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
Oldblokey 2 hours ago
With so many people using and looking at mobie phones whilst driving and other distractions, may I suggest you always wear Hi viz and stay at home.
kil0ran 2 hours ago
The design of the "car" has played a role in this. SUVs and what the Americans call "trucks" are exempt from the pedestrian safety regulations which apply to passenger cars. Had the victim been hit by a car designed in the past twenty years he would have been "scooped" onto the bonnet and either over the roof or off to one side. Still a serious injury risk and potentially fatal but they have the benefit of those passive safety systems to improve their chances. With vehicles with such a high bonnet line as this Volvo has what tends to happen is the person bounces off the bonnet and falls on the road in front of the vehicle where they're then run over. This has happened time and time again and is becoming more of an issue as the numbers of vehicles exempt from the safety standards grows.
whosatthewheel 4 hours ago
@Accessibility for all Reducing the speeds wouldn't have helped in this case as the driver was reported doing 65 in a 40 zone on the approach to the junction, his driving described by the witnesses as erratic and evidently had no intention to stop to give way even though he had been warned by the passenger who apparently shouted "bike" three times just before the collision. He would have likely flown through that junction even if it was traffic light controlled with a red light for him at the time. In my own experience the entire area i.e. east of Lymm towards Warburton and along Dunham Road all the way up to Altrincham and past into Hale Barns, all those wealthy, posh settlements around Manchester Airport are best avoided by road cyclists. A disproportionally high number of psycho drivers must for some reason live in that area because every single time I went there on my road bike in the past, I either got harassed myself or witnessed proper dickhead driving - speeding, close passes, overtaking into oncoming traffic or round a blind bend, accelerating towards pedestrians already crossing the road, you name it. I gave up road cycling in that area years ago and only use the local TPT these days.
Hollis Jones 5 hours ago
In respect of the murder charge: based on him hitting Mr Mullins and making no attempt to help him (this killing him), how would the case compare to a hit and run driver who seriously injures or kills a cyclist, knowingly, and flees the scene without helping? Would this make the cut for a murder charge? Or is there something very different going on here that I’m missing? Genuinely curious because I don’t recall there being a murder charge before for this kind of thing unless it was premeditated. In fact, in my experience most cases like this seem to go the opposite way - where the driver can merely say the sun was in their eyes and get away with a slap on the hands.
jaymack 5 hours ago
@Rendel Harris...and there was me dishing out the praise!
whosatthewheel 5 hours ago
@polainm He must also be an already hardened criminal. It wasn't mentioned during the court proceedings to avoid influencing the jurors and ensuring he had a fair trial, but he had been released from prison shortly before this incident and was couch surfing at his cousin's house days before. Just look at his face, he's only 35, but looks older than his victim who was 56. Must have spent half his adult life in prison.
Rendel Harris 5 hours ago
@jaymack They did offer him manslaughter though but he declined to plead guilty. Without wanting to seem curmudgeonly, yes great that they preferred the most serious charges but hard to see how they could have done differently considering that Richardson got out of the car, saw Mr Mullins was stuck underneath and then got back in and carried on. That clearly moved it above anything that falls under death by dangerous driving.
Velophaart_95 5 hours ago
@thrawed Agree - the UK winters are utterly grim; grey, wet & windy. Not the type of weather you really want to go out and ride. Everything get covered in filth, and takes time to clean it after a ride. Oh for colder, drier & crisper days which can be enjoyable to be out in.
polainm 6 hours ago
@ymm In my view, lax sentencing of dangerous drivers, especially where cyclists are involved, makes the judge, jury and CPS complicit in UK driver culture. This driver is a sociopath.
slc 6 hours ago
@Mr Blackbird i reckon the libido is a bit overrated. I'd let that go rather than a limb or a nice bike.
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 😀