Le Terrier (Forest of Bowland)
Comments
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What a great day.
Weather aside (which is out of the organisers hands...) I had a fantastic ride! Was frozen by the time I got to the stop at Slaidburn and it was funny seeing everyone huddled together in the Youth Hostel. Its just unfortunate it was so cold and wet at the beginning as the 3 days that had preceded it had been clear and about 20 degrees in Lancaster.
I did the 67 mile route in about 5 and a half hours, I usually easily average 17mph+ on a ride which shows just how tough it is! The 67 is quite gentle between Jubilee Towers and Slaidburn but that final section is full of good mixed climbs, fantastic descents and some of the best views you'll find. (Did anyone else see Blackpool Tower in the distance?).
I was unlucky to be a victim of a cattle grid in the wet and commiserations to the chap that appeared to do his collarbone in on the same one, sad news.
The venue was good and it sounds like the organisers got a bit screwed over by the council in having the Ashton Memorial double booked by a music festival. Still, it made Lancaster look like a busy place and the atmosphere was great.
Nice, little touches throughout (for example the free custom bottle at the end) are all nice.
Credit must go to Sportident for an excellent timing system.
The last 12 miles from Wray over Roeburndale, the windmills and the Scout Camp are brilliant. Tough but still enjoyable. It seems accepted that the road surface isn't fantastic, but its not much of a problem as you're going slow and (as far as I can say for myself) it didn't seem there were any bunches left at that point as it is every man for himself!
Great day and congratulations to the organisers, I hope the event grows again next year.
Anyone notice Dave Lloyd as a DNS?
How did you 102 milers find the route? I wouldn't have fancied an extra 32 miles myself.
One negative I'd say is that it could do with colour coding the routes for absolute clarity as the divisions weren't fantastically clear.0 -
Just to echo the above comments that the HC route was HARD - Its is hard as the come and I have done the fred etc and its every bit as difficult or if not more. The ride profile did not do it any justice. Spoke to youngdog at the the last timing station and told him that the last stretch was the road to hell.
The weather was much worse than forecasted and the light rain/showers turned into around 3-4hrs of steady and sometime torrential rain. It was chilly as well - even for a hairy Scot.
I punctured after the first sections of 'gates' - sharp bit of flint right through my tyre! Even if you take the time I took to fix the tyre I still would have came in at 7.30. My time was around 7.48 for 102m and I did the 112m Fred in 7.28. That goes to show you how hard this route actually was.
Youngdog warned me at the start that the HC route was tough.
Never saw you Nick but did not hang around after the finish as I had a long drive home to Scotland. Met a few new people and few familiar faces.
Just going to relax and mentally run through today as it was a lot to take in. Long climbs right over the tops of moors, short sharp 25% climbs and every variant in between!
Great day out and well organised - feed stations & signage was spot on, well done to all who helped out. Have seen that memorial from the M6 before and it was a nice HQ. No need to have put on such a huge party for our return though
Brian B.0 -
Well done on completing the event Brian, sounds like a really tough event.
Any of you guys with GPS able to upload your profile data?0 -
Nice route - I know some of those climbs well.'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0
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Hi,
Thanks for all the positive feedback for our ride.
I'm the one that takes the flac for any errors in the route cards, signage and Website.
I'm also the one you saw trying to keep dry under a tree at the Whitewell split on the 67/102 miles routes.
I've just logged on and the times are on the SI Entries website at.
http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2011/LeTerrier/
Congrats to everyone who finished in whatever time you deserve a medal rather than a Le Terrier bottle but the budget wouldn't stretch that far.
See you next year,
Bob0 -
here's my data
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/90329249
I rode with a mate, who was doing his first 'tough' 100 miler, so we rode at his pace.
I don't think it's as tough as the FWC personally, although the key stats are closer than I thought:
Le Terrier: 103miles 3181m ascent
FWC: 109miles 3275m ascent
[both from my Garmin]
Next year you could consider adding Waddington fell after Cow Ark, then loop round to Bolton-by-Bowland via Waddington village. That would push you up to FWC territory.Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
maddog 2 wrote:here's my data
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/90329249
I rode with a mate, who was doing his first 'tough' 100 miler, so we rode at his pace.
I don't think it's as tough as the FWC personally, although the key stats are closer than I thought:
Le Terrier: 103miles 3181m ascent
FWC: 109miles 3275m ascent
[both from my Garmin]
Next year you could consider adding Waddington fell after Cow Ark, then loop round to Bolton-by-Bowland via Waddington village. That would push you up to FWC territory.
