May seemed a long way off when many club members entered the Fred Whitton Challenge ballot in the autumn of 2025. With the randomness of ballot entry some of us were accepted while others were not raising much self doubt as to whether to pay the entry fee and sign up or not. With a bust of enthusiasm, and a well, there’s months to train yet, entry fees were paid and Christmas food was enjoyed.

Fast forwards through to May 2026 with lots of weather forecast checking, training on Zwift, and a quick clean of the bike, and suddenly it’s time to collect the timing chip and roll up to the start line in Grassmere.
Despite the forecast predicting raining for many weeks before, Sunday turned bright, dry, and with a gentle breeze, if a little chilly. The first time I’ve rolled up to a sportive with frost clinging to my shoes from the walk over the field!

Rolling out from the start is busy, cyclists everywhere, but not as busy as the queue of cars heading into the field with more riders. At some point in this queue I cycled past Jimmy and Raino. I was easy to spot in the AOCC colours but I couldn’t see them in the car.

Heading to the Struggle as the first climb of the day things felt good, legs were activated and making good speed. I was surprised to see so many people un-clipping and pushing up the first hill of the route. Yes, it was steep, but pushing at mile 4 was going to make it in to a very long day!

Glorious sunshine hid the fact it was bloody cold, and by the top I was wishing I’d put long gloves on to start off with, especially with a fast descent coming up.
Rinse and repeat through Matterdale and the valley towards Honister Pass, and Simon Warrens vivid description of a ‘hair-raising descent’. The climb was good, with a range of people walking up again. The descent – not as bad as described, but the smell of my brakes heating to the same temperature as the surface of the sun as I gradually creeped down became slightly concerning.

Rapidly on to the feed atop, quick restock of gels, check that the brake pads and discs are still functional, and off to the timed climb up Newlands Pass. Always fun to have some cars descending to start off a timed climb, but this was nice and a worth a good push. Especially once spotted there was a free freshly made espresso coffee at the top!

Rolling up and down more climbs, some gentler descents until, with the exception of a terrifying Newlands Pass downhill, until the second feed station. At some point along the way my bike had developed a horrible rattle, so a quick opportunity to figure out what was going on showed the lock ring on cassette had worked a little loose. Obviously I don’t have one of those tools in my saddle bag, so tightened as best I could with a random part of the multi tool.

It was while grabbing a couple of gels after this fix that Jimmy shouted out – he and Raino had clearly been putting in more effort than me to make up the time difference between our start times.

Rolling out from the stop as two and an incognito AOCC riders was nice, a good little group heading towards Hardknott. I’d dropped back a bit on one of the climbs before then, but we overlapped at photo stops, before I set in to find my rhythm on the slopes of Hardknott, with Jimmy’s AOCC colours shining bright and visible several hairpins above me.

A couple of hundred meters in, things are going good, further as the ramp climbs up, still in the groove and getting ready for the next couple of bends. It’s a narrow road, and people weaving and un-clipping all around makes it difficult to position. The inevitable happens and someone stops directly infront of me leaving me no where to go other than to un-clip too.

With the gradient too steep to get any moment to restart I had to push a few minutes before a slightly easier gradient allowed me to jump back on and spin up.

For a few minutes, before the ramp goes up, a twitch on the front end as the wheel lifts up and I concede defeat and push again till it flattens and I can ride up to the top.Awesome views back down to the bottom with ‘riders’ strung out everywhere.

Warrens description of this as a ‘frankly terrifying descent’ put me off a little, as does the memory of that burning brake smell, and I end up pushing my bike down the steepest parts.

Rapidly on to the next climb of Wrynose, strung out a little more this time, so space to find a rhythm. Defeated again by the steepest ramps, but up to the top, and then looking down at the descent again I decide the gradient, hairpins, and tarmac exceed the combination of my skill and guts. On foot for me! A couple of hair pins down there are some Marshall’s on the side, checking if I’m okay. I explain my desire for self preservation, and am rewarded with a Mars mini – bonus! – and details of a crash at the bottom of this descent and an air ambulance trip called out earlier in the day. Gulp! On foot for a bit longer then!

Sure enough, as I get down the ambulance is still in the road, bit fortunately the rider appears conscious.

After this there’s a final decent climb up Blea Tarn and then a rolling 13 miles which seem to take forever.

Finishing back in Grassmere I see Jimmy and Raino again, enjoying a beer having just nigh on an hour quicker than me.
A great day in the saddle, some great climbs, and some descents requiring caution.

Would I do it again? Yes, but no. I think we totally lucked-out with the weather. Doing it in rain and wind would be grim. If it was a side you could decide off the cuff to do when weather was good, yes. Having to travel 2 hours to get to the start limits that a bit. So, one medal and done for me.
Moving time for me: 9:21:37. Distance: 109.61 miles. Ascent: 11,788 ft. Av speed: 11.7 mph. Max speed: 32.7 mph. Power pedal battery died after a couple of hours 🙄.
Smiles: loads!