Summary
‘A twice as hard challenge compared to last year’s week of riding’
The weather was predominately brutal with ice-cold weather with snow during two of the hundred-mile rides. There were no cafes open on route due to the current coronavirus worldwide pandemic requiring ultimate self-sufficiency!
All in all, it was another incredible challenge to add to my list. I couldn’t have done it without fantastic friends to keep me company during some wild days around Derbyshire; 20cm of snow at Mow Cop and blizzards being the most pertinent memories.
Summary of the challenge statistics
Distance: 1004km (623miles)
7 rides: 24th December: 113miles, 26th: 86 miles, 27th: 70 miles, 28th: 103 miles, 29th: 100 miles, 30th: 100 miles and 31st: 50 miles.
Elevation 39291ft
Moving time: 43hrs
Detailed report
24th: Wildboarclough, 113miles
The day before it rained for a continual 24hrs and with a predicted temperature of minus two for this ride I knew straight away this challenge would be a tough one; winter rides are epic enough regardless of the distance. Fortunately, I had Mark, Jonathan and Anthony to keep me company, to take turns on the front to draft behind and to test the icy road; we were fortunate that no crashes occurred as there was a lot of ice around Wildboarclough, the Roaches and high up near the Cat and Fiddle. We even had some very cold, snow to add to the festive feeling of a Christmas eve ride (It was the start of much worse and challenging weather to come!)
Unfortunately, Anthony had growing back pain and was also very cold; he cut his route short by 30miles which we were all envious of in some way due to numb fingers toes and ears, but Mark, Jonathan and I continued our adventure. It became incredibly bleak, but with regular snack stops to keep morale high, we successfully completed the planned 80 hilly mile route through Wildboarclough. I designed the route to tick off some roads I hadn't done before through scouring over the Strava heat map; this was a great way at keeping routes fresh and interesting for the week of riding. The route was surprisingly lovely, albeit, very exposed with a strong sense of isolation on some small backroads. We didn't pass many cafes, but due to Covid we were all self-sufficient and to make up for it I extended my route to Jonathan’s for a lovely cup of tea and festive nourishment before cycling back home. This put me in a strong position of getting 115miles under my belt due to tomorrow would be the only day of rest and no cycling.
 |
| The Roaches |
25th Xmas day: Rest and indulgence
My legs were slightly sore after a large ride yesterday so I consumed 2 Christmas dinners to hopefully speed up the recovery process (The perks of this challenge mean I can eat anything I see in front of me; previous festive challenges have included indulging in Lindt chocolate, reses peanut butter, cakes, hot chocolate and any other unhealthy goodies that fuelled my increasing depleted energy stores).
26th: Rothley, 85miles
The Christmas dinners didn't seem to have been the magic recovery medicine that my legs and body required, I woke up early with a slightly sore back and legs; this was slightly concerning and confusing as I don't tend to get sore after one ride and I hoped my legs would wake up quickly.
I was joined for the first 35 miles with Helen which was brilliant, it allowed us to catch up after not seeing each other for a year due to Covid; it got us through the delights of Derby (fortunately the roads were empty due to boxing day as well as the rest of the ride; thus, I took advantage of cycling through some typically busy roads).
Once I left Helen I cycled on to Rothley, my legs really were tired, and every pedal stroke seemed quite a lot of effort especially with a headwind; this was increasingly concerning. Every time I cycle south I seem to struggle more than the continual climbs in the peak district; it is very strange and a concept I can’t seem to get my head around, it must be just the constant power flat riding requires compared to spikes of high and lower power in the peaks (my legs felt fresher during my Everesting challenge than this ride). Thus, to take my mind of fatigued legs I began to experiment with my new GoPro action camera which I aim to use in company with my mirrorless camera for future adventures.
The route is certainly a fast one for a summer day where all you want to do is put your head down and pedal; the views and scenery were poor. However, I am comparing to the completely opposite ride in the Peak District on Christmas eve, although it was much warmer by over 8 degrees than the 24th ride it just never fills me with adrenaline.
Another 85miles completed (200miles total); hopefully finishing at 2pm can give my legs some quick rest and extra sleep as well as Lots of stretching, rolling and protein consuming to attempt to quickly adapt and recover for the next day of cycling
27th Marston Montgomery, 70miles
The ladies: and Ant to Marston Montgomery.
