THE MILLE PENNINES 1,000KM + LEL 2017 – SO NEAR, SO FAR
Robert Bialek takes on a 1,000km ride through some of Northern England’s most stunning but hilly countryside. Offering 12.75 AAA points for 13,000m of climbing, it’s not a ride for the faint-hearted. So on a chilly mid-summer morning we join Robert as he takes on the…
WORDS ROBERT BIALEK PICTURES DEAN CLEMETSON
Mille Pennines
my hardest ride… so far
FRIDAY: DAY 1
Finding the Community Centre in Blackpool with two hours to spare was a relief. The start was10.00am, the weather overcast, and I was apprehensive of what the undertaking would involve. I went hell for leather for 59km in a peloton of seven to Arnside in just two hours. Rain persisted all the way to The Lakes and through Ambleside to the Whinlatter Pass control. I got back for 23.30 and the seven-foot giant, Andreas, served me with a green pasta dish. I managed just six cups of tea. In the gym I had to wait for a lilo to become available. Cramp in my right hamstring woke me – I was ready for the off at 04.30. 32
ArrivéeWinter/Spring2018
SATURDAY: DAY 2
It was freezing cold. My feet and fingers grew numb. I missed a turn, and had to retrace 13km to the road to Garsdale Head, turning a 27km leg into 40. I didn’t find the infamous Buttertubs a big problem. At Stanhope others were coming and going so I stopped at a bakery and had lots of pastries and cake. A mistake, as this left me parched, with lots of climbing to undertake right in the heat of the day. I found myself riding alongside Kelvin Amos, so we teamed up. Long uphill drags followed by seemingly short descents got us to the Kielder shop for 16.54 where I drank lots of juice. Taking the lead to Langholm, Stage
8; and then Stage 9 to Penrith, the rapid 25km in just one hour gave me sore knees and buttocks. A wrong roundabout exit into Carlisle delayed us but eventually we got back on the road to Penrith. It was 22.42 and we took a long time on the roads to the Shap area. After a slow climb we caught a bunch of five riders. After this our sevenman peloton just flew along to Tebay where four went left under the motorway and on to rough roads, but Rob, Kelvin and I continued going up, up and up on the main road eventually taking a left from where we took the long and windy lanes through woods and hedge-covered hairpins. I lost sight of the others for
