The legbreaker 2009

Well I've already decided on an event for 2009. Yes I will be riding the legbreaker again. Now the reason I am so sure of this is that I received an email this morning explaining that they still had heard nothing about an expected delivery date for the Jersey's (I had ordered one when I entered) so they were going to refund the cost of the Jersey and also include a free entry to next years event as a goodwill gesture. Since I have really enjoyed this event the last two years and still have to ride the long route, I am really looking forward to this!

Pendle pedal

I'm still looking happy at the start, fortunately there are no pictures of me at the finish!

Well today was the pendle pedal, last year I rode the short route 100km (60miles) and it nearly killed me, it was the furthest I'd been on a bike and definitely the hardest ride I'd ever done. Well a year later and I was back this time to ride the longer 160km (100miles route). It was actually a little longer this year as well, just to be kind to us! They say there is over 3200m of climbing on the long route so I knew I was in for a tough day. I made sure I was there for the first wave off, I've found that these rides are populated by very fit men and so I am usually one of the slowest, I didn't want to be last back off the road. At 8:04am I was away and the start was fine, a few little hills but I was feeling fine. It wasn't long before we reached Waddington Fell and it definitely felt easier than last year, it was still very hard near the end though. At this point Jon came past I grabbed onto his wheel till the top, where he flew off down the hill and I was a little more cautious, my max speed was set on this descent at 37.5mph (60km/h)! After that I knew the next bit of road and decided to miss the feed station at Slaidburn, it was a little off the route and I still had plenty to eat and drink.

After this it seemed to get harder, a little worrying as I'd only done 60km (my computer was set in km) and my back was hurting. When I rolled into the next feed station, where you had to ride over the mat to show you had done the full distance, I was surprised to see Jon there. I had soon recruited him into helping me fill up my bottles which were getting low and I grabbed a bannan. Apparently he had got a sandwich from someone who was handing them out of the back of a car. I missed that a sandwich would have been nice. We set off from there and I soon lost Jon, he is a lot stronger on the hills, but rolling into the next feed station, who was there, yes Jon. He was struggling with cramp so we stayed together most of the way to the next feed station. Bu this point my back and legs were very sore and I knew we still had to get over Nick o pendle, a climb I remember having to stop on twice last year. I lost Jon after this feed station, but surprisingly Nick o Pendle was okay - well it was hard I struggled but I never felt like I needed to stop! You'd think it would be all downhill from there but no it felt like we just kept going uphill. At this point I seemed to be really struggling, I noticed that my hands were a little shakey and was worried I would bonk, so I stopped and guzzled two gels and a couple of chocolate bars, at that point I realised I really hadn't eaten enough of the food in my pockets. Back on the bike and I dug hard, I wanted to get through 100miles before 8hours - I had it in my head this was 164km, its a little less. But I went through 164km in 7:59:45 so 100miles was definetly done in under 8 hours (that included all stopped time) ao something to cross off my aims. I wonder how fast I could do a faster route?

The next marshall told me I was in the next mile and it was flat after the bridge, amazingly it was. I rolled across the line as Ali ran up saying I was too fast and she hadn't got the camera ready. I was so pleased with my time, I was aiming for sub 9 hours.

Offical time: 08:05:46

Riding time: 07:51:52

Distance: 103.52miles

Average HR: 145bpm

3118m climbed

Edit:

According to the results, I was the 3rd female back. The fastest female time being 07:54:51 by Jonny Hughes and the fastest overall time was 05:43:04 by Phil Ellison

I found the results here

The legbreaker

Well after only 4 hours sleep I headed off to leek to ride the legbreaker. I really wanted to do the long route but after so little sleep and a lot of talking to by Mr and Mrs NBT I had decided to do the short route, only 72km with 1700m of climbing. I was later starting than I planned and hadn't really thought about clothes, I needed armewarmers with me really. I plodded round letting everyone pass me, I certainly felt like the slowest on the road. I met Jon at the first feed station, he had broken some spokes. After a chat and some food I headed on. I knew I could have worked harder but I didn't want to kill my legs!

In the end I was a little slower than last year but I did it!

45miles
Average HR 124bpm
Average Speed - very very slow

Etape du dales

Well today was the etape du dales, I had began to wonder why I had entered it, it seemed a very hard ride. Pete came and picked me up at 5am and we headed off to get an early start. I think we were both worried that it we would miss the cut-off after 69miles. As it turns out I rode better than I think I have before. My official finishing time was 9:07:28 which gives me an overall average of 12.1mph.

total distance 110.8miles
Total climbing 3500m
Average moving speed 12.7mph
Average HR 146bpm