Follow road.cc's Dave on the Fred Whitton Challenge!

Having just got back in from a windy ride I'm not going to take the mick.... come on Dave!

Fantastic stuff

c'mon Dave!

Looking at the satellite view, can't see the gradient but I know it must be bloody steep. Come on fella! You're doing great!

go on big fella, up above Egremont at the moment, know those roads a bit - impressed we're still getting a signal, never got anything when I was at my in-laws in Seascale.

He looks like he's on the 'nice' bit at the moment between Cold Fell and Irton Pike more up and downy, on the other hand he's got HardKnott and Wrynose to come.

Then he's got to drive back to Bath.

Shame the pie shop in Gosforth won't be open today. Worth the ride just for one of their steak and kidney efforts or maybe two.

what's he riding?

Allez! Allez! Allez!

Nice work, just done the last couple of hours on the turbo trainer trying to keep up with Vettel in the F1, i think i just come in around.................Last place, even without a pit stop, lol

Nice work dave, its a shame it dont show those mofo climbs and great decents or the timings

Anyone know what the weather is like there today, its chucking down here, so i'll get a cold shower and then go racing the Giro on my turbo again in an hour, see if i cant beat Cav to a sprint finish

@simonmb think he's on his Genesis Equilibrium

GKAM the weather forecast wasn't good… but just checking on the Beeb the forecast for Cockermouth looks pretty nice, but then it's Cumbria so even if the forecast is right it could be tipping it down a couple of miles down the road.

Sun's out here in Bath, mind you I'm sitting at a computer.

his position hasn't updated (on my screen at least)since 13:11:02
So either his 'phone has fried its battery, or he's dropped it, or there's no signal to update his position to the Interweb

Whoop whoop!

C'mon Dave! Keep those pins spinning-home stretch around the corner!

Genesis - classic ride. I hope he had a large carne sabrosa 'especiales' last night!

Is there a cake-shop in that vicinity?

Hup Hup! Go Dave!

Got to say it hasn't updated on mine either (which does either mean as simonmb says, there's cake shop nearby or we've been let down by the technology.

My guess is the signal has dipped out (it can be a tad patch up in the hills) and we'll get a big update when it dips back in again. Hopefully.

I'll text him… which I'll admit is a somewhat flawed plan if he hasn't got any signal.

Just out of interest, how big is "Big Dave"??

I was thinking about tackling the fred whitton this year, but i'm not back to full fitness yet and a bit over my target weight, so put it off for later events

But looking at it, if the "big" man can manage i think we should get a few of us together for next year?

been there, done it, it hurts - respect!

Looks like he's made it back

Yep, heard from him a couple of hours ago, he's finished. Sun came out just as he got back to the car. He was having a rest and then hitting the M6 - he'll be updating the Fantasy Cycling scores somewhere en-route (best he does it…). As we thought no signal up there on Cold Fell + he dropped his phone which also probably didn't help and prob accounts for the rather direct nature of the final leg of the track.

Respect is due though.

To answer your question GKAM he's about 6ft 2in, (190cm) and 98Kg.

Well done Dave. When you went all stationary on us I started even to wonder whether there was a magnet factory out there. There are some things you boys on steel bikes can never find a way past. Looking forward to hearing how it went for you and others.

Just resting after a very quick Lancs Lanes that meant a lot of cramp in the last 15 miles. Now I find Dave has completely lost his mind and gone and done the Fred Whitton! Well done Dave. I've done a few of those and it's sheer hell. Huge respect for your achievement.

Big up Dave, maybe i could have done it this year then, i'm 5.10 and around 80kg, need to drop a few kg's and get a lighter bike for next years Whitton

Just noticed his results, 112 miles in 8:34 hours

Not bad for that course, around 13.5mph

yeah, apologies for the lull in transmissions: dropped my phone and bent the case so that the power key was permanently pressed down. what're the odds? bent it back when i go back to the car, with the half of my multitool i'd foolishly decided to leave behind...

ride report coming tomorrow: i can confidently assert that hardknott is a) doable and b) insane. i was basically in pieces the whole way back after that, I'm not sure I can even remember Wrynose... had to plunge my head into a lakeland stream between the two to get some semblance of brain function back

SRAM Apex FTW, btw