Back home after finally getting my arse into gear and riding(?) the Lakeland 200.

I've been working over at my brother's and the weather has been dry for a couple of weeks so with a fine forecast I shoved the kit in the van and stopped in Coniston that night.

My planned start time had been 8am then 7am, in the event I needed a pee at 3:30 so just got ready and set off at 4:05am! This actually made the most of the light as sunrise was just after Walna. I seem to suffer from cramps a lot these days so my plan was to take it easy and not "just push hard because I could" when faced with a steep or difficult section, that started within five minutes as I was off and walking on the steep intro Tarmac of Walna Scar Road. The strategy did work though as with one exception I didn't get any cramps at all.

What hadn't been mentioned in any forecasts was the wind. It wasn't the gentle predicted breeze but 30km/h NE winds with 60km/h gusts. absolutely brutal, it was a struggle just to stand at times, it's annoying to say the least when you are in your bottom gear (30:46) on the flat on road and still only just making progress.

Not helped by my lower jockey wheel partially seizing so I was keen to get to Keswick for a replacement before the shops shut.

Even the "easy" section between Keswick and Pooley Bridge was anything but and it was obvious by now I wasn't going to do it in one go I'd have to bivy plus I was getting pretty cold, even the hills were only just warming me up. I found an empty barn I'm Martindale - that would do. I'd been on the go for just under 18hrs and was knackered. 120km done

An even earlier pee and start - 3am! A push up Beda Fell, a great descent to Hartsop then a really big push up to The Knott/High Street. The wind was back with a vengeance and the wind chill was pretty bad so when my rear tyre burped and went flat it was a few minutes of walking downhill to find somewhere sheltered to sort it out, my hands were so cold I needed to use pliers to undo the valve core! I used the last of my CO2 reinflating the tyre, it wasn't fully inflated but would have to do, Garburn would be "interesting". I walked most of it, the tyre, tiredness and that bloody wind.

Hit the bike shop in Staveley for a restock, then it was just the "easy" section back to Coniston. Except it was anything but... I was knackered and my legs just wouldn't work when trying ride seated.

Then on the way over to Troutbeck in an absolutely bizarre chance meeting I bumped into Alan Goldsmith heading the other way, he couldn't quite believe I was attempting it in those conditions, "chapeau" being his comment.

I plodded on, counting down the hills until I'd done the last one and just the Lawson Park descent to do back to Coniston, except the upper section was blocked with wind blown trees which took an age to circumvent.

I rolled back to my start point some 38hrs after leaving (not checked the GPS for an exact timing), quite a bit longer than hoped for. (Edit: 38hrs01 according to Strava - https://www.strava.com/activities/7031478842)

In a word the route and conditions were brutal. I probably only carried on because I didn't want to have to come back and do it all again! I've done four BB200s and none compare in anyway to this, a BB200 will have around 50% on road or fire road! this has maybe 10-15% and that includes hills like Honister Pass at 25%. I'd say it's harder than the 300km Cairngorms loop, it's just unrelenting.

I'll do a full write up and pictures in due course

Nice one Bob. It is a hard route that's for sure, and great meeting Alan G. The wind was hard on the Ridgeway down South, so in the Lakes it must have been brutal. But you finished which is the main thing (safely!)
Well done chap

Well done Bob. Apart from the obvious physical impediment, I find the wind a constant psychological drain on big rides like that - whether you're pushing into it or just hoping for a brief respite.

Another reminder to do the route again - the pictures from my first go popped in my Facebook memories just the other day. 2018 I think

Yeah, even "simple" things like opening and closing gates became a chore: either the gate wouldn't cooperate because of the wind or the bike would get blown about/over or both. I think most of the profanities are currently littering Ireland. You just feel battered.

Well done indeed. That wind in the Lakes this weekend was a bit bad 200m up. Never mind any higher!

Well Impressed.

Good effort Bob, look forward to the full tale!

Here we go... http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2022/04 ... -this.html

The wind levels were extreme this weekend so no idea how you managed that [ or why you tried either for that matter]

Chapeau

That's a bloody good effort, Bob. Big day(s) out!

Well done Bob.

I have to laugh that Vertebrate included this in their "Big Rides" book having clearly never ridden it. It's ridiculously hard and I'm sure Alan told me of less than 25 completions.

