Pendle 600 - Anyone know any details?

[john jackson]

b) narrowly missing a right royal pasting from two of the biggest and scariest Geordie I have ever seen; somewhere between Barnard Castle and Hexham

Glad I was in a group. Riding up a 20% climb with 2 bare chested drunk Geordies running down hill directly towards you is scary.

The Geordie in the Hexham pizza takeaway were very friendly insisting were went  to the front of  the queue.
The headwind up Hard Knott was really strong. Just as I stopped 3/4 of the way up, as it was too hard, a car stopped opposite, the driver asked if I was going to ride the rest. At that moment his passenger got out of the car and was almost blown off his feet. I replied "I may have to walk due to the wind". Both  wished me good luck and congratulated  me on riding up. He did not know I had walked the steep bit lower down.
Hope I recover for the Mille Alba.

[Peter]

Chaps, I can take no more: Geordie is the word you're looking for!  That said, I'm impressed that you can already write anything after a ride like that.  Well done all!

[Exit Stage Left]

We were out on the fell on Sunday, having parked the car at the top of Wrynose, It was gusting up to 50mph, at least it didn't rain. There was a Triathlon going on, 1 mile swim in Coniston, 45 mile ride around Wrynose, Hardknott, Ulpha Fell etc. and a 9 mile run around the Coniston Horseshoe, I told one of the marshals about the Pendle 600.

[Deano]

Yes, but who won? And how did Teethgrinder manage on fixed?

[PeeJay]

I've just uploaded my GPX file from the ride into bikehike.  It reports 10150m climbing!

Could you post the data publicly so that us Wannabes can drool over it?
(e.g. load to bikely, or just post the GPX where we can link to it)

I'm struggling to upload the gpx to bikely (might be too big?).  So while I try and sort it out the gpx file is here:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bzf_MqHl-vizOFFNZlpwWUowZU0

enjoy

[Peter]

Pete, thanks!

Bikehike will open it.

[marcusjb]

Chapeau to all those who completed the ride - sounds gnarly.

Commiserations to those who didn't complete.

It sounds like a legendary ride in the making. 

[Andy Corless]

Thanks to all the riders who entered and congratulations to the following 11 who finished:

Steven Abraham
Robert Bialek
Steven Bryce
Mark Gray
Simon Grove
Ian Hellawell
John Jackson
Peter Johnson
Justin Jones
Paul Revell
Peter Turner

Commisserations to the few who didn't make it. It's better to try and fail than to not try at all!

A couple of accolades from me: Steven Abraham and Justin Jones completed the event on fixed, Paul Revell (first SR) and Peter Turner both completed this as their first 600, and finally to YACF poster "mcshroom" for helping at Seascale.
 
The date for next year's event has been provisionally set for the weekend of: 22-23 June 2013, possibly riding in a clockwise direction, with minor changes to the route.

Andy Corless
Organiser, Pendle 600

[Peter]

Yes, well done all.  Andy, I take it that the clockwise possibility is to make people climb Rosedale Chimney?  That's just spite!

[marcusjb]

I think I am right in saying that Simon Grove (who lurks here occasionally I believe!) has ridden the BCM, K&SW and the Pendle 600 on consecutive weekends - an impressive achievement indeed!

[PeeJay]

A couple of accolades from me: Steven Abraham and Justin Jones completed the event on fixed, Paul Revell (first SR) and Peter Turner both completed this as their first 600, and finally to YACF poster "mcshroom" for helping at Seascale.

My first 600 too and also completes my first SR

I might have also just completed a AAA SR too if a AAA 200 Cal + non AAA ECE 100 counts for my 300 - dunno if that's allowed.

Would definitely be interested in this ride again next year. It's a fantastic route and an epic challenge.

And yep, Simon did the triple of the 3 AAA 600's on consecutive weekends.

[Jonah]

I think I am right in saying that Simon Grove (who lurks here occasionally I believe!) has ridden the BCM, K&SW and the Pendle 600 on consecutive weekends - an impressive achievement indeed!

You would never have guessed by the way he boshed up all of those hills

[Reg.T]

Indeed (AUK results confirm this) - well done Simon.

(And you really should join in here)

[Jonah]

Looks like he's also the first to go a bit hyper this year?

[teethgrinder]

I almost never travel up north for an event. It's a lot of hassle and costs a bit of money. Too far to cycle to the start in time for the start of the ride after finishing work on a Friday. But this was a 600. Not just any 600, but one that goes to a few places I' never visited before, plus being a challenging 600, rather than, just a 600. That, and being on a Bank Holiday weekend, I had to give it a go.
The parts I thought would be bad, especially the A66 after Penrith, weren't bad at all.
There wasn't a sleep control at night, but that wasn't much of an issue because I never expected to have much time in hand for sleep anyway. I did get about 30 mins in a church porch and another 10 in a bus shelter.
The route was very good. All scenic. I did do my own route to dodge Windermere and Lancaster though. Ambleside to Windermere was a big traffic jam and I was glad to get out of that, but it did mean some extra hills.
It was a bit hilly too. I've never walked that many hills on any event. I did more miles of walking than I do when I go out for a walk! I would have probably walked less if I put my back wheel in the right way around and used 52/20 instead of 52/17. I discovered this at the first control, but thought that I was going well enough and that it would be good training for Crackpot, 10A and Maniac this month and that I could still flip the wheel round if I wanted to, which I never did.

