FRED – Undisputed KING of Sportives. Amateur Cycling Superbowl #Fredwhitton2024

In this video, you join me revisiting the one and only Fred Whitton Challenge, the most challenging sportive in the UK with our very own amateur Alpe D’Huez amphitheater, Hardknott Pass – Wembley for the MAMILs and MAMIL-esses !

I previously completed ‘the Fred’ in 2021 and wanted to see if my fitness was up to the job for a rinse and repeat, following what has been two years of rebuilding, progressing ….. and regressing…. following my accident.

Over the past few months, I’ve been rigorously preparing for this epic ride using Zwift training sessions to build strength and endurance. Following an amazing weekend with Lee Baxter and Tony Cope navigating the final 3 climbs of the Fred Whitton….. in both directions (see recent video), it was time to raise the bar taking them on with 140km in the legs !

Join me as I navigate the stunning yet grueling 180 km course through the Lake District, sharing the road with 3,000 other passionate cyclists “enjoying” the breathtaking scenery and the formidable climbs that make this event legendary, including Kirkstone Pass, Honister Pass, Newlands, Whinlatter Hardknott Pass and Wrynose. I was targeting a full gas solo sub 7 hours vs 7hours 43mins last time around.

Massive thanks to the big team who organise this spectacular event each year, and also the sensational crowds and supporters along the way who provide an incredible atmosphere and boost, cheering us on through every tough climb and descent.

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Thanks ever so much for all of your support! And whoever you are, what ever your do, please remember to LIVE THRIVE AND STAY HEALTHY !

