Coast to Coast

[Holy Warrior]

St. Bees to Robin Hood's Bay.



Who has done this? Me and a few mates are going to do this next year so basically we have 12 months to get ourselves in shape. Who here has any hints or tips to doing this, what was your training schedules like etc etc? Any advice is welcome.

 

[videoman]

I'm walking it, all 192 miles starting from St Bees on 6/7/11 carrying my rucksack and tent and hope to complete in around 12 days. I only decided to do it back in February of this year so twelve months to train to cycle it should be easy.

It would be far easier on the bike but I like a challenge (must be mad) but hopefully all the aches and pains will be worthwhile as I am walking for a local charity to support a childrens hospice for terminally ill children.

p.s. all donations welcome

 

[middleagecyclist]

Iv'e cycled it and walked it. Two different routes though. 12 months is loads of time. How long do you intend to take?

 

[mcshroom]

Jezton of this parish did a ride very much like this last month, there's quite a lot of info on his ride in this thread

 

[Holy Warrior]

Thanks guys, that link is very helpful mcshroom!



I think we will be aiming for three days, maybe four. Not lightning speeds!

 

[middleagecyclist]

I cycled the whitehaven to east coast but added more miles by finishing at Scarborough. Took 3 days carrying good sized rear panniers. Great trip but quite a while back so details hazy. Suggest you need to be able to cover 60 miles per day with luggage and if you cannot use this as a training target. Good luck.

 

[Holy Warrior]

I cycled the whitehaven to east coast but added more miles by finishing at Scarborough. Took 3 days carrying good sized rear panniers. Great trip but quite a while back so details hazy. Suggest you need to be able to cover 60 miles per day with luggage and if you cannot use this as a training target. Good luck.

Nice one! Yeah it's like 170 miles isn't it? St. Bees to Robin Hood's Bay anyway. 60/120/180. At the moment I never really go further than about 10 mile/ 15 mile when I go out for a ride, just need to gradually build that up. Nice training target, it's always better when you have a set goal rather than a general one. Cheers.

 

[middleagecyclist]

The cycle route is not the same as the walking route. Google C2C cycle to get an idea of where you cover on a bike.

 

[vernon]

St. Bees to Robin Hood's Bay.



Who has done this? Me and a few mates are going to do this next year so basically we have 12 months to get ourselves in shape. Who here has any hints or tips to doing this, what was your training schedules like etc etc? Any advice is welcome.

If you are hoping to do the route off road and follow the Wainwright path then you are in for a shock. It's not particulary easy and a lot of it is footpath only and excludes bikes.

Hewever, if you are looking at doing a coast to coast ride then there are several appealing routes:

Hadrians Cycle Route from St Bees to Tynemouth.
Walney to Wear (or Whitby) - Walney Island near Barrow to Sunderland (or Whitby)
Coast to Coast - Whitehaven to Sunderland

amongst others.

It's difficult to prescribe a training schedule as very few folk here are qualified coaches and have no knowledge about your base level of fitness, any underlying problems and what exactly you aspire to.

However the basic tenet of preparing for a ride is get the miles in. Get out regularly. Increase the mileage by 10% every week. Having said that, there's lots of folk who just get out and do it.

 

[andym]

There are two cycle routes: one is mainly road with some off-roady variants; the other is also known (IIRC) as the 'Woodcock C2C' which is an MTB version which aims to keep closer to the walking Wainwright C2C. It has the reputation of being very tough. Tim Woodcock sells the route guides - have a search on this forum, I'm sure there was a thread a while ago which included links.

 

[lowrider73]

If you are hoping to do the route off road and follow the Wainwright path then you are in for a shock. It's not particulary easy and a lot of it is footpath only and excludes bikes.

It's possible to follow the Wainwright's route, bar the footpaths. Most of the Wainwright's route is on tracks, bridleway's and minor roads/lanes. With some map research, it can be done, however, saying all this, there is the Tim Woodcock's version of the Coast to Coast or better known as the Wheelwright's Coast to Coast and not to be confused with the Sustrans C2C, which starts in Whitehaven to Sunderland. The Wheelwrights Coast to Coast does actually start at St. Bees and finishes at Robin Hood's Bay, the route is a pretty well tough one, with Black Sail Pass to encounter. The Lakes section is the best, although the Yorkshire Dales & Moors are just as good. I've done the Wheelwrights some 15 years ago and believe me, it's the classic one to do.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

I did the St. Bees to Robin Hood's Bay at Easter on road bikes with two friends.
We did it over two days starting at 7am and heading off through the lanes onto the main road up to Cleaton to Cockermouth before cuttin off and going over Whinlatter pass and up past Keswick to Penrith, stopping off in Greystoke (great cycle cafe there) for dinner then on past Perith up the Hartside Pass and stayed at Lowbyer Manor in Alston - 67 miles - arrived at 2pm rest of day in pub eating some fine food and drinks.

Day 2 6am start - B road down to Barnard Castle - Darlington - Yarm then over the North Yorkshire Moors to Whitby / Robin hoods bay stopping in Stoksley for dinner 97 miles arrive at 4pm


Training was just going out for weekend rides around the 40 miles and doing some hill climbs (we live in the pennines so plenty to choose from)

Training depends a lot on how fast you want to do it in, we took it easy and did it with ease.