The wind levels were extreme this weekend so no idea how you managed that [ or why you tried either for that matter]

TBH, I was working in the South Lakes on Thursday and the wind wasn't that bad and the forecasts I saw weren't for anything remotely like what transpired.

I have to laugh that Vertebrate included this in their "Big Rides" book having clearly never ridden it. It's ridiculously hard and I'm sure Alan told me of less than 25 completions.

I think that Selfsupported.net has 26 completions but Alan G and Javi have each done it twice so just 24. Always suspicious of those "best of..." books as to whether the author(s) have actually done the things listed. Possibly it stems from Ken Wilson's Hard Rock where he added The Scoop on Sron Ulladale on the Isle of Harris to "stop the puerile tickers".

Anyway you'd have been proud of the amount of swearing going on.

whitestone wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 2:26 pm I think that Selfsupported.net has 26 completions but Alan G and Javi have each done it twice so just 24.

I'm sure there are many more than that unrecorded. I've completed it, but not officially.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:13 pm https://bikepacking.com/plog/steezy-lak ... ct-part-1/

Pretty certain I bumped into them and had a brief chat with one of them outside Booths in Keswick, where I spotted their loaded bikes as I was leaving the morning after the North Lakes Spring Break.

Great effort. The wind has been mad in The Lakes for the last few weeks. I've been caught off guard a few times by calm conditions in the valleys and blowing a hooley on the tops. I've been bagging some Back o' Skiddaw Wainwrights on the bike recently, and on a few occasions I've had to pedal downhill until gravity multiplied by my lardiness finally took over.

The Cumbrian wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:58 am...on a few occasions I've had to pedal downhill until gravity multiplied by my lardiness finally took over.

I always regard these situations as a meteorological affront.

Is there a source of an official GPX? - I seem to have one, but no idea where I got it from and there are a few anomalies where the gpx seems to follow an FP rather than a parallel BW. Also the climb up to High Street seems to adopt a 'kamikaze' approach rather than the nice switchback of the BW

Possibly have a route that was ridden as some of it is marked on the map but there is no trail on the ground
possibly taking Strava KOM shortcuts

Phil, there’s a link on the self-supported site but it’s a route not a track so you’ll need to convert it.

I’m not aware of it following a footpath. That bit up High Street follows the BW pretty exactly, in fact it leaves the well worn track to follow what just looks like a sheep trod, so little used that I suspect that only LL200 riders use it. It’s the bit in the video that you linked where one of the women talks about pushing two bikes because of injury to the other rider.

There's a download here

https://www.selfsupporteduk.net/lakeland200

No idea if it's right. I watched a YouTube video of a chap bike-packing it the other day. It's not really a fun bikepack type route anyway (as far as I know) more a challenge in the old school style (pre-gravelw@nker) add in that Komoot had messed with the route and sent him up a random mountain on a footpath - pushed all the way up and then all the way back down. He didn't seem to be having much fun.

The fact that theres only 24 (or 26) completions... is that cos it's too tough of a route or something else... Asming for a friend. Harder than the standard bb200 types?

Sean, that looks like the one I've got. Guess its just tracking errors or the route following the obvious line on the ground rather than the marked line.
I think I'm talking myself into giving it a go!

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:09 pm The fact that theres only 24 (or 26) completions... is that cos it's too tough of a route or something else... Asming for a friend. Harder than the standard bb200 types?

There’s maybe six sections that would be the hard parts of a BB200. Then there’s a lot of other hard riding as well. Maybe 20% is road at a push. For example, last year’s edition had only one real bit of HaB I’d maybe 20 mins. You’ve got multiple pushes closer to an hour on the LL200

whitestone wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:24 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:09 pm The fact that theres only 24 (or 26) completions... is that cos it's too tough of a route or something else... Asming for a friend. Harder than the standard bb200 types?

There’s maybe six sections that would be the hard parts of a BB200. Then there’s a lot of other hard riding as well. Maybe 20% is road at a push. For example, last year’s edition had only one real bit of HaB I’d maybe 20 mins. You’ve got multiple pushes closer to an hour on the LL200

Thanks Bob... sounds super hard so probably not for me then. I'm hopefully gonna go and do the road LakeLand Loop instead once the lighter bike is ready. How hard could it be

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:27 pmI'm hopefully gonna go and do the road LakeLand Loop... ...How hard could it be

*Checks map*
*Starts counting contour lines*
*Gives up*