
Then the final blow was getting caught mid lap by the overall leader which effectively meant he was on his bell lap and stopped the race for me at end of my 6th lap putting me a lap down on a number of riders.. never great to finish a lap adrift.. well not in short course racing anyway..

This left me nothing but to clean bike and pack the car and reflect…
So I learned to;
- When starting a race on a hill on a SS get both feet clipped in
- Bad days happen to us all… learn from it and move on
- I am no short course racer.. 4 hours plus only from now on..

Lets hope Set2Rise goes more too plan

Pic courtesy of www.laimonas.co.uk

Colne Valley Mountain Bike Challenge

With Wildboar 24 now cancelled my racing season started to look a little light… finances are preventing me from travelling big distances and my summer trip hangs in the balance with the destination slowly creeping closer to home to reduce the outlay..
With this bleak outlook I was desperate to get out and get a number on my bike again… quick flick through the usual forums turned up the Colne Valley Mountain Bike Challenge… strictly not a race in the true sense of the word as we would be partially on public roads but strap a number on a bike and put people on a start line together and you bet there will be some racing:)
Research into the event showed that it was a hilly devil... decided that I would have a crack on the singlespeed as all my upcoming events are singlespeed based so good place to give myself a hard time and work out any problems… the times from last year indicated that the 30 mile course would be conquered by the fastest in 2 hours 20ish .. I gave myself a 40 minute buffer as I imagined that singlespeed would see me spinning out on any flat or downhill so aimed for 3 hours..

..side note: people always believe that singlespeeder’s lose out on the climbs.. I don’t find that.. any climb you can’t muscle is nearly always just as quick to walk.. you go faster up the climbs as you have no option but to push the gear you have no matter what you feel like.. where I frustratingly lose time over the geared racers is on the flat and descending where you can’t make any time as you spin the gear out.. annoying but a small price to pay for consistent speed and effort:)

Start of 9am… always nice to get a race done with in enough time to allow you to get home unpack, clean and still enjoy some well earned feet up time being fed by loved ones..

The race started with 30m of slight downhill into a left hand bend then onto the climb from hell… not too long but cobbled and steep… every fully rigid singlespeeders nightmare.. from this a bit more climbing to the start of another cobbled climb but this time wooded and greasy which saw a lot of geared riders walking up it.

The rest of the course followed suit.. we saw a quarry, some boggy wet riding, rocky singletrack descents, road and off road long climbs… on the whole I stood my ground only losing out on the long road descents but being able to make ground up on the long steady climbs which were made for singlespeed riders.
I didn’t wear a watch and I don’t use a computer so just had to instinctively use the 2 gels I carried to see me through to the end.. I opted for a single water bottle and also drunk at 4 of the 5 water stations.. opting for a carrying as little gear as possible approach.



The weather held good with only a hint of rain and was good to chat to some riders as we did some of the climbs.. the course was as described sadistic… steep sharp climbing then quickly losing the gained height to start again.. great stuff and a good challenge as the race title suggested..


Eventually made it back to the finish in 2 hours 34minutes … unknown position.. suspect 20 something.. very happy at only giving away 24 minutes to the winner who was geared over 30 miles.. might come back next year with gears and see how close to 2 hours I can get:)

Image courtesy of Flamingphotography.co.uk

Blocking some miles.. a true student of pain.

... 250 miles already ridden.. been on my bike for 23 hours and Rich (Holland) tells me that he read somewhere that to be a cyclist is to be a 'student of pain'..

Reflecting on this statement it is clearly true... i was told not long after i started cycling that it never gets any easier.. so now i am a student of pain with the knowledge that it is only gonna get worse!!

About 6 months after i started riding again after a 10 year break i decided that i wanted to ride the classic C2C whitehaven to Tynemouth route as i had done it in my early teens over 2 days.. so as i had done it in 2 days i decided that i wanted to do it in one day or 11hrs 45minutes as it turned out.. it was done new years day 2007 and was as i remember it the toughest day i had ever done on a bike..

So over 2 years on when i was invited to join a one day C2C crossing again i looked at how i could go the extra mile as i am a student of pain i need to go a little further in my endeavours and do the research... i love the idea of riding not involving a car.. Door to Door outings.. public transport is acceptable as you can switch off and enjoy the ride.. so why don't i just ride from Manchester to Whitehaven.. only 140 miles.. but instead of wasting a day off why don't i just set off after work and ride through the night.. meet them and keep on going to Tynemouth... only 280 mile day.. all sounded perfectly feasible so i called it, anyone that knows me will know that if i call something then i will do it a hang up from my days of bmx street riding where the law states that if you call out a trick then you have to give it a go whether it be stairs or a rail etc.

