Tour of Blencathra...

This was taken a couple of years ago when I did the circuit with Mum..I thought it would be an excellent one to give another test to the demo bike..poor Gill being sidelined with a migraine this morning..hopefully back on her feet to do Newlands tomorrow.

The weather was gorgeous and the bike actually worked pretty well for the most part. It is certainly heavier than the hardtail and made the climbing hard work - although it was a lot better than expected on the road climb up to the Blencathra centre. The fact that I am nowhere near as cycling fit as I was last year also has to be taken into account as well when I assess the bike. Descending wise it is clearly better and gives a much more confy ride...although again this could in part be down to be more a better ride on the back of the Morrocco trip. A snakebite puncture slowed me down a bit; however to finish in a total time of 2 1/2 hrs is pretty good and I am more than pleased. Did start to feel it on the final road section from the bottom of Mosedale back to the car at Mungrisedale - regrettably the Quaker Meeting House cafe was not open today so no cup of tea to speed me on my way for the last bit.....