Jade Is Back! Lakeland 200 Round 2.1

Jade is back! After staking her claim on the Lakeland 200 for another attempt, things didn’t quite go to plan. We think this makes a better story and is perfect for our brave riders heading out to tackle the Lakeland 200 on the weekend of the 19th-21st August.

In March I rode the Lakeland 200 over five days with some of the Steezies, and it was magical. We pedalled, pushed and laughed our way round the Lake District in glorious sunshine, and enjoyed plenty of cafe and pub stops as well as the excellent trails. We had found that there were no women on the (admittedly very short) finishers list for the route on SelfSupportedUK.net, and we had made it our mission for 2022 to change that, starting with a leisurely route recce. To get on the list you need to finish the route within 40 hours, and I spent a lot of time over our five days thinking about if that was possible for me. By the time we rolled back into Staveley I had decided that I really wanted to try.

In May Sally Ozanne became the first female finisher of the route, and set an incredibly speedy FKT of 22 hours 50 minutes. There is a great video on her Instagram (@salozanne) which captures her very impressive ride. The bar had been set, and the Steezy Collective started organising a mass finish for women in the summer, for any women who wanted to give the route a go. Top Adventure Filmmaker, Catherine (@_catherine_dunn), was going to film the attempts and we would also self-document our rides.

Four months later I was back in Staveley. This time I was not carrying any camping kit and I was determined to ride the entire route in one go and hoping that I could finish within 40 hours. I had added up my riding time for the route over the five days (22 hours) and was trying to figure out the correct equation to convert that to an estimated finishing time. (22 hours – (additional weight of camping kit + post covid fatigue) + stopping time) x an exhaustion coefficient? I thought I might be able to finish in 35 hours, if everything went well. I had invited Cat, who I met on the Highland Trail, and convinced her to also come and give it a crack. She had never ridden through the night before and was keen to try, and I was sure she would manage a sub 40 hour finish having seen how strong a rider she was. A third woman, Jenni, was also having an attempt, and I was hoping to meet her as I’m a fan of her podcast (Conversations with Dr Jen). Jenni set off Friday evening while Cat and I had a nice meal in the pub in Staveley. After dinner we were briefed by Catherine, found a little camp spot, and fell asleep just as a little pitter patter of rain drops started.

It was raining when we got up at 4 am, and it was raining when we started riding at 5. I had been checking the forecasts, and they assured me that it would rain heavily in the morning but would dry up around lunchtime, and it was going to be warm, so I wasn’t put off by the steady rain as we headed towards Ambleside. The first section of the route is arguably the easiest, and despite the rain and exceptionally slippy rocks we made good time as we looped round Lake Windermere and rode into Grizedale Forest. In March there were a few sections of trail which had been exceptionally slow going due to fallen down trees, and I was thankful to find they had all been cleared.

We kept pushing until Coniston, where we snagged the last table in a Cafe and enjoyed an early lunch and a brief respite from the rain. We had set off at the same time knowing we rode at a similar pace, and had agreed that we wouldn’t actively try to stay together, but that if we so happened to stay on a similar schedule and pace, so be it. We had some very interesting chats, as well as some long sections were we both just rode near each other, deep in our own thoughts. With the adverse weather stopping was only enticing when there was somewhere to shelter from the rain, so we didn’t end up drifting apart. We did not draft or gear share, and stuck to the self supported rules, but I was glad for the company!

Catherine surprised us as we climbed past Old Man Coniston, and jogged along side us filming for a while despite the usually epic view being shrouded in cloud. She let us know that Jenni had unfortunately had to scratch after a leaky bivvy bag resulted in all of her sleeping kit getting soaked. We had the first bit of hikeabike near the top before some very enjoyable singletrack through bracken taller than we were. The rain didn’t let up, and we stopped for an early dinner in Eskdale where the very lovely landlady laughed at the state of us upon arrival and covered her seats with bin bags before letting us sit. The next section over to Wasdale Head had been rideable in March, but was so waterlogged this time that riding the grassy parts was a struggle, and the rocky singletrack had turned into a stream. I kept telling Cat – there is usually a brilliant view here!