Definitely worth the trip up. I might have to do this one again, even if it means booking days off work.
I think I'd keep it anti clockwise. The start was a bit of a main road bash for a while and the last section was a very good finish to a 600. Especially the bit along the river.

[Bianchi Boy]

The date for next year's event has been provisionally set for the weekend of: 22-23 June 2013, possibly riding in a clockwise direction, with minor changes to the route.

I DNF'd and want to ride, and finish, this next year (other social activities allowing). I think there is some merit in running the route clockwise. Any sleep control provided could be Barnard Castle (365km) or Stokesley  (420km). The lake district would be tackled in the morning and could well have lower traffic volumes. Hexham Pizza stop would be slightly earlier in the route. Barnard Castle could be a problem control as there may be no 24 facilities available. The passes of the Lake District would be replaced by the steep climbs in the Moors.

I would be happy with either way round.

[HyperSi]

OK, I have been drawn out of hiding!
I thought the Pendle 600 was a great ride though I couldn't pick a favourite out of the it, the BCM and K&SW. It was by far the hardest of the three (not helped by a 100 mile spin to Box Hill with by brother on the Thursday) as there was no chance for sleep given the arduous terrain and the regular food stops (good strategy Millepete).
Prior to this year all of my big rides have been done as solo perms, I have found the company on all of the calendar big rides this year to be most enjoyable and very helpful in minimising the low points you get at 3am.
I hope to ride the Pendle again next year but only if I can get some serious miles in the legs and start without sleep debt.

[Reg.T]

Yay! Welcome aboard Simon.

[teethgrinder]

I hope to ride the Pendle again next year but only if I can get some serious miles in the legs and start without sleep debt.

So, a 600 each weekend for the 2 weeks before wasn't enough miles in the legs?
How many will you do next year?

[vorsprung]

I hope to ride the Pendle again next year but only if I can get some serious miles in the legs and start without sleep debt.

So, a 600 each weekend for the 2 weeks before wasn't enough miles in the legs?
How many will you do next year?

er yes. 

Your younger, taller form on a newer, shinier bike rampaging up hills faster than I could manage on the BCM and the KSW was quite off putting    I did my best to put you off with my creaking carbon fibre but it didn't work

After the KSW600 even my legs felt ready for anything, so I have to agree with TG- more miles? No

[teethgrinder]

I wasn't trying to discourage HyperSi from doing more miles. I was just asking how many more he thought was needed.
I don't think I'm the right one to go telling people not to do so many miles. Besides, doing miles must have worked.

[HyperSi]

I had harboured ambitions for an altitude SR series for about three years but various reasons (lack of fitness, low summer motivation, cracked Yukon frame, stupidly high winds across Ribblesdalehead in October) had meant that I crashed and burned.
This season I saw the 3 big 600s and specifically trained to do them as I wanted to do rides which were my old favourites as well as seeing some new places (esp. Wales and the West Country), I have done some of Andy's perms so I knew the Pendle was going to be hard.
A comparatively mild winter up North meant that I could even get a 300 done in February and the heat wave in March allowed a very early "flat" SR series with the long rides done on my much loved 28 year old Dawes Renown with a full Camper Longflap. Carrying all this weight resulted in me shedding a stone so moving to Al and Ti bikes was like taking the brakes off.
A comfortable (though sub zero at night) Northern Pennines Grimpeur 400 in early May told me that I was ready to do the 600s in the style I wanted to do them (no walking!) which had been my target for the year.
Not sure how many more miles now but thinking that I should go for an altitude hyper series. I have cards for the Devil and Airbourne Grimpeurs and might think about the Maniac once the nights warm up a bit. There are also still 2 good altitude 600s in the calendar.
I am looking forward to reading the RR for the 10A, Maniac and Crackpot, good luck with them in the words of Wayne and Garth "we are not worthy".

[Andy Corless]

Congratulations once again to the 11-riders who completed the first Pendle 600.

This was an exceptionally hard ride with over 10000m of climbing and some long stretches between controls.

After leaving Pendleton, the event started off with the traditional main-road bash along the A59, before the first climbs over Pateley Bridge on the way to the first control at Ripon. A pleasant ride through the lanes to the south of Thirsk followed before the first of the really tough sections over the North Yorkshire Moors, rewarding the riders with some fabulous views on the descent to Robin Hood's Bay.

The night section around the Northern Pennines followed before the flattest part of the route along the A66, eventually climbing over Ennerdale Moor to the rest/sleep control in the coastal town of Seascale.

Finally, after the pleasant ride through southern Lakeland, the riders had the dreadful passes of HardKn*tt & Wryn*se to tackle in quick succession, before the last leg through Bowland back to the finish , which of course included the famous "Trough" .

The date for next years event has been set for the weekend of: 22-23 June 2013, with some slight variations to the route. In other words, cutting out some of the "boring" flat bits.

The event now appears in the Audax calendar and entries are now open.

Hope to see some of you again next year.

Andy Corless
Organiser
Pendle 600

[PeeJay]

One of my highlights of this year,  Very tempted to do this ride again next year.

Destined to become a classic methinks

Can't say I remember any flat bits, nevermind boring flat bits

[DrMekon]

Hmm - harbouring thoughts of forgetting York Langholm York and doing this instead.

Negotiations with MrsMekon begin tomorrow!