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well welcome one and all to bik racing without Mercy a top kirkstone pass for what I hope will be my full gas frad fingers crossed see how the legs are first climb felt okay a long long way to go morning morning love the pink top I watched your video oh thank you nice job love you canelle sir what time are you going for today hopefully 7 seven good luck you too hope you have a good ride now for The Descent timey to put the camera away the Fred witton is the king and queen of sportives but there’s no Pomp and Circumstance on the start line quite the opposite in fact because life well life is relaxed and folk well it can set off at any time they choose between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. I myself departed at 6:45 fueled by a breakfast of Pancakes and honey the choice of one of the cycling Super Bowl champions by the way the hitters they leave in a turbocharged peltin at 7:30 a.m. sharp morning thank you thank you thank you confident in my mission to ride the 182 km 3,800 M of vertical I proceeded in a flurry of good mornings and thank yous and I’m pretty sure that that’s what they do in a pro pelaton as you can see it is fast and flowing on route to the second climb Park Brown second climb of the day but what a climb however in Less Pleasant years I dropped my first water bottle so I’ve only got one with the cars checking back in on the second climb near the top feeling good but I got a the water it’s quite hot here honister is incoming the level of concern is high legs they’re not feeling in great shape but we’ll see how they Fair on the proper steep stuff the 20 25% ramps I need to replace my liquids probably this for wind latter what a morning though what a morning thank you very much thank you oh oh hello this traffic jam all right time to put this away thank you thank you much appreciate oh CR fantastic CL I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t congratulating me for my bike handling as I just about managed to circumnavigate the car oh dear me here’s a nice little wall it turned out to be well a little bit more congested than I remembered it from 2021 at Hollister and the and windl and hardner and rhinos there’s nothing that you can’t achieve it’s brilliant go come through the middle that was sketchy note to self in the future announce intend to go through the middle before actually attempting to go through the middle average gradients are a relevant in the late district and at best provide guidance on the nature of the Despicable ramps hidden within the eminently digestible average on your straa app now Hollister clocks in at 2 km at 10.6% but that really means wall steep wall steep wall recover steep for a few moments I got to just let the data and a super low high talk RPM in the lowest gear to 34 on a rear plus the heavy breathing do all the talking okay time flies we’re mixing the challenge of 20% gradients whilst plotting a delicate course at galaal PACE with a heart rate of 175 BPM but it does make for a nice fil I was this in comparison I’m not I wasn’t quite as fit I wasn’t quite as I’m not quite as fit now where are you from me I’m from Belfast oh very nice yeah what’s your name johnj nice one John Jo yeah good to see you man good to see you good luck you too have a good ride dear me that was busy going up that steep ramp a bit sketchy I’m Hing hard knots like that anyway upwards upwards we go feels kid to get harest under the belt newand comes not long after thank you thank you it’s been an accident it’s easily done pick up a lot of speed down here and these Corners are tighter than they look thank you oh the smell of dis brakes all kinds of dust thank you oh dear me it’s that being this overcooked not withstanding my fast diminishing water because it was so busy I decided to press on with the original plan and replenish just before wind latter turned out not to be the best decision postcard perfect wo good Good to Be Alive newand here we come now the 1.9 km of newand pass has an average gradient of 10.1% but in late District speak that really means steep wall steep recover steep ratcheting up into wall Newlands and honister are the mammal and mammals Conference Championship Games big big cycling events individually but today precursors to pedaling into the natural Amphitheater that is hard not pass M left oh dear with the ever changing gradients the density of the carbon traffic I really found it hard to hit my rhythm and here I’d have been in my easiest gear around 60 to 70 rpm and that’s with a 36 in the front and a 34 on the rear struggling to get into rhythm today brief respite here but nonetheless welcome whilst the road comprising newand pass is unclassified with the as felt well more than a little bit agricultural in places it is an absolute Peach of a climb with Incredible views over the Newlands Valley on the left and A procession of mammals and meses making our way through the Fred Wht playoffs the challenge of navigating in and around the Fred Wht and traffic whilst admiring the exceptional views provides a very nice ion from all of the effort being expended anyway the middle again thank you middle again yeah as you can see it’s the nature of the climbing steep through perpendicular plus the narrow passes and the sticky Road surfaces that make this such hard terrain to Traverse anytime especially so with a high volume carbon traffic and some cars the roads after all are only closed around hard knot rhos and bleed D me and with a clear run it was time to get the hammer down well find out if there’s a hammer to get down from me whil the descends from honister Newlands and as you’re going to see windl and rhinos are not bestowed with hair pins I think they’re all some of the most exceptional descents in the UK if not the world fast and luxurious but as always in the leges you must treat them with maximum respect well that’s Newland done and the descend on route to windl [Music] now somewhere around here there was an emergency refreshment here we go thank you very much so I’m just putting in here thank you it’s going to be a full gas Fred but I find myself in the te- room thank you oh what’s that it’s my little camera thank you very much you’re a lifesaver I Dro I dropped my bottles now now I’ve got my liquids I’ve scavenged and I’ve hunted and I found a t- room thank you thank you very much good luck thank [Applause] you hey oh to there TC guys great riding well done a top win L more late this week Hospitality Supreme [Applause] leg thank [Music] you I’ve been having a bit of a moment definitely the stop didn’t do anything keep it I felt a bit gassed in that Hill starting to get a confidence back towards the end but definitely had a little moment there like what am I doing here on the Fred again anyway onwards and downwards thank you you thank you thank you thank you thank [Applause] you well I’ve been having a moment since about Wing latter but I think that climb I think it was Fang’s brow I actually started to feel half decent again so fingers crossed I do reboot cuz oh dear me I’ve been to quite a dark place thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you [Music] coold fell a bit less cold than the last time I rode it the legs continue to wake up a little bit [Music] a change