Ride With Brad

"Come and join me on a challenging ride through the stunning Lancashire countryside and experience the roads and climbs I regularly train on.  This brand new event has been specially organised to help celebrate the launch of the Bradley Wiggins Foundation.  I look forward to welcoming you all and riding alongside many of you on what will be a special day for all the family."

Bradley Wiggins CBE

August 19th at 0430 I set off to do what it said on the tin and "Ride with Brad" With so much hype about Mr Wiggins after the Tour de France and the Olympics, I thought it best to be there in plenty of time to park and the route I'd signed up for was to set off at 0830.
There were 2 routes: 160km and 100km. Having seen the profiles PLUS knowing I had to be in a fit state to drive home again, I chose the shorter route. A decision well made. Just look for yourself...it's mad! But great fun!!

The event start and village was set in the village of Barnoldswick, Lancashire (very borderline Yorkshire!) and is a set of routes Wiggo uses to regularly train on.

Below are a couple of snaps before I set off in the 0830 group. At this point, the weather was improving and by the time we set off, the sun was out! Happy days!!

preparing for the ride

even Mrs W is riding- nice bike!!!

Wiggo sets off

Where do I begin with describing this ride? Well, to say it was tough would be an understatement. As you avid readers know, I'm not the most experienced rider, but I've done all sorts ...Wales ...Switzerland ...all sorts. The first 30 miles were fine. Good company, nice little bunch to shelter in, yes lumpy but nothing I wasn't used to. And then it happened. A wall appeared in front of me in the form of a ridiculously steep hill...well that's how it seemed. I'd managed Waddington Fell which was a timed climb. No idea what the gradient was but that was fine. Forty Acre Lane seems to be where I was walking. Let me google that and see if it tells me the gradient...It's mentioned with Longridge Fell -no mention of steepness, but trust me...it was!

Slight delay- baa!

Wiggo signing autographs at a feed station

Okay, back on the bike and away I go. As the morning progresses, the weather begins to turn. It's still warm but the rain creeps in. Remember, what else you get with lots of climbing? Lots of descents! And what happens when it rains? Slippy roads! Descents + slippy roads = not good for cyclists. Personally, I was letting rip at up to 40mph IF I could see ahead. The rain just made the descents more technical and riding the brakes just in case. I must congratulate everyone on this ride- I haven't heard of any bad accidents which is brilliant. Usually you get one or two (Step forward Jon and Gavin!) but all was well.

course profile

The last 10 miles of this ride were shocking for me. We climbed and climbed and climbed...until I didn't think it possible to climb any more. Relentless...totally relentless and, dear reader, yes, I had to walk some more. Yet another hill finished me off!

As I ride, all sorts of rubbish enters my head. On this occasion, I sort of dawned on me that up to 12-15% gradients, I'm okay with. Short sharp 17%+ I can just about managed but not much more. I'm way happier with loooong drawn out 5-10% steady climbing similar to the Dragon RideBUT I reckon there was another factor contributing to this... I'd hardly eaten and been up since 0400 and was getting by on water and gels! Hmmm, not good but I finished and the finish was great. In fact there were people everywhere cheering us all on (though I've a feeling they might have been waiting to get a glimpse of Mr Wiggins!) and as we all pulled toward the finish line there was lots of cheering. Great end to a tough ride. I crossed the line in 4hrs 35mins. Considering everything, I was okay with that PLUS I got back ahead of Wiggo PLUS I got a better time than Eurosport commentator David Harmon :)

more finishers

Once back and parked up, I collected my goodie bag (good haul, thanks Brad!!) and food (boy was I hungry!!) and had a wander around the race village. There was lots going on: Sky rides for kids, displays, stalls, raffle etc and, despite the rain, a good crowd had turned out. I even met Steven Burke, gold medal olympic team track pursuit rider! Bonus! Nice medal mate!!

Finally Wiggo appeared on the stage to draw the raffle and accept a presentation from Barnoldswick and a very embarrassing female town crier (the words "shut up" and "get on with it" were heard more than once. Well, we were getting piss-wet-through as it was, by now, hammering it down!)

The rain subsided (a bit) and finally we got to meet Brad. Photos, autographs and some banter are a massive crowd pleaser and it made the rain not matter. A lot of people had finally met their hero. A great way to end a great day.

Steve n me (no idea wtf I'm looking at! lol)