Building our Bond
I think that its fair to say that the months have gone by pretty briskly and 4 months or base training has almost come to end. However, with just one more weekend of my last block to go I wanted to end it with a bang and what better way to do that than a training weekend in the Peak District with your team mates.
I have only ridden i the peaks once before but can remember it being pretty spectacular so thanks to the organisation skill of Mike and Tony I would be able to enjoy the roads one again. We had arranged to stay in Edale which is just up the road from Hope and would be staying in a youth Hostel which was located off the beaten track up a very steep and narrow drive way. Mike had driven up earlier with good Friend and race season rival Karl Hine from Cadence RT. The peaks used to me Mike and Karl's old stomping ground so they would be our tour guides for the weekend. Me and Tony when up together a little bit latter after i had finished work. It should take about 2 hours at the very most to get up there but little did we know of the misfortune we were about to encounter.
There we were cruising along up the motorway and next thing we are stationary trying to decide to turn on to the back roads or sit it out. A crash on the motorway had caused all the lanes to be closed and we were going no where. We took the punt and turned off but unfortunately for us, the diversion we took was also subject to a crash so we were stuck in just as much traffic as on the motorway. After 4.5hrs we finally approached the Fox House pub where we had arranged to have some grub and as we were driving up we realised that winter was here and there was snow on the ground. As we got higher the snow got deeper and after arriving at the pub with no sight of the others, the landlord told us that we wouldn't be able to eat as the Chef was going home due to the snow....Talk about a cop out.
The problem was we didn't have a signal so we couldn't find out where the others were or what they were doing. We decided to push on to the Hostel and agreed that we would most likely see them coming the other way but we didn't! After arriving at the Hostel we got our key and headed to the room to find a not under the door form mike telling us they had gone to the Fox House pub, booked a table for 8pm and would meet us there. With the time now 8.15pm we decided to stay put and for our dinner we had a bowl of cereal and a Bagel and then played table tennis for the next 3 hours. It was only when the other got back did we find out that they had got served dinner and had a massive slap up feast. Annoying but at least we were all together and ready for the days head.
Comouth the Ice and the Snow!
Waking up on Saturday morning after a some what noisy and creaky sleep in my bunk bed, we drew back the curtains to find Ice and lots of it. Typically we had timed our training weekend to coincide with the arrival of the big freeze, good job we all packed for it. We decided to drive down the back road from the Hostel to Hope due to the ice and set off from there. It was around 0 degrees when we took the first pedal strokes and it also was also the point where i realised just how bad i felt. Apart from the fact i had a slight cold coming, the cumulative effects of 4 months of solid and consistent training had made there mark on my body and i felt pretty fatigued, although its only what i expected and ultimately its all part of the bigger plan.
The planned route today would take us around the one popular Tour of the Peaks Elite Road Race which used to grace this part of the country with its presence up until 2005 which saw the races lat edition. After putting my of my wardrobe on i soon realised after the first climb that i was much too over dressed but thankfully i had my awesome Orlieb Saddle back which meant i could strip of some layers and store them in there, Karl also had the same idea and i ended up storing everyone else's crap as well!!!
As the ride went on I slowly began to feel even more fatigued and it was only the fact that i was riding with my mates in an amazing part of the world which kept me plugging away. After about 2.5 hrs we deviated from the race route in order to tackle Holme Moss, a Continental style climb which begins at Woodhead and takes you over the peak ending in Holmefirth. This was an amazing climb with even more amazing views of the snow covered caps and frozen reservoir. If i had been blindfolded and taken to the top of this climb it would be easy to thin that you were in the middle of the Alps. Unfortunately i couldn't enjoy it as much as id hoped due to suffering so much. I was soon plodding up on my own struggling to maintain 250 watts which i would typically be able to ride at for 2 hours or so. Tony was flying and leaving us all for dead and Karl and Mike were always in hot pursuit. |
| Holme Moss |
Descending back down along the same route and back on the the course we began to head towards the next main climb, the infamous and well know Snake Pass. I had never done this climb but heard alot about it, we were very lucky to be able to ride it as only a few hours before our arrival the pass had been closed due to the whether. As we pulling in to a petrol station so Mike could grab a can of coke an amazing thing happened; I started to feel like i had some legs!!!
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| A snowy Snakes Pass |
Riding up Snake Pass was great, i felt fresh and was able to actually ride with the others. there was still a lot of snow at the peak of the climb but the descent was pretty clear. From here we headed back towards Hope to where the cars were parked and i was almost sad that the ride was ending, what a difference to when i first set off. I decided to ride back to Hostel up the road which we had to drive down and meet the others there, Karl decided he wanted to do more as well and he headed off towards Sheffield to put in other 2 hours on top of the 5 we had already done. I was keen to keep riding but not that keen.
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| Dinner Time |
Back at the hostel the rest of us were showered and warm and we decided to get dinner started. Karl finally decided to show up just in time for some grub and its fair to say we had pretty hearty feast of pasta, chicken and every type of veg you could think of. After this we headed down to hope for some more food at a local pub and then hit the sack around 11pm ready for some more riding tomorrow. I just hoped that i felt better than i did today!!
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