Originally Posted by
Travs
What a fantastic day today.. absolutely perfect conditions, bright and clear, but not too hot. Fantastic support at the checkpoints and out on the fells.
Carl Bell... absolutely awesome... by the time we'd done a couple of hundred yards and the road straightened enough to see how it was shaping up, he already had 20 metres lead over the rest. And at Lanthwaite Green he was about 100 metres up the first climb before anyone else even reached the Fell wall... absolutely mind-blowing what he did today.
As for my race, very happy overall. Had a crazy idea in my head that I was going to knock an hour off my 2016 time, and I knew that meant a consistent 2nd half from Honister, so I made the decision never to red-line it. Despite that I was quite comfortably just behind a group on the first climb which contained the likes of Steve Birkenshaw, Spyke, Dave Lund, Daz Tindersticks and DanGilbert. A casual glance at where they finished compared to me, show that I can certainly climb, it's the rest of it that's my problem! Perfectly demonstrated on the steep descent from Whiteless Pike when the mid-pack surrounding me went hurtling past and I just couldn't match it. Lord only knows how fast the front guys threw themselves down there.
Despite all that I was 12 mins up on last time at Newlands, and 24 mins up at Honister, although starting to feel the fatigue, and the first cramp hit just before Inominate Tarn. Held on grimly over High Stile and it wasn't until the descent down Scale Force that I made my first mistake of the day. Crossed to the "easy" left bank much too early and ended up on steep heather and rock, and trying to back track bought on massive amounts of cramp. But obviously when looking at the splits, I kept it together much better than last time.
Recovered to climb well up Mellbreak, and a strong run in, making up about 5 places down the valley. I knew I was close to being an hour up on last time, and a manic sprint finish up the hill. A look at my printout confirmed I was an hour and two seconds ahead of last time... job done! 6hrs15, 205th.
A little astounded to see Bill Fellupfelldown at the finish, as he was two minute behind me at Mellbreak, and beat me by two minutes without me ever seeing him on the descent!!
So a massive pb and still room to improve. If I can sort out the minor route errors, and more endurance in the legs (although even the front runners were telling tales of having to sit down at points today), then I can hopefully clear 6 hours next time.
Hello to the forumites I saw.... Tindersticks, DanGilbert, Fellupfelldown... sorry if I've forgotten anyone, my brain is struggling this evening.
Pete