That might colour your judgement. I reckon they are tough in different ways. Le Terrier has no set piece climbs like the Fred, but nor does it have the faster sections like that bit down the A66 or from Whinlatter to Fangs. Instead the hills are back to back and there are only a couple of fast descents. Like the Fred, the sting is in the tail. No-one could compare any of the hills in this section to Hardknott , but it is the sheer progression from one nasty steep badly surfaced hill to another that doles out the pain. When I've done the Fred, I've had nothing left in the tank by the time I've reached Coniston. The same applied yesterday. I have no doubt in my mind that it is a harder ride than the Etape du Dales which has always been my other benchmark. I suspect that it is a debate with no right answer, but I certainly believe that 'Le Terrier' deserves similar status to what I regard as the two real classic hard sportives.0 -
Well thank you all for the praise, I am glad that you all enjoyed it and have recovered.Being spoken about in the same breath as The Fred is indeed an honour.
I have a few things to say- firstly, our charities are endebted to you all. 100% of all profits goes to charity, thank you!! Secondly may I dock my cap to anyone that rode the last 12 miles, especially the HC guys & girls, CHAPEAU!!!!!!!
I expected a bit more flac when I did my stint (1.30-3.20) on the Scout Camp timing station, but there again nobody looked like they had the energy to argue?? As you will have heard we have 2 special Olympic Routes for 2012 to test your legs on. I am not exactly sure of the figures, but they will have ' a few hills in them'.
Next years event is Sunday 3rd June. Olympians get medals as well as bottles..
Thank You.0 -
Young Dog, sorry I didn't get a chance to have a chat with you. I thought it was probably you up at the last checkpoint but was in a hurry to finish before my legs gave out!
You deserve more entries for a great event. After I'd finished yesterday I was convinced that I wouldn't be tempted by your Olympic option, but I'm already weakening and starting to warm to the idea. By this time next year I will have convinced myself that I need to do it!
Keep up the good work!0 -
Sadly was unable to ride Le Terrier this year, but enjoyed last years route and hope to get diary betetr sorted for next yera and HC route ;
BUT a query to organisers, looking at rider notes teh start time seems very early indeed, can some leeway be given on that? To ride the route I would be camping or B&B night before and a 6:30 start for HC is a difficult time to achieve from a B&B on a Sunday morning. I know the ride times can be long but can organisers give start times so early a reconsideartion?0 -
HC start time was any time between 6:30 and 7:30.
We went off at 7am, which wasn't too bad.Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
I left just after 7 which was ok. I would think that the problem with later starts for the organisers is that this was the first running at this distance of an extremely tough event. The hardest section comes at the end, and times for the slowest riders would have been an unknown quantity.
My guess is that an earlier start would mean fewer people being caught out by cutoff times which always cause upset.
It really was a great route and you should give it a go!0 -
Nickwill wrote:It really was a great route and you should give it a go!
+1!!!!
It really is a genuine challenge over virtually traffic-fee lanes and we were well looked after by knowledgable, friendly, intelligent marshals and helpers. Great value in every respect - it's a route I couldn't have worked out myself and following it without the signposts would have been very stop-go having to look at maps. The obvious way to make it harder would be to add the Waddington Fell/Grindleton/Beacon Hill loop and then there would be no arguing about which sportive is the toughest in England.
Get your entries in for next year as soon as possible - when more people enter early it encourages others to enter because people don't like the idea of being on their own. It would be great to get the limit of 400 turning out. This is a great "discover hidden Britain" experience and I would encourage all reading this to give it a go.
Many thanks to all Le Terrier organisers and helpers - you do the sport proud. See you next year!
KEITH PARKINSON0 -
Hi Keith.
There is no doubt which is the hardest sportive in the country- Le Terrier Olympian. I would like to keep it secret until you set off riding it on the day. Is that possible, dare people enter on that basis? Think about it, a lot of people would be trying to 2nd guess it from the outset. Best not say any more eh, someone might be listening!!
Seriously, there are lots of things for us to do. We have all sorts of different ideas, but one thing we won't stray from is- give the riders a great day out!!
I see that the photos are out, but not sure where. Will email all riders the link.0 -
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I've not had time to do any work updating the website but I have updated my spreadsheet with the 2011 results dwnloaded from sportsident.
Go to the past results section of the website www.le-terrier.co.uk and download the evcel spreadsheet.
Bob0 -
who's this joker
Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
I've just published my blog report on the ride.
http://lakescyclist.wordpress.com/2011/ ... rier-2011/
I still can't work out why we get such satisfaction from flogging up hills in the wind and rain. It was a great day!0 -
Nice write up Nick but cant help thinking you forgot to mention a few dozen climbs. After I went up up the hill at the long/HC point the whole route apart from a climb over the moor before Slaidburn and Cross O the Greet was just a blur of many climbs to my mind.
After cross O the Greet the last 12miles were also a blur of climbs as well.
I have to agree about open expanses Nick as 2011 is turning out to be the year of the moor for me. I was thinking coming down off jubilee tower that again I was participating in my favourite past time what is basically cycling over every wind swept moor in north britain and it brought a smile to my face despite the weather.
More moors of the borders for me and my mate this weekend - I keep telling people it aint sunburn I've got but weather beaten skin:twisted:Brian B.0
