Ascent: 2,280 feet
Average speed: 14.74 mph
Pain ratings:
Adam 3 (super shorts mean fit bottom)
Alan 3 (coveting Adam's shorts)
Neil 2 (cool as a cow)
Soundtrack of the day:
Alan. The Harry Potter theme, John Williams.
Adam. We are the champions, Queen.
Neil. Inchworm, Nina & Fredrik.
There are some forty of us on this journey, raising cash for different good causes - medical, the forces, children - all important to the people involved. It's mostly men and mostly middle aged but there are enough women to keep everyone sensible, enough younger riders to remind us of what used to be and enough older riders to make our own achievement seem insignificant. In support are Jo, Mat and Phil who meet us three times a day for water and lunch stops and are available on the phone for emergencies. Mat does the shopping and has made sure there is a good lunchtime supply of sausage rolls for Adam and Penguin biscuits for Neil - we are not going hungry.
This morning we left Preston and struck out for the Lake District, leaving the frantic industrial towns behind and headed North, crossing what seemed like an invisible line dividing two versions of England, the latter taking us into glorious vistas across to the Yorkshire Dales in the east and the Irish Sea and Lake District in the west and north. With a following wind, and in brilliant sunshine, we zipped along, passing club cyclists on time trials (editor's note - don't you mean they overtook you?). After a brief water stop (marred only by hostilities from the proprietor of a nearby caravan franchise), we started up the long (9 miles), steep (15 %) climb to the summit (1400 ft) of Shap Fell. The weather held, we breasted the top and had a terrific freewheel down to lunch. From there we snaked round the M6 motorway, through Penrith and on to Carlisle. Another classic day's cycling.
Scotland tomorrow...
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