My legs were significantly fresher, it was reassuring the ride was again south: relatively flat and a steadier average speed. It was a beautiful route to Marston Montgomery; lots of lovely backroads. It was fantastic weather, cold, but perfect for the group considering it was winter. The ride went smoothly apart from one puncture from Ant and unfortunately no cafe stops due to Covid but at least we were riding in groups again.
A pertinent point and proud moment for me is it was Helena and Sarah’s longest ride; a great achievement especially considering it is winter.
28th One epic ride to Mow Cop AKA Snow Cop.
‘Sub-zero temperatures, 20-centimetre snow, 100miles and 10,000ft of ascent!’.
Riders: Kris, Sam, Mark, Martin and Alan
Firstly, having ridden with Kris regular recently through showing him local mountain bike, honeypot trails, he suggested he was keen to ride his first 100miler; I don’t think he meant the immediate future, i.e. within the next month, however, he did accept my invitation of doing a 100miler during my Festive challenge. I wanted to make sure Kris had a special ride to remember his first 100miler. Hence in my normal route planning fashion, it would be hilly although we had the added luxury of campervan support from my parents who kept us hydrated and fulfilled where the roads permitted (lots of unpassable roads due to snow). Kris predominantly used to ride track; last year he could merely ride one of the Matlock top ten hills, but what an absolute improvement in fitness and endurance he has made; he even had a sprint left in his legs after 100miles of some undulated terrain!
 |
| Myself, Samuel and Kris (L-R) |
It was humbling to meet Alan on the route (He is the enthusiast or mentalist if you see his track record of sporting events from an outside perspective from the sport; he introduced me to the endurance endeavours). He was on the MTB which we all thought was an overkill, much to was we all wrong. Later in the ride, Alan became increasingly smug as he rode over snow with ease compared to Martins 25mm and my slightly wider 32mm road slick tyres. Although unfortunately Alan did lose a contact lens early on and thus had to follow our rear red flashing bike lights to guide him around the snowy route so at least he couldn’t ride miles ahead of us with ease while we precariously attempted to ride.
Additionally, having met Martin Perry through him supporting on my Everesting challenge and scouring over his Strava; he has done some whopping 400mile weeks in the summer, I invited him on the ride for a catch-up. However, he had one challenging day out (even more so than supporting an Everest attempt); his brake pads full wore out resulting in no brakes; he was the only one with rim brakes and we all felt his pain; I have barely any confidence riding rim brakes in the driest of summer days nevermind riding up steep gradients or even worse trying to safely descend the other side of the hills. Consequently, due to a bike that was not fit for the current weather (although a mountain bike was just about appropriate before opting for a snowmobile or a day off from riding due to questionable weather), he made the sensible decision to cut the route short and take the safe option of Alan's campervan. We all envied his decision that was forced upon us as we had no valid excuse apart from being wimps, although the conditions seemed arctic and we had another 5hrs of riding at least given the current cautious average speed we were cycling to avoid any high-speed icy collisions and crashed.
 |
| The Mow Cop climb |
After the Mow Cop climb, I was hopeful the conditions and roads would clear, but they didn’t, it made for a very slow 30miles, walking, carefully freewheeling and riding a bike like a scooter with one foot unclipped that would we would use to push us along the rides while remaining seated on the saddle. To add to the struggled Kris had a slow speed crash; he, fortunately, remained intact but it shook us all up about the potential hazards we still had in front of us. Thus, we ensured to remain focussed to prevent any serious cycling crashes, fortunately, no other crashes occurred.
After Alan and Martin went their separate wat, there were 3 riders left, and me of course: Kris, Sam, Mark and I. We continued our adventure after a scrumptious and well-needed stop at Merebrook reservoir where my parents had been anxiously waiting for hours for us to turn up. They couldn’t meet us anywhere earlier on the route since the stop at mile 30 due to the impassable snow. We were significantly behind our average speed and schedule; our spirits were high but energy low. Warm bacon cobs and hot drinks soon brought us back to life and with a swift turnaround we had a long climb that had the roaches insight, or at least they were in sight at the bottom of the hill until we had to cycle through the thick fog that meant visibility was at about 10metres. Our pace began to increase, we kept warm and got some miles in the bag before the day began to turn night, it felt like night, but it was probably around 3pm; it was pitch black due to winter. Nevertheless, this section began to be a bit of a slog with Kris and I competitively powering up hills while Mark and Sam sensibly rode at a constant and sensible pace.
