cumberland challenge

ash68

anyone doing cumberland challenge next weekend. How does it compare to northern cyclone route for climbs and toughness.been up hartside before is that the steepest on the route? seem to remember roads to north of brampton are pretty lumppy as well. :

limitandbeyond

Hi Ash,
You will have seen the course profile, the worst of the hills are in the first half, with the climb out of Armathwaite warming the legs up before Hartside. In the section north of Brampton there are 4 possibly 5, depending on interpretation/fitness, climbs to get the heart racing. I did it last year and was very impressed by the organisation, lets hope for fine weather and no wind next Sunday.

See you in the playground.

Steve H

ash68

thanks for that steve,understand weather was a bit rough last year.Sunshine all round this weekend so it's got to be dodgy for next weekend, sod's law innit.looking forward to good day out.Over 800 people on the start list.Anyone else doing the ride?

vermooten

Yep I'm in! Last year I realised that I needed another word for "rain".

I'm (probably) wimping out of the Spud Riley tomorrow cos I've been feeling a bit vrgh for the last few days, hope to be on tip-top form for the CC.

Andy

John Picton

I'll be there too! Looking forward to it though could really have done with a few more miles in my legs. Still, I've done a lot of hard work on hills this Spring / Summer so think I'll be fine.

I've wound it down for now, with a few days to go I figured if I'm not ready now I'll never be, so the plan now is to relax and scoff pasta.

A friend of mine is from around there and he reckons Hartside is the biggie, but the route we take is easier than if we went up the other side of Hartside, so that's a good thing. But, 2800 metres of climbing is a lot for any ride, so good luck everyone. I did a 100 mile route a few weeks ago with 2000 metres of climbing and it hurt, so it's gonna be a day of pain!

nickwill

I'll be doing it for the second time tomorrow.
The second half is not to be underestimated, there are a lot of draggy climbs which really sap your energy. The last 19 miles, after the second feed, are predominantly downhill and mean a super fast finish.
Let's hope the weather is better than last year, as it became a real battle against the elements.

ash68

weather forcast looks ok. possibility of the odd shower,but nothing too drastic.Like you say the ride website also recommends taking it steady early on as the ride doesn't finish at top of hartside but has smaller but strengh sapping climbs up to the scottish border. Should be a good event, have a good ride. 8)

bulldicker

c'mon then how did it go? the weather was pretty much like it was last year, well it was in the south lakes anyway

vermooten

Windier but dryer. But way way windier. A good ride even though I sucked balls, metaphorically speaking, coming in 20 mins worse than last year. The organisation was even better than last time. It's such a good route. No pasta the night before though boo hoo. Deffo on the list for 2008.

ash68

Hi Bulldicker,yeh the weather was a bit iffy. Pretty windy in places with heavy showers made it a hard ride. Spent too much energy on the first 50 miles and paid for it later on. I'd done parts of the course around Alston before ,but underestimated the tough climbs around Bewcastle.Managed to get a slow puncture around 85 miles and had too keep pumping up the front tyre. Should probably have just put a new tube in and been done with it. :oops:Alot of riders were alot faster than me but their kind words encouraged me to the finish.Don't know how some of them go so fast, really impressed.Took me 7 hours and2 mins, was hoping to beat 7 hours,but their is always next year. Nice to see so many people out supporting the ride and clapping the riders,especially over Hartside, through little villages and at the finish.Many thanks to Border City Wheelers, all marshalls and helpers and the great food on offer at the feed stations.Had a great day,impressed at how friendly the whole event was.