of battery and a Splash and Dash the run into hardn up pass for the very first time seems innocuous there’s no obvious sign of there being a 2.2 km stretch of tarmac with an irrelevant average gradient of 13.3% on the run into hard knot and I think is added to its Armory of cyclist deterant poth holes steep Rams is out of a headwind cheers 145 km in just under 6 hours are going to fall well short of my ambition of a 7h hour Fred witon 182 in total anyway I’ve not been on a great day all day legs have sometimes been there sometimes not just trying to feel good get the pedaling stroke nice ahead of Mr hard knau I’m going to ease myself into this I hope on my wrecky on Friday I got a nose bleed as I enter the final steep ramp on hard knot hoping to f a little bit better today I thought there was no cars on this thank you need did a bare minimum I’m in a smaller gear already trying to stay seated to control the power the reality of the climb is very much more Despicable than the irrelevant average gradient we ramps flavored as follows steep perpendicular steep perpendicular steep recover on a cruising section at a 10% average gradient into Steve Wall I want my mommy wall Steve what the is this steep diminu Enda hard not pass during the Fred Wht is the mammal and mammal s’s sportive Super Bowl it is our very own version of outar for the pros during a tour to front yet naturally is very much more spectacular and without a doubt a very much more challenging Amphitheater forged over 460 million years ago rising out of the deep iapetus sea the predecessor to the Atlantic Ocean iapetus being the Greek father of Atlas AKA atlanticus in Latin you can see how it’s all formed anyway I digress my apologies forged for a fusion of three continents resulting in an arch of volcanic eruption and earthquakes together hammering out an Eminence of rock and copper Rich minerals Furnishing our route with a dramatic and imposing chunk of geology upon which we now Ascend at a fittingly galaal velocity on left sorry then came the Romans who I think we can all agree understood how to build an Amphitheater they laid down the first road to Traverse hardn not in 110 ad under the emperor hadrien all I am reliably informed not to connect three forts to allow the Romans to control the region not at all instead all with the foresight of hosting a truly epic cycling games for the people 1900 years later pitching man woman and carbon machine against hard Knot’s arsenal of perpendicular gradients hair pins potholes and today a gladiatorial headwind yeah good how are you YouTube channel did I spot you yeah yeah yeah only watching your video in the week thank you I appreciate that good content all thank you very much catch him sorry to catch him what a spot by me yeah indeed you’ve done well what behind all the glasses and the helmet how you feeling great oh yeah me too have you done this before no first time I’ll back a bit of energy here so thank you for the videos it’s a pleasure really helped I’m glad I’m I’m really pleased about that no no thank you hi there thank you much appreciated yeah quite a headwind annually in the 21st century the Fred Witten games throws Down The Gauntlet to a broad Church of contenders there’s the super fit the tenacious the dreamers the chancers and the overgeared there’s steel carbon titanium Walkers surgers Grinders in the saddle out the saddle all of us with jobs and everyday stresses all of us focused entirely on the moment in the present fighting our own private battles are demons all of us dreamers Unleashed to test ourselves and prove to our eles alone that we are not going to succumb to a life more ordinary yes friends I respectfully present to you our amateur cycling Super Bowl for the People by the people in honor of the late and great Fred witon the ultimate Showcase of amateur cycling Endeavor Supreme on on come on come on keep it coming come on you can’t stop now you done it come on go go go come on come on go go yes well on keep it going on keep going and as always on gradients like these especially when fatigued it’s the ability to deploy the super high torque that keeps him moving in a straight line I reckon all the work in the gym on the lower body and the core definitely pays off here taking the opportunity to pamper myself and recover to the max stealing myself ahead of the WTF [Music] ramp level your last kick guys keep going bridge to engine room deploy ramming speed go m anyway for me personally there is nothing to compare with completing this climb 150 km deep into a big name event with 3,000 M of elevation on the belt yeah I mean for sure there are ASCS in other fondos which are gnarly and cobbled or covered in steep white gravel some which are magnitudes longer or higher or more Majestic there’s even a few more spectacular but there is something unique and intangible here in the Lake District National Park try it thank you that was Beauty and hair pins on the desent but perambulating with extreme [Music] Care thank you thank you very much thank you thank you thank you very much thank you no question that was the hardest hard KN I’ve ever done oh dear me it was emotional proper emotional but I feel elated to have got it done in what has not been the best legs day just trying to flush the lactate out ahead of rhinos it’s got a nasty sting in the tail really trying to conserve energy here hey hey it really does kick up it’s easy to go a little bit too quickly here and then find the final ramp a little bit emotional I just want to survive up it not exactly a lofty ambition average power after 6 hours 35 minutes 160 and now you can see clearly The Sting in the tail and is a nasty sting especially with 156 km in the legs and hard not just behind us AR you all right a few very brief steep RS aside The Sting in a tail means perfect for a negative split gradually fettle up the power [Music] an accommodating gradient here giving just enough time to bring down a power a little and also the heart rate ahead of rebuilding for the final assault as is so often the case in this part of the world it doesn’t hurt to deploy a little bit of late District star a bit of on off on off the power hour before the final Crescendo Che time now to burn all of the remaining matches Engage The spluttering After Burner and deploy ramming power anyway [Music] [Music] and at last time to safely touch down the Viller on the summit of the final difficult climb on fumes and with both of the afterburners on fire Jimmy you remember as well I’m elated truly elated that was touch and go the endorphins are PE thank you very much thank you thank you ever so much thank you thank you very much thank you thank you very much thank you very much thank you thank you very much thank you very much it’s about 7 hours 35 minutes including the stop time oh medals this time not certificates medals there’s medals I do have a medal thank you ever so much well done look at that last time a cut this time a medal I’m happy with the medal thank you you made my day medals get certificate as well oh certificate as well oh certificate and a medal does life get any better than that to the [Music] climbers the beer spoils thank you ever so much oh cold cold enough aside Sor thank you cheers is that’s a lot you work I did oh man that’s good thank you