The emotional Roller Coaster Ride of a 200 mile cycle jolly around the Lakes & Dales Loop.

What, Why and how was it for you.....

What; The Lakes & Dales Loop is a 200 mile circumnavigation of the English Lakes and the Western flanks of the Yorkshire Dales. Designed for normal cyclists to do in sections over 4-6 days it uses quiet roads that go over hills rather than around them. Because of that there is a good chunk of climbing which at 18,000ft is not to be sniffed at but if taken over 6 days is quite manageable.

Why oh why do we put ourselves through this punishment? I like a nice bike ride with some mates which involves coffee & cake but when I turned 50 I developed this insatiable appetite for self discovery by pushing the envelope of what can be achieved and how the experiences affects you.

Background: I completed the same ride last year with two mates, we set off at dawn so the night time riding was at the end of the loop. It was tough but we worked well as a team and enjoyed the ride albeit exhausted by the end. During another recent endurance ride I developed an all consuming urge to quit, I didn't but I had experienced similar negativity when rowing the Atlantic and I was determined to see if this debilitating emotion could be overcome. When I got back I engaged the services of a life coach called Joe. He's ex special forces who has a great story and very likeable, its early days but the use of NLP and other black magic seems to be working. A 23 hour challenging bike ride would be a great testing ground for my new coping strategies.

How was it then.... I was full of beans at 11pm on Wednesday (10/05/17) when I locked the van and set off from the car park in Kirkby Lonsdale, within 5 minutes your off the main road and onto a single carriage road/track that winds its way up into the Yorkshire Dales. It was quiet when we did it during the day but after midnight it was deserted and with no light pollution and a nearly full moon it was both beautiful and eerie. I got spooked by quite a bit of wildlife which for some reason got me thinking about the film "An American Werewolf in London" I wasn't scared (as if) but did a fair bit of checking behind my shoulder from time to time! Incidentally dissecting a movie is a great way of passing the time and taking your mind off the task at hand, the two scenes I kept going over and over were the Slaughtered Lamb (obviously) and the shower scene with Jenny Agutter (no idea why). By the time I had done the film thing I realised that the moon had gone in and my pulsating light was bouncing back off mist or fog and had become very cold. This was the opportunity Mr Negative Mark had been waiting for so I started to run through the scenarios of having an accident and being stuck on the moors for about 12 hours in Lycra, funnily enough the outcome was always death which was a cheery thought. The difference this time was I knew this was coming and using my new secret formula I fought off the demons and managed to keep things under control. The cold never went away and when I say cold I was pretty much in bits. I didn't cry but agreed with my inner self that it was ok and a not a sign of weakness. At one stage I stopped and sheltered in a bus shelter for 5 minutes laying on the bench, pretty pointless as the windows had been smashed but at least I got chance to get some feeling back in my fingers. My first chance to get some extra climbing in came and went as I decided to skip on the opportunity of climbing up Great Dunn Fell. It was cold in the valley so how much cooler up there was not something I was prepared to find out. Sunrise was just after five but astronomical dawn is about 30 minutes before this and as it gets light a switch flips in your brain and the hope returns to replace the self pity for another day. I rocked up in Penrith at exactly 5am which just happens to be the time that McDonald's opens its doors for the first customer of the day, me! I wolfed down two Mc Meals plus two coffees and allowed the warmth to return to my bones, epic feeling. Jumping back on the bike and within 20 minutes of leaving Penrith the scenery becomes breathtaking and my favourite memory is the sun coming over Greystoke Castle.

I had done 80 of the 205 miles so not even half way round but felt invincible and with the sun on my back I was going to enjoy the remainder of the ride. As I worked my way around the loop I took every opportunity to refuel and on fag packet estimates must have consumed 9,000 calories. I ate everything I could including 4 decent sized pork pies, sausage rolls, pork scratchings other savouries that I shouldn't bother with.... poor pigs I hear you say!

A tricky part of the loop is the section between Eskdale and Cartmel when you encounter four tough climbs in quick succession, ordinarily I would be up them without too much trouble but with 150 miles in your legs they left you completely drained. One of them is Birkley Fell which I renamed Bas***d Hill and the others were all sons of Bas***d Hill. I contemplated grabbing 40 winks on the top but visualised waking up and someone had knicked my bike so gave that a miss. I remember trying to work out how long it was since I last slept but it was too much trouble so gave up. A testing moment was when my Garmin tracker froze, pretty standard when you need to keep recharging but it meant my longest ever continuous ride wouldn't be recorded, I must have effed and jeffed at the little black unit for about an hour and it must have known it had upset me as it never said a word back. A particular surreal moment was when I purchased another pork pie in a shop in Cartmel, the cheery assistant enquired how long had I been out, perfect ego boosting moment I thought, so I casually said 180 miles of a 205 round trip, ￡1.99 he replied....

The last 25 miles were a real leg killer and seemed to last forever, very undulating on suspect roads and paths and I came upon a dodgy looking man coming towards me carrying a large axe, fight or flight I thought and so I whizzed past him all guns blazing and never stopped to look back until I got my van in Kirkby Lonsdale. I had done it, 22.5 hours, 205 miles and about 19k of climb though Garmin & Strava record a bit less due to the freeze. I handled the demons pretty well, I know now I don't like riding alone, I know even on a nice night it gets bloody cold and that in Cartmel 200 mile bike rides are the norm. I will do it again soon and maybe then get up Hard Knot & Great Dunn Fell and aim for 250-300 miles but I will not be doing it alone so if you get a call get your excuses in. I did some en route videos which if I figure out how to edit I will screen.

Tonight will mostly include, Curry, Cobra and an American Werewolf in London of course....