The Annual Lunacy Climbing Challenge Chatzone
- Thread starter ColinJ
- Start date
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Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
The last couple of years I've gone away to ride challenging climbs, last year le Col du Tourmalet, year before le Grand Colombier. This year: Bealach na Bà.
It roundly defeated me. I had to walk the top kilometre or so. Now, there were mitigating factors, a headwind that made even walking a challenge, constantly having to avoid cars going up or down the narrow road, and having been off the bike for a while with a (still not fully recovered) ankle injury. But even under absolutely ideal conditions that top section would be beyond me.
I'm not going to try it again, there's no "unfinished business". Although I might give it a bash from the other side (Applecross) one day. That doesn't look quite so brutal.
But it was a lovely day (wind aside) and the views were stunning
Oh, and the Lunacy climbing challenge, what about that? Well, I cut my ride shorter than planned by accepting a lift at the start that cut out a section of Scottish A road that looked a bit dodgy to cycle (twisty, a bit lumpy with significant fast traffic). The result was that my ride fell short of my 1300m target by 30m!
I was picked up at Applecross and we drove back over the Bealach. That was terrifying. My friend has lived in the area for 20-odd years or so thinks nothing of reversing briskly uphill, with a precipitous drop on one side, to get to the nearest passing place. I had to shut my eyes.
It roundly defeated me. I had to walk the top kilometre or so. Now, there were mitigating factors, a headwind that made even walking a challenge, constantly having to avoid cars going up or down the narrow road, and having been off the bike for a while with a (still not fully recovered) ankle injury. But even under absolutely ideal conditions that top section would be beyond me.
I'm not going to try it again, there's no "unfinished business". Although I might give it a bash from the other side (Applecross) one day. That doesn't look quite so brutal.
But it was a lovely day (wind aside) and the views were stunning
Oh, and the Lunacy climbing challenge, what about that? Well, I cut my ride shorter than planned by accepting a lift at the start that cut out a section of Scottish A road that looked a bit dodgy to cycle (twisty, a bit lumpy with significant fast traffic). The result was that my ride fell short of my 1300m target by 30m!
I was picked up at Applecross and we drove back over the Bealach. That was terrifying. My friend has lived in the area for 20-odd years or so thinks nothing of reversing briskly uphill, with a precipitous drop on one side, to get to the nearest passing place. I had to shut my eyes.
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