Ride Reports
Saturday 5th June 2021
B1 Ride Great Dun Fell - Trevor Ford
First, welcome to the new recruits Max and Ralph, always great meeting new people.
How to sum up today in a word, EPIC!!! The weather, the company, the minimal traffic and The Great Dun Fell. The meeting place, Sedbergh. One by one the poor souls of the day arrive, anxious for what lay ahead.
With everyone ready we set off, climbing from the start! With pacing at the forefront of my mind, so not to having another Pendle Hill disaster, we make our way on some amazing roads (constantly climbing) to our first stop, The House at Temple Sowerby. The perfect place to take your mind off the pain that was around the corner. With having the cafe stop before The Great Dunn, most of us in agreement that food wouldn’t be the best idea, Karen quickly broke ranks and everyone quickly followed suit! Scones with double cream and jam, chocolate brownie and flapjacks that resembled a door stop!!! Just a good job that we had a five mile ride before the start of the climb.
Back on the road, the nerves and adrenaline are kicking in, eagerly awaiting the sign for Knock to appear and then the left turn that takes you past the Christian Centre. The official start of the climb.
As we have all come to accept, Katie and her new partner in crime Max, leaving everyone in a cloud of dust as they disappear into the distance. The rest of us start the climb at a more human like pace. We quickly came across a cyclist laid at the side of the road with a paramedic tending to him for heat exhaustion! All of us secretly hope that this wasn’t things to come, we make our way into the heavens. With each pedal stroke harder then the last, we come across the first gate. Using this point to regroup, we awaited the arrival of Chris, who was struggling with his heart rate, Ralph decided to cycled back down to see if he was ok. Once they both arrived back at the gate, Chris decided not to carry on with climb. With this he made himself the official ‘Yoga Guru Gate Keeper’, later telling us that downward dog worked wonders for his back. The rest of us now ready to tackle the most difficult part of the climb, the dreaded Snow Pole section! Eking ever closer to the goal of the golf ball trophy, we make our way to the second gate.
The gradient ever increasing, the second gate appears in sight, letting you know that the worst is nearly over. Once past the second gate the end is close and the golf ball trophy is within touching distance. Once at the top we were presented with the best gift of all, endless blue sky’s and amazing panoramic views of the Yorkshire Dales. Perfect.
After a very fast and steep descent, we had one last big push to the finish. There awaited the sweet golden ambiant nectar that we had all worked so hard for. Perfect end to a perfect day.
Big thank you to Jontti for being RC today, also for the coffee and flapjack.
How to sum up today in a word, EPIC!!! The weather, the company, the minimal traffic and The Great Dun Fell. The meeting place, Sedbergh. One by one the poor souls of the day arrive, anxious for what lay ahead.
With everyone ready we set off, climbing from the start! With pacing at the forefront of my mind, so not to having another Pendle Hill disaster, we make our way on some amazing roads (constantly climbing) to our first stop, The House at Temple Sowerby. The perfect place to take your mind off the pain that was around the corner. With having the cafe stop before The Great Dunn, most of us in agreement that food wouldn’t be the best idea, Karen quickly broke ranks and everyone quickly followed suit! Scones with double cream and jam, chocolate brownie and flapjacks that resembled a door stop!!! Just a good job that we had a five mile ride before the start of the climb.
Back on the road, the nerves and adrenaline are kicking in, eagerly awaiting the sign for Knock to appear and then the left turn that takes you past the Christian Centre. The official start of the climb.
As we have all come to accept, Katie and her new partner in crime Max, leaving everyone in a cloud of dust as they disappear into the distance. The rest of us start the climb at a more human like pace. We quickly came across a cyclist laid at the side of the road with a paramedic tending to him for heat exhaustion! All of us secretly hope that this wasn’t things to come, we make our way into the heavens. With each pedal stroke harder then the last, we come across the first gate. Using this point to regroup, we awaited the arrival of Chris, who was struggling with his heart rate, Ralph decided to cycled back down to see if he was ok. Once they both arrived back at the gate, Chris decided not to carry on with climb. With this he made himself the official ‘Yoga Guru Gate Keeper’, later telling us that downward dog worked wonders for his back. The rest of us now ready to tackle the most difficult part of the climb, the dreaded Snow Pole section! Eking ever closer to the goal of the golf ball trophy, we make our way to the second gate.
The gradient ever increasing, the second gate appears in sight, letting you know that the worst is nearly over. Once past the second gate the end is close and the golf ball trophy is within touching distance. Once at the top we were presented with the best gift of all, endless blue sky’s and amazing panoramic views of the Yorkshire Dales. Perfect.
After a very fast and steep descent, we had one last big push to the finish. There awaited the sweet golden ambiant nectar that we had all worked so hard for. Perfect end to a perfect day.
Big thank you to Jontti for being RC today, also for the coffee and flapjack.
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