I checked out the route and it all looked easy enough, told Mark (Forgy) my coach what i was gonna do so training was worked around, i spoke to James at GENESIS and a Vapour Cyclo Cross bike was sent out for me to use, fitted with a seat post mounted rack the bike would be perfect for the latter part of the ride and the on/off road nature of the C2C route...

Nothing left but to pack up and get going.. i packed an ALPKIT dry bag with my Jeanius jeans, Filet and endura merino jersey so i could rock some 'rider chic' for my train ride home...

7pm Friday night.. time to get moving...



The route was to go through Manchester and pick up the A6 which would take me up through Preston, Lancaster then i would turn off on the A590 and head through the southern lake district and pop out at Whitehaven.
I stopped every few hours or so had a little to eat and then got moving.. nothing more glamorous than eating in a bus stop or shut petrol station at 1am in the morning.. travelling at this time though these places gives another view on life as other 'normal' people sleep..



The journey was pretty uneventful apart from getting buzzed by a coach on a dual carriageway.. i swear it brushed me as it went past it was so close... the dullness of the riding didn't aid the speed of the journey as i was almost falling asleep on the bike i was so disinterested in what was happening around me. Mostly flat for the first 4-5 hours when i cut inland and headed across the southern lakes to Whitehaven the riding got somewhat hillier and i was in the lowest gear and having to get used to a new out of the saddle riding method as the weight of the bag on the back exaggerated every swing of the bike side to side..

I made it to the bed and breakfast the other guys were staying in and after some faffing managed to climb into a spare bed to warm up for 30 minutes.. then a hearty breakfast was had and we were back riding by 6.30am heading for Tynemouth after the customary dipping of wheels in the sea..



The first few miles are false flat.. looks flat but its a draggy uphill.... i was feeling it difficult to keep a moderate pace as my brain and legs had switched off after the long first part of this ride.. by the time we got to the first proper climb up and over Whinlatter forest i was feeling slow and getting dropped out of the back of our group of 4.. i really only had one pace and couldn't seem to get on top of my gear so laboured every climb.
After a second breakfast in Keswick we climbed out to Penrith with more slow climbing although i was starting to feel a little better.. in Penrith we stopped for more water and pick up some more food... this set the tone for the day as unlike all other times i had ridden this route the sun was out and it was hot so keeping hydrated was up at the top of the list of the things to do that day.

Every climb i was dreading from past experience turned out to be a little bit shorter or easier than i had imagined and by the time we got to Hartside Pass i decided to stick to the road climb as i had planned to take a break and push up the off road section... the climb went great and i felt very strong the more it went on.. Gary (Knowles) had gone off up the road strongly as his road bike left him with a big gear to push.. i manged to slowly catch him back up and even managed to get out of the bottom gear i had spent all the other climbs in and shift it up a couple of cogs getting out of the saddle periodically to raise the tempo and get on top of the gear... topping out at Hartside Cafe the sun was out in full force and lighting up the valley below looking out towards the lake district.. these are the views that keep you going when your stuck at work these are the mental images that see you through the day.

We lunched at Hartside and soaked up some sun.. and drank lots of fluid.. we then put on a few layers and got ready for the flat out long downhill towards Garrigill... the descent flashed by quickly and we were all too soon faced by the climb out of Garrigill towards nenthead... this is the climb i had dreaded all day.. it is like hitting a wall and i was soon forced to pushing for the first section. Another flat out downhill got us to Nenthead, at this point we waited for Rob (Sharrock) as he had climbed on ahead and we feared he had take a wrong turn.. while we waited we sunk an energy gel with caffeine to fire us up the next 3 climbs.. they worked well and we crested the climb before the descent to allenheads easily.. well Rich still looked happy at the top...



At Allenheads there is only one serious climb left.. it starts on the road with short and steep climbing.. then you descend on the road and then start the long off road climb... again we were reduced to a push.. with Gary on road tyres we decided to climb directly out onto the road and follow it to the start of the waskerley way.. the waskerley way is a flat out bridleway... this section of trail saw our first puncture of the day.. this trail was followed all the way to Consett.. Consett saw our first navigational problem as we had been blindly following the C2C route markers.. after cruising around the streets Rich asked for directions which came good and we were onto the Derwent valley Trail.

With time getting on it had gone from dusk to dark and Gary had a very limited light and Rob had ...well.. no light at all. A few miles in Gary hit a brick on the trail and we saw puncture number 2.

At this time i just wanted to get the job done so we took to the road and took turns on the front to pick the pace up and it wasn't long until we were in sight of Tynemouth and the finish... quick call to my brother secured a lift to my parents house via a well earned burger..

I had been riding for 27 hours.. covered 280 miles.. to date the biggest ride i have completed.. but then i am a student of pain and i guess it won't be long before the next 'lesson' is planned.