Down the Wrynose Pass

After some days off the cycle trainer and also off blipping (for different reasons) I managed to get on the Tacx trainer, with video set for The Lake District, and continued my current ride — over the Hardknott Pass and the Wrynose, down to Ambleside and up to the top of the Kirkstone Pass (NB please disregard watts and cadence, both reading wrongly). I remember doing this for real a year or three ago, but having to push a heavy mountain bike up the 30% stretches of the Hardknott!

I also remember once storming the Hardknott on an 800cc BMW motorbike! And also, as a teenager, doing the Wrynose from the east on a 125 BSA Bantam, with my future wife, also a teenager, on the pillion. Half way up she had to get off and walk, and eventually I also had to get off and run beside the bike, trying to control clutch, twist grip and steering as best I could. On the same trip we went over the Kirkstone, in the rain, and when we stopped at the bottom the raindrops were 'pinging' off the overheated brake drums like spit off an iron! Happy days!