Big Dave is tackling them monster lakeland passes today, and at a whisker under 100kg he’s going to be feeling every metre of height gain! You can follow him here and either post words of encouragement or take the mick, depending on how you’re feeling…
Follow road.cc’s Dave on the Fred Whitton Challenge!
Big lad + hills = pain
Sun, May 08, 2011 04:50
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Latest Comments
mdavidford 27 minutes ago
Would you like to take another run at that?
mdavidford 33 minutes ago
That's what Big Brother tells you...
mdavidford 38 minutes ago
Can only go on what's in the article myself - can't actually read the report itself as none of the links on that page seem to work - how did you get to it?
markrjl 38 minutes ago
1984 was written by George Orwell not Orson Wells.
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
Very brief look at this but I'm not sure it says anything much new, or particularly useful. Yes, they point to "some women who rode a hire bike possibly didn't ride before but might ride after". OTOH the *number* of women vs men surveyed didn't appear to be stated (except for one graph with a n=... - which was a lot less than the 5000 mentioned, and there only about half as many women responding there). Otherwise I think it just covers what regularly comes up (albeit perhaps it has to be repeated): - much fewer women from minority ethnic backgrounds. - Women care about socially safe parking locations far more than men do. - Women feel less safe on the roads due to external issues that they have no control over: traffic, road conditions and infrastructure, and harassment.
mdavidford 2 hours ago
Interesting counterpoint to the 'hire bike menace' narrative (obviously with the caveat that the report authors have a vested interest in selling the benefits, but...) Appears hire bike schemes go some way to addressing the cycling gender imbalance and, given the point about parking immediately outside the destination, dockless schemes particularly so. https://micromobilitybiz.com/forest-report-finds-shared-e-bikes-are-helping-close-london-cycling-gender-gap/
60somethingcyclist 18 hours ago
@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
chrisonabike 19 hours ago
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Ben Graham 20 hours ago
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
Rendel Harris 21 hours ago
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
25 thoughts on “Follow road.cc’s Dave on the Fred Whitton Challenge!”
Having just got back in from
Having just got back in from a windy ride I’m not going to take the mick…. come on Dave!
Fantastic stuff
Fantastic stuff 😀
c’mon Dave!
c’mon Dave!
Looking at the satellite
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
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
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?
what’s he riding?
Allez! Allez! Allez!
Allez! Allez! Allez!
Nice work, just done the last
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 🙂
Sun’s out here in Bath, mind
Sun’s out here in Bath, mind you I’m sitting at a computer.
@simonmb think he’s on his
@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.
his position hasn’t updated
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
Mr_eL_Bee wrote:his position
Is there a cake-shop in that vicinity?
Whoop whoop!
C’mon Dave!
Whoop whoop!
C’mon Dave! Keep those pins spinning-home stretch around the corner!
Genesis – classic ride. I
Genesis – classic ride. I hope he had a large carne sabrosa ‘especiales’ last night! :$
Hup Hup! Go Dave!
Hup Hup! Go Dave!
Got to say it hasn’t updated
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
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
been there, done it, it hurts – respect! B-)
Looks like he’s made it back
Looks like he’s made it back
Yep, heard from him a couple
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
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
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
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
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 😀