Honister Pass - Accident

There was a serious accident on the decent of Honister Pass, decending on the Buttermere side today, guy looked to be in a bad way. Couldn't have happened long before I got there, a number of folk were there helping out, so I didn't stop. The decent, for those that don't know it starts very steep and has several corners, some with stone barriers that are about 2ft high either side of the road - these barriers are not going to move if you hit them whilst on a bike. The road does even out, but the initial part of the decent does catch a lot of people out.
The Fred Whitton is just over a week off, and there will be a lot of people thinking that they can descend like Vincenzo Nibali, and get out of their depth whilst coming off the tops of the high passes - stay safe folks, it's not a frigging race, even if you may think so!!!
Best wishes to the guy involved in today's accident, I hope he recovers well enough to want to ride again. I don't know the details behind how it happened, but seeing him laying on the road, and the amount of blood that was present doesn't make for a pretty picture. Sobering thought.
The Fred Whitton is just over a week off, and there will be a lot of people thinking that they can descend like Vincenzo Nibali, and get out of their depth whilst coming off the tops of the high passes - stay safe folks, it's not a frigging race, even if you may think so!!!
Best wishes to the guy involved in today's accident, I hope he recovers well enough to want to ride again. I don't know the details behind how it happened, but seeing him laying on the road, and the amount of blood that was present doesn't make for a pretty picture. Sobering thought.
“Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.” Hunter S Thompson
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Hope the riders is okay and recovers quickly.
Hope the rider is OK.
Any of those passes are very dangerous on the descent, surface is poor and if you let yourself build up too much speed, you are heading for disaster. They are not roads you'll be flying down at 55mph.
Giant Defy Advanced 2 (2013)
Giant Revel 1 Ltd (2013)
Strava
On sunday I did the Wrynose or bust sportive again. Just as I started to descend Wrynose towards little Langdale, I hit a flooded pothole so hard that it bounced one of my water bottles out of it`s cage. I managed to stop the bike on the very steepest part of the descent, to retrieve the bottle.
The thing is, that road is so steep that there was no way to re-mount safely until it levelled off! For the first time in my life I had to leave cleat plastic on the road....and on a descent!!! :shock:
The week previous I did the Lakeland loop sportive in horrendous conditions. On the descent of Hardknott I found there was one short pitch, near the bottom, where I needed to hang off the back of the saddle, mountain bike style, to keep the back end of the bike down!!! It really is that steep!.
People ride these roads for the first time, sometimes with little cycling experience, and simply don`t realise how quickly speed is picked up on these descents. Factor in poorly maintained brakes (for example) plus cars coming up a single track road (which these passes are) and you have a recipe for disaster.
On sundays Wrynose or bust there was an ambulance collecting someone on the very sketchy Tow Top descent for the second year running.
Please, lads and lasses, take your time on these roads or they will bite back...hard!
The people who were first on the scene were absoluely briliant they just happened to be two priests one chaplain and a nurse from Australia and i would like to thank them all.
I've been rideing for years so im not a novice and I've been up Honister lots of time in all conditions so this type of accident can happen to anyone of us and it isnt always as the result of speed.
The one thing that saved my bacon was my helmet as it took the most part of the impact so neadless to say I've bought another one of those, same make, model and colour.
and last thing I've been back out on my bike so it hasn't put me off.
Road - Dolan Preffisio
MTB - On-One Inbred
I have no idea what's going on here.
I crashed recently and my helmet probably saved my life.
Get well soon.
I think I would think my time was up if I was attended by 2 priests a chaplain and a nurse!
Pleased you are ok
Christ - you must have wondered how badly you were injured ! Glad no lasting damage (at least to you)
P.S. now we know you're OK, how's the bike ?
Know the Honister very well due to the folks living nearby but I've never been down on a bike. The top part can't be much fun.
Also went over the Wrynose recently which was a bit sketcky even in a car! A lot of washout / melt debris on the road.
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Felt Z85 - mangled by taxi.
I did once stop with a hearse on my way to a funeral as a chap was about to jump off a bridge to the motorway below, but I just called the cops and didn't approch him - it may have been seen as a sign to let go!!! (Police told me later they got him down safely BTW!)
2016 - Cervelo R3
2013 - R872
2010 - Spesh Tarmac
good to know that you are OK and back on the bike, you couldn't have asked for better folk to help you out. I have been over Honnister a couple of times since, and I look take a moment to think as I pass the spot where you came off.
Like I said, good to know that you have recovered and thanks for posting it up.
The thought of binning it there sends shivers down my spine, glad you are alright-ish HT47.
2012 Colnago CX-1
2015 Colnago AC-R
Exeter Wheelers
I do Honister, Newlands and Winlater a lot and it's easy to get carried away, I've done Newlands so many times that I fly down it as I know the braking points but I scare myself sometimes and think I need to reel it in a bit.
The worst bit I think is on Honister coming down west (Gatesgarth on Buttermere side), before the corner with the dry stone bank the road has stutter bumps from cars, I think thats what catches people out, thats where most of the crashes are that i've seen and heard of. The road is so step that braking distances can be a lot longer than expected and it's easy to lock up the wheels.
As has been said be careful.