I have the route somewhere if your interested

 

[Holy Warrior]

I did the St. Bees to Robin Hood's Bay at Easter on road bikes with two friends.
We did it over two days starting at 7am and heading off through the lanes onto the main road up to Cleaton to Cockermouth before cuttin off and going over Whinlatter pass and up past Keswick to Penrith, stopping off in Greystoke (great cycle cafe there) for dinner then on past Perith up the Hartside Pass and stayed at Lowbyer Manor in Alston - 67 miles - arrived at 2pm rest of day in pub eating some fine food and drinks.

Day 2 6am start - B road down to Barnard Castle - Darlington - Yarm then over the North Yorkshire Moors to Whitby / Robin hoods bay stopping in Stoksley for dinner 97 miles arrive at 4pm


Training was just going out for weekend rides around the 40 miles and doing some hill climbs (we live in the pennines so plenty to choose from)

Training depends a lot on how fast you want to do it in, we took it easy and did it with ease.

I have the route somewhere if your interested

Definately! This sounds like a very nice route, we will probably split it into maybe 2 more days so an average of about 40 miles a day, but ofc that depends on the condition of our weakest rider when we come to do it.

 

[Holy Warrior]

If you are hoping to do the route off road and follow the Wainwright path then you are in for a shock. It's not particulary easy and a lot of it is footpath only and excludes bikes.

Hewever, if you are looking at doing a coast to coast ride then there are several appealing routes:

Hadrians Cycle Route from St Bees to Tynemouth.
Walney to Wear (or Whitby) - Walney Island near Barrow to Sunderland (or Whitby)
Coast to Coast - Whitehaven to Sunderland

amongst others.

It's difficult to prescribe a training schedule as very few folk here are qualified coaches and have no knowledge about your base level of fitness, any underlying problems and what exactly you aspire to.

However the basic tenet of preparing for a ride is get the miles in. Get out regularly. Increase the mileage by 10% every week. Having said that, there's lots of folk who just get out and do it.

Sorry, i'm sure I replied to this. Evidently not!


About the routes, I would definately want to finish in Robin Hood's bay, apart from loving the place it would just feel 'right'. Despite that hill back up to the main road. And probably catching the train home from Whitby.


Just as a base to see where i'm at I went out on a couple of rides last week. Nothing at all spectacular. The first ride was 10 miles at about 12.5 miles an hour. On this ride I felt ok-ish. a slight drag uphill for about 3 miles did hurt me but it levelled out and I took a breather for a couple of miles and I was ready for a short sharp hill just before home which didn't cause many problems even though I thought it would.

The second was a little tougher! Very similar mileage but this time I noticed a slight problem with my back brake which I must have knocked because it stuck slightly, well a little more than slightly. I noticed myself becoming very burnt out about 5 miles in so I turned around. I did have plans to do more like 15m on a flat route, but with those short sharp hills near my home. Had to strain really hard for similar speeds.



So apart from fixing my bike if I can say add on a couple of miles a week, maybe riding at least three times I should be able to gradually build up? Is the longer flat route/ shorter harder route beneficial or not?

 

[Holy Warrior]

I just thought that i'd check back in here with how my training is going on and let whoever is interested know


As you can see from my post above I started by being barely able to ride ten miles at a steady pace on an undulating route, as are all routes in West Yorkshire, the basket of a place! You can also see from my posts above that it is under a month from when I dusted the bike down.



Unfortunately my ride partners have been a little hit and miss but I have enlisted the help of my dad to come out with me. At 50, and like me absent on the bike for 5/6 years, he isn't in the best nick neither. Also worth pointing out he is on a good Mtb, me an early entry road bike. It was his idea to join me, honestly. A great bonus though is his knowledge of directions!


Slowly but surely we have been building the miles up gradually. On pretty flat routes, averaging 10 mph including stops, traffic etc, we have gone from 18 miles to 26 miles to 30 miles. And in a week knocking up a total of 70 miles. With the following our latest route (yesterday).

(is there a way to spoiler the image to save bandwidth?)


This was a tricky route and us going out to do 30 miles made our little mishap around Wibsey not a problem. It is likely that if I (and my dad but this doesn't apply) continue in this way then the Coast to Coast could be doable very shortly (probably just after summer but then the weather won't be that good). The main goal next is to try to tackle some decent hills, of which there are many in the Lake District/ Yorkshire Dales. I have jotted up this route as "one to tackle shortly":

My first impressions target the 15m duration. Already I am scoffing at that!! This must be progress in itself! I think though that once we are up on the tops then there isn't any major climbing, I could be wrong, so adding more miles to say Kirkburton or even Emley Moor wouldn't be hard, with the promise of a downhill back into the valley!



Overall I am very happy with the progress which is clearly evident already i'm at the stage where someone asks "what have you done today?" I reply "Been out on bike", "how far?", "30 miles", "woah!". Bring on their reactions in another month! More so I am absolutely loving cycling again!