Hardknott Pass – Simon Warren #84

• SW Rating: 10/10
• Wheelygood Rating: OMG
• Length: 1.38 miles
• Avg. gradient: 13%
• Category: 3 (Yes, really: only 3!)
• Strava Segment: https://www.strava.com/segments/6677392
• Parking: There are some small, off-the-road car parks at the bottom of the climb and a few places to stop towards the top too.

By an rational measure, this is a stupid piece of tarmac to try and cycle over … and yet it has become something of a badge of honour. Not to be taken lightly in either direction, but the ascent from the West is, for me, still the hardest climb I’ve ever taken on in England.

[Editor’s note: The description below comes from 2018 when I rode the Fred Whitton for the second time, despite having sworn I’d never, ever, do it again after the first. To give it some context, you’re the thick end of 100 miles into the event and only now do you take on the toughest hill of the entire route. Myself and a friend of mine, Paul C, had managed to get, and then hang, onto the back of a group along Eskdale, which is where the fun starts…]

We were towed all the way along the valley, which was great, but not without its issues, at least for me. At about 85 miles I started to struggle on the uphills. I figured it was just a bad patch and tried to ride through it for a bit. This didn’t work and I was perilously close to being dropped, which would have been embarrassing as the group was only travelling at about 16-17mph and I was sitting on the back. By this point, I’d resigned myself to not being able to ride up Hardknott – it’s a severe enough test that you have to feel ready for it, otherwise it just won’t happen – and suffer the consequences of Gary riding past me on his way to glory. Not long after this my concentration started wandering and the alarm bells began to ring and I realised what was going on. One energy gel and two minutes’ later and I was sitting comfortably on the back of the group again. So are the joys of low blood sugar. I still didn’t think I’d make it up Hardknott and was trying to work out how to minimise my losses when I had another, rather more pressing, issue: my bladder said ‘I need emptying RIGHT NOW’ and it meant business. So I did. As the pressure was being reduced I remembered that I had that scourge of the Club Ride: a Power Meter. Yes, folks, you’re about to find out how useful they can be on steep climbs. Up to this point, I hadn’t really used it a great deal – along the A66 and across the top of Cold Fell, but, other than that, I’d just ridden how I’d wanted. Now, however, it was about to save my ride.

It’s difficult to know quite where to start with the brute that is Hardknott from the West. The one-and-a-bit mile ascent starts steep (20%), has a cattle grid on the incline for added entertainment, after which it gets even steeper (25%) before flattening out a bit (16-18%) for quarter of a mile, or so. You get some small respite about 2/3 of the way up – and about 20 yards of downhill, before the real fun starts. There’s a gentle ramp up (15%) and two warm-up hairpins (20%) before the main event of the 30% ramp between the two hairpins, followed by a further 30% ramp that just goes straight up the side of the mountain. There’s a slight easing (18%) before it kicks up to 25% again on a final ramp, before the flat (7-8%) section at the top.

Knowing all this ahead of time didn’t help much: there’s a minimum power requirement to just keep moving on certain sections and you either have it, or you don’t. I’d picked an effort level above which I didn’t want to go (250W, as it happens) as I knew I could sustain it for an extended period. As I got to road closed signs at the bottom of the climb, I engaged my lowest gear, intending to stay there, and just turned the pedals. This worked well and, despite the self-imposed power cap, I continued to move forward and it was comfortable enough. Further respite was in order as the gate next to the cattle grid had been opened for the event and we were ushered by the marshal up the road, rather than over the steel bars. Just above this was the ‘getting off now’ zone as people ground gently to a halt. There was also a line of three guys all doing quad stretches being watched over by a marshal with a wry smile on his face.

And now was the time when I’d find out if my plan was going to work. And, in terms of the bottom section, yes it was. Whilst I wasn’t really making much progress against other riders, I was completely in control of my effort – even my breathing wasn’t particularly heavy, which was a strange sensation. And the pedals kept turning over, admittedly at a rather low cadence, but turning all the same. Along the plateau section, I exchanged a few words with a Team XIII rider about Hardknott never getting any easier and was then dropped by him, followed by a Cockney guy who was making it look easy.

I sat up and contemplated what was about to come next and wasn’t feeling the love for it at all. No matter, the slope approached and there wasn’t a great deal I could do about it. Up the first pair of, smaller, hairpins without any real issues and the start of the nasty section was there in front of me. As was a man with a camera. Bugger. Can’t not try now. Winch, winch, winch. And I was half way up and gaining on the Team XIII guy, but beginning to feel it. ‘Come on Jo(h)n!’ came from somewhere. Who the hell? Ah, the Team XIII lad, who must, coincidentally, be called Jo(h)n, had his mate standing at the top hairpin and he was getting a shout from him. I’ll take that too, thanks.

Round the top hairpin and Mr Team XIII exploded at the sight of the next ramp. I can’t say I blame him – I think it’s worse than the bit between the hairpins, mainly because you’re already fatigued. Anyway, I negotiated my way around him, and past a number of other riders who’d chucked the towel in and were pushing. As I reached the top of this section, I caught the Cockney guy and had to decide what to to. He was manifestly physically capable of getting up the final, very stingy, section, but the belief was ebbing away. The problem was that if he stopped, I’d have to stop too as there were too many other people around pushing their bikes to get past. In the end, I decided to yell support at him, i.e. that it was the last ramp, that he could do it and that all he needed were ten more pedal strokes, etc. This worked, although the effort of shouting made me feel sick, but it was worth it as we both crested the worst of it. I rode, very slowly, alongside him and he thanked me for the encouragement, which was cool and then promptly stopped at the cairn at the top, either to be sick himself, or to take a selfie of his achievement. I found my friend Paul C there waiting for me: he’d followed his own plan of deliberately getting off at the steep bit, running up the slope until it slackened of and then getting back on again. Apparently this is how he set his quickest time up Hardknott!

Chapeau to you if you make it up this one without putting a foot down!

Hardknott Pass - Simon Warren #84

Hardknott Descent