Soon we were onto Black Sail Pass, and the big hikeabike section. Well trained in hikeabike from the Highland Trail we were soon up and over, and I noticed the lights were on at Black Sail YHA as we carefully picked our way down the large rocks. A friendly man invited us in but warned us it was very cosy and warm inside, and it certainly was! A hiker who was staying asked me where we were heading after commenting we were out very late, and I think I really confused him with my reply of ‘all the way round the Lake District and back to Staveley’. After chomping down half a wedge of brie I left the lovely little dining room and started the Scarth Gap hikeabike as the sun set, dreaming up plans to return to stay at the YHA as soon as possible.

Darkness fell and the headtorches were turned on. I haven’t mentioned it for a while, but the rain was still going. Every so often I felt sure it had stopped, but it just occasionally got so light that i was unable to notice it through my exceptionally drenched clothes. After so many hours of continuous rain everything was completely waterlogged, despite me wearing a waterproof coat and shorts, and the wet clothes were starting to chafe. However, as I had cheerfully pointed out to Cat while wading through bog earlier, it certainly made the going quicker and easier once you were so thoroughly soaked you no longer needed to try and avoid getting wetter! We noticed some lights ahead of us on the trail as we descended towards the road, and it turned out to be Steezy’s very own Kitty and Alice, come from Aardrock to take some photos and see how we were getting on! They were surprised to see us so early as they had thought we’d be coming down from Scarth Gap a lot later in the night, and as we plodded up Honnister Pass road climb they documented our state. After a quick chat, some snacks and a grumpy man at Honnister YHA shouting at us for filling up our water bottles we left Kitty and Alice and continued into the night.

I thought that it wouldn’t be long until Keswick, as it looked mostly downhill, however I was starting to feel a little mentally fatigued. In the dark with the trail being so wet and waterlogged it was slow going as I picked my way carefully, keen to avoid any crashes. Cat spotted a very welcoming looking church just before Keswick, and since it was too late for anything to be open in Keswick we decided to bob inside for a break from the relentless rain, some snacks and a little nap.

An hour later we were off again, and after some seemingly never ending climbs we finally dropped into Keswick. We warmed up on the long climb out of Keswick, and were soon on my favourite bit of gravel in the Lakes. I tried to explain to Cat how good the view usually was as we traversed the Skiddaw Mountain Biking loop. It hadn’t stopped raining since we started, but as we descended to Threkeld the heavens really opened, and the rain became so heavy we could barely see. We pulled into the porch of Threkeld Village Hall just before 5 am.

I had been riding in the rain for 24 hours, and I reckoned that I would take another 10 to 12 hours to finish, everything going well, but it would be raining for at least 5 of those hours. I actually enjoy riding in the rain, so it was interesting to find out that I had a limit on that, and it was about 20 hours. I sat for a while, getting colder and mulling over my options. I wasn’t really having fun anymore, because of being so wet, and despite feeling physically up for continuing I wasn’t sure I could take 12 more hours of chafing. I also did not want to have to have any time off the bike in August because I’d chafed away too much of my skin. I was questioning what the point of continuing in the rain was, when I could come back and ride the route in better conditions. I was happy with my ride so far, and was on schedule for a finish time I would be happy with, despite the weather. I felt like I could finish, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to bother. I had been fantasising about being dry since Black Sail Pass, and at that point I thought I’d rather be dry then finish. However I knew that as soon as I was dry, the regret would kick in and I would start to beat myself up about not finishing and giving up. It was quite a conundrum!

I knew that if I was racing I would have kept going and finished, but without that extrinsic motivation it was easier to stop. The perk of an ITT is that you can do it whenever you like, and I imagine that most attempts are on weekends with optimum weather! I was ready to stop, especially as we might make it to Pooley Bridge before the cafes even opened, and I could tell Cat was feeling similarly. If we had been able to get some hot drinks and sit in the dry and warm for an hour or so there and then, things may have ended differently, however it was not to be. We officially scratched, put on our remaining dry tops, we had carefully horded one each, and waited for a rescue lift to arrive. At around 6 am a very lovely Scout Leader noticed us huddled in the doorway and invited us into the village hall for a well needed cup of tea.

6 hours later the sun was shining in Staveley and I was incredibly annoyed with myself for not carrying on.

But don’t worry, Jade will be back for more on the 19th-21st August!