Cumberland Challenge anyone ?

[andy_wrx]

Anyone else playing out on 2nd September ?

I did Hadrian's Cycleway with Mrs wrx and a couple of friends last week, including the run from Brampton, past Lanercost, then up Banks

Even towing a trailer, it was easy on a MTB with super-low gearing and keeping down to the others' speed...but I'm sure it'll be rather different on the day

 

[Jonathan M]

Might have been interested, but website says entries are closed, so not this year for me! I'll do the Manchester 100 instead.

 

[ghitchen]

I'll be recovering on the 2nd from the Bealach-Na-Ba on the 1st.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I did both the B-na-B and the Cumberland last year. I can't do the latter this year because I'm off touring in Scotland, and the former was totally booked up because people like me talked it up so much!

 

[nickwill]

I'm doing it again, and hoping for better weather than last year.
I thought that last year's event was one of the best organized sportives I'd done.
It was my last sportive of 2006, but I've got the 3 Counties Challenge at the end of the month which looks frighteningly hard.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Mrs TB will be joining you for the 3 counties. There is reputedly more climbing than on the Fred Whitton. She has a load of her work mates doing it as well.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Yes, I was thinking about the 3 Counties too... however I've got Dusk 'til Dawn in early October and I will probably have switched across the XC training by then...

 

[nickwill]

Mrs TB will be joining you for the 3 counties. There is reputedly more climbing than on the Fred Whitton. She has a load of her work mates doing it as well.

Memorymap would suggest that there is marginally less climbing, but I think there will be less respite between the climbs, and the route is considerably longer. Couple this with the time of the year, and I think the 3 Counties will be a very hard event. I've more or less decided not to push the pace, and to settle for getting round.

 

[andy_wrx]

I notice rider 800 in the Cumberland is a certain Dave Lloyd...

Will be interesting to see just how many hours he beats me by.

 

[nickwill]

I notice rider 800 in the Cumberland is a certain Dave Lloyd...

Will be interesting to see just how many hours he beats me by.

He certainly went flying past me at a very early stage of the White Rose, and thats before I blew!

 

[andy_wrx]

I'm doing it again, and hoping for better weather than last year.

So it was your fault !

Still, enjoyed it again, knocked 17½ minutes off last year.

I reckon it's about the best organised of the sportives I've done, with a really good atmosphere.

 

[nickwill]

So it was your fault !

Still, enjoyed it again, knocked 17½ minutes off last year.

I reckon it's about the best organised of the sportives I've done, with a really good atmosphere.

No, not my fault, I think the organisers have the rough weather planned over the North Pennine section.
I agree about the organisation and the atmosphere. I'm particularly impressed by the way that the locals seem to have taken the event on board. The cheers and shouts of encouragement through some of the villages were great.
I think its a real cyclists course as well. None of the hills are real killers so you find yourself really going for it particularly in the last 17 miles back to the finish.
I will be back next year, and hopefully a stone or so lighter!

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Hi Nick - Are you still planing to do the 3 Counties?

On Saturday, Mrs TB had a wizz round the first part to Askam and then came home over Shap. Although the food stations are 'equally spaced', she reckons it's going to be a long haul from the one in Dent to the next at Pooley Bridge. You'll certainly burn a few calories over the Coal Road / Buttertubs / Birkdale Common, but she also reckons to not underestimate the stretch after that either, to Ullswater as it still goes up and down a bit. There will be cafes (shops - Sunday?) open in Kirby Stephen, but don't get into energy debt on this stretch as there is a ways still to go from there!

 

[andy_wrx]

No, not my fault, I think the organisers have the rough weather planned over the North Pennine section.

Didn't you see on the News page of the event website...?

The News Page - Updated 29th August 2007

Everything is now in place for this years' event including the weather as the forecast is for a dry day with sunny invervals and temperatures of around 17 C. However it's best not to rely to heavily on this forecast and come prepared for changeable conditions. This is Cumbria after all.

Hmmm !!!!

 

[nickwill]

Hi Nick - Are you still planing to do the 3 Counties?

On Saturday, Mrs TB had a wizz round the first part to Askam and then came home over Shap. Although the food stations are 'equally spaced', she reckons it's going to be a long haul from the one in Dent to the next at Pooley Bridge. You'll certainly burn a few calories over the Coal Road / Buttertubs / Birkdale Common, but she also reckons to not underestimate the stretch after that either, to Ullswater as it still goes up and down a bit. There will be cafes (shops - Sunday?) open in Kirby Stephen, but don't get into energy debt on this stretch as there is a ways still to go from there!

My entry is still in, but I'm trying to decide whether I want to end my sportive season on a high after an extremely enjoyable Cumberland Challenge.
I think I will see what my motivation is like after a few days off the bike.
I feel that the 3 Counties is a serious proposition at any time of the year, but particularly the end of September. My instinct is that it will require a steady approach and therefore might take quite a while.The low number of entries bothers me as well. I think it could be quite easy to end up doing 130 very hilly miles as a solo ride, with few groups to nip in and out of.
Despite all this, I suspect that by next weekend, I will have decided to start training again, and end up doing the 3 Counties.