What a fantastic, but brutal day out, it will always be one to remember, it was my first proper experience of winter road riding in the snow. I cannot say if it was a logical idea in hindsight for Kris longest ride, but we made memories that we will always look back on as well as I got some lovely photos of my new Enigma bike in the snow.
Kristian’s account: My first 100: A sprinter turned
‘This time last year I was 86kg and my focus was track sprinting. Since then, I am at 72kg and have taken the transition into an endurance domain which is somewhat different to what I am accustomed to. This was challenging on two accounts, the first being that it is the longest ride I have completed and second, my competitive nature finds me racing up the hills. The day started relatively normally, a cold and wintery British day but the roads were clear well until we reached Mow Cop. The snow provided a unique challenge and the pace slowed to what would feel like walking pace in fact, it would probably have been quicker. The team support was great and having shared the experience with some of my close friends just added to the challenge. Now bring on the good weather so we can do it again comfortably although, at least I’ll always remember my first 100.’
29th ‘The third century since Christmas eve: A winter wonderland, 100mile, epic’.
‘It was even more extreme than the previous day; we had blizzards, more sub-zero temperatures and roads with full coverings of snow’.
After yesterday’s ride to Mow Cop and experiencing how bad the ride could get due to snow I decided to ride south; I initially thought this would be the sensible decision to stay low rather than go up high to the notorious peak district that has dicey weather in winter. Much to what we were all surprised, due to the illogical BBC weather predictions. Winter seemed to keep throwing up surprises and challenges I couldn’t imagine; it is likely to be through the naivety of having 2 previously successful festive 500 challenges under my belt that had much less severe weather than this challenge.
From the onset the ride began to snow, it was initially lovely and festive but then it turned to a blizzard, probably not meeting expectations of blizzard to a mountaineer, but a blizzard to me is when I couldn’t see when riding due to blankets of massive snowflakes covering my body, and even worse my eyes; our body temperatures were dropping.
Sam came to life and even suggested rounding the distance up to 100 miles; I was blown away as he was going to quit and put his feet up at 50miles, hence I eagerly agreed and we continued.
 |
| Only a best friend would agree to a second 100miler in a row |
30th: Cafe Adventure 100miles
After 2 very winter snowy rides, I cancelled an original route with Jo, Kris, Sara and chose to ride with Samuel on gritted roads to Hope Adventure cafe and back. The planned route was 55miles, but my sadistic and focused nature had extra miles in the back of my mind to aim to get to 1000km within the festive season; I currently had 150 miles to go.
We rode comfortable and safely to Hope, had a delicious bacon cob hot drink at Café Adventure, then cycled briefly to Hathersage, drooled over outdoor kit (a tradition of ours), cycled through Bakewell and back home.
I then decided to do some extra miles. Think an extra 25 to get to 75 would make it comfortable but I was feeling okay and somehow managed to do another hundred making that 3 100milers in a row.
31st: Chatsworth and Bakewell
After another lockdown announcement: exercise only permitted with one other individual (a few days later, lockdown version 3 occurred), I'm glad I got the bulk of the distance completed with others; this ride I purely wanted to get the distance done as quickly as possible while being safe as the temperature was still sub-zero with lots of ice.
I rode solo along main gritted roads through the lovely Chatsworth estate, round to Bakewell and back to Belper. I averaged 16mph after 1000km, this was reassuring that my legs were still attached and functioning.
Equipment
Bike
My new @enigmabikes escape gravel bike (Brought November 2020) in full Festive 500 and covid 19, self-sufficiency mode.
Bike spec:
@hunt.road aero light wheels with 32mm Panaracer tubeless tyres
1x @shimanogravel GRX groupset for simplicity
And finally the @hopetech anodised bling: Bottom bracket, seat collar, headset as well as their new RX crankset.
Bike accessories:
@ridepdw mudguards to stay protected from the worst of the local roads
@ortlieb_waterproof bikepacking bags: top tube and framebag to store snacks and clothes
@exposure.lights race and tracer lights: reliable and well tested all year round
@garminuk 530: superb battery life!
No comments:
Post a Comment