http://app.strava.com/activities/69735121
We parked at top top of suprise view, and after a bit of debate as to if I sould change my 21rear cassette to a bigger 28, we concluded that "Nah it will be fine, i'll just pedal harder if it gets steep"
So we rocketed off down the decsent into hathersage and upto ladybower resevoir. Patrick still wasnt in great form after crashing and hurting his hip a few days before, so I was happy to sit in front and pace on the busy roads. We got onto strines moor and both imagined that it would make for a good backdrop for the tour of britain. Out there it really was a bit bleak the weather didn't know what it was doing and the moorland looked quite daunting.
A segment on strava called 'Can you handle the strines' sums up the next 25mins of cycling... http://app.strava.com/activities/69735121#1353696983
To be honest It was pretty tough and having a double and 21 started to seem like a stupid idea.. Basically there are 3 hills along the road. You drop down quickly into a valley before it rises up steeply again on the other side. The decsents are fast, tight, not very well surfaced and quite predictable in the fact that they are going to be unpredictable so after a bit of a scare going down the first we were much more cautious on the next two. The hills are not too long but each have a nasty kick in them at points 25%.
The next challenge was Holme Moss starting in holmefirth and a length of 7km @5% i had done this one before and like last time there was a headwind. This climb wears you down and the last mile is fairly steep at about 10% the road is marked at each 1/4mile and lets you know exactly how much longer is left... I wanted to get a good time up this one so set off quite fast but within my comfort. So as to save enough energy for the final part into the wind. I couldnt of gone much slower with that gear really as I was in the biggest sprocket for the last mile, Overall I felt pretty good and my pedaling felt powerful, so I pushed on a bit and upped the effort to the top... 1/2 a mile sounds like you are nearly done but lasts a lot longer than you think! as does the 200/100 yards at the end where I atempted to use anything left for a sprint. I was very pleased when home to find that I had got within the top 10 on the holme moss segments and for the second half of the climb had got a 2nd and a 4th, ahead of dean downing and tejvan on one segment :D http://app.strava.com/activities/69735121#1353696747
The decsent was somthing I was looking forward to, as I had gained a lot of confidence and ability decsending recently and it is supposed to one of the fastest where you can reach 85kph if a couple of are riding. The wind however was too strong and we got nowhere near that number.. after this we were pretty tired and decided to stop at a cafe we found at the side of torside reservoir. We had planned to stop at subway for lunch at glossop so didnt eat much. Little did we know how close glossop was to the cafe. Good job didnt eat much as 10mins later after a fast decsent we were in subway, eating meatball subs and sneakily filling our bottle up with coke ;)
Snake pass was the next hil and other than the climb back up to suprise view the last one. I wanted to go hard on this one and got a nice rhythm right away on the slopes through the town. I tried to stay seated throughout and keep a high cadence, the gear was good and I was determined not to change down. The first bend came and i thought i was nearing the top however a lot of this climb looks the same and after two times thinking i was near the top and a bit of struggling due to the length and pace I had chosen the road turned leveled off a little and I could see the cars parked. I still had energy to increase the pace for the top so put it into the big dog hurled the bike over the top. That felt quick and I didn't feel like i was ever fighting against the hill so I hoped a strava top 10 would be waiting for me. It was :)
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