Top Trump Climbs, Pico Del Teide

Top Trump Climbs, Pico Del Teide

Im on a golfing holiday with Mrs Crusader in Tenerife, but the opportunity has arisen to kill a couple of proverbial birds. First to help build my bike fitness ready for the North Cape 4000 and second to conquer another climb from my continuing project to ride up every mountain in my top trumps cycle climbs pack.

Although the main focus is the golf,  we are having one rest day which seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to ride up Pico del Teide, one of the longest climbs about and one often used for training by the pros. It is also the longest climb in the pack.

According to the top trump card it’s a 30 mile climb from the sea (where are hotel is) to the top at 2356m, so I’ll get to enjoy climbing the fullest length possible.

With the rest day upon us I filled my pockets with stuff nicked from the breakfast buffet and set off with a target of completing the climb in under 5 hours elapsed. I would also be recording footage as I went along as I planned to make the ride into a YouTube video for my new Cake Crusader channel.

From the very start it was straight up. According to my climbometer the first 5 miles would be a very steep section up from the coast. And it certainly didn’t disappoint as it took nearly an hour of tough pedalling to complete, at an average gradient of 9%. I was already shattered but still had 25 more miles of climbing to go. It was also getting rather warm and I had forgotten my sunscreen.

I thought the road would then get to the advertised 5% section, as per my top trumps card,  but discovered I still had a 4 mile section of even steeper stuff featuring several 20 % plus gradients bits through a number of little villages. I had clearly planned a bad route.

After two hours I finally made it to the nice section of road where the 6% average gradient now felt like I was riding on the flat. A 5 hour ascent looked a long way off. Well 20 miles actually.

By now the breakfast buffet was just a sweaty mess in my back pocket but I stopped anyway to salvage what I could as I had a midway picnic.

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The next ten miles were very pleasant, if relentless, as they took me through the tree lined section at a manageable 6% gradient.

With 10 miles of up left I finally got to see the summit. This  gave me the motivation I needed to keep going as I was starting to get a bit weary.

The next target was to get over 2000m. Once achieved there was a dramatic change in the landscape. Not a tree in sight just a dry desert and lava rocks as far as the eye could see.

The air was also starting to get noticeable thinner as I found myself panting for the last few miles. But the view of the top of the volcano was spectacular. Fortunately there is no road right to the top and I wasn’t planning to carry or push my bike when the ride officially ended at the cable car station.

I was very pleased to have made it in 4.5 hours. The cable car station was packed but judging by the over full car park most people had decided not to cycle today.

The ride down was fairly straightforward and I was back at the hotel in just over 7 hours. 

It had been one of my less eventful rides but still pretty tough so hopefully it has made me fitter for the North Cape adventure. However more importantly I have another top trump card done. But with many cards left to do then next years golfing holiday may need to be in the alps.

I also managed to capture some good footage so hopefully the YouTube video will be available soon.

Great British scratchoffable climbs part 1. Holme Moss

 Great British scratchoffable Climbs part 1. Holme Moss.

For Christmas this year my sons thought it would be funny to buy me a “scratch off climbs” map of Great Britain. They knew that once they had got me to scratch off the few climbs that I had already done then I would be fully sucked into the project and not rest until the map was fully scratched off.

Unfortunately my home turf, of the Eastern Counties, is devoid of any scratchoffable climbs with the nearest one well over 100 miles away. But I’m not looking for excuses so let’s look at the task in hand. There are 75 climbs on the map which are rated green, blue or red depending on difficulty. I have so far done 2 green, 1 blue and 1 red so a disappointing total of 4. 

However I did spot an opportunity to make it 5 and tackle Holme Moss as it’s near Manchester where eldest son Peter lives. 

Therefore on this weekends visit I snuck my bike into the car and then insisted that we (me, Peter and Mrs Crusader) take a trip there. My plan was for me and Peter to tackle the climb while Mrs Crusader provided support from the team car.

But first there obviously needs to be scratchoffable climb rules. 

1. You always have to cycle up what is considered the most difficult route

2. You can only have one car journey per day to get to the start of a scratchoffable climb bagging day.

I checked and the correct way to tackle Holme Moss is heading south from Holmefirth as per 2014 Tour de France, so despite it being wet, cold and grey we headed there. As we were just doing the one climb we would not be breaking rule 2 by going straight to the start.

Due to traffic related issues it took much longer than planned to get there and I was surprised that a little village in the middle of nowhere was so rammed. We were very lucky to get a parking space as they were like gold dust. I assumed it was this busy on such a miserable day as word had leaked out about my attempt to submit scratchoffable climb #5. But it turned out that Holmefirth was where the BBC hit and so called comedy series Last of the Summer Wine was filmed (younger readers ask your parents).

This also explained why 50% of the shops were tearooms. Despite the fact I would be breaking the cake crusader cafe reviewing rules by reviewing a cafe before I had cycled to it, we were in need of sustenance before we started and choose to test out Beatties which had much LotSW memorabilia plastered over the walls.

It was a typical Peak District destination cafe where everything was fine and got a fine type rating of 6.8 for its offerings with no particular highs or lows. Although Mrs Crusader thought her cheese scone was too doughy.

At last it was time to set off. I had agreed with Peter that he could bail for the last and steepest mile as he didn’t want to strain anything before an important volleyball match the next day. I was on my gravel bike packing bike I plan to use for my North Cape 4000 trip and he was on his cycle to work hybrid.

The ride to the top was only 5 miles but was described as a very challenging climb on one of Englands highest roads. It started with a cheeky 15% section away from town before settling down for the next few miles with the occasional steep ramp.

For fans of fog and mist todays views were stunning.

As planned a mile from top Peter got in the team car and headed to the top.

It was a good move as last mile was a bit more challenging with mainly double digit gradients.

But as I neared the top clear views of the surrounding fog kept my spirits high as you could see literally metres of the Peak District stretching out in front of you.

As it was cold and wet at the top we decided a quick turn around was needed so I descended a few miles to a pub where we had a debrief and I reviewed the stats.

According to Strava, and despite stopping for photos and chatting, I was very pleased to see I had made the fastest ascent of Holme Moss that day, at an average speed of  6.8mph and average power of 144w. The whole ride being just under 8 miles. Also according to Strava I was the only person to cycle up Holme Moss that day and the 18,678 fastest of all time. Impressive stuff.

I declared it as an official success.  We left the pub, reloaded the car and set off back to Manchester with scratchoffable climb #5 in the bag. 

Note as a bonus treat have made my first ever YouTube video of this adventure to launch my new Cake Crusader YouTube channel. You can find it here https://youtu.be/hYK-5_cgH00?si=KIS7PMBCwpb8Bjr-

Map of todays ride

Scores for Beatties

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7	7	6.2	5.9	7.82	6.78

North Cape 4000 preparation 1. Norwich/Cambridge trip

North Cape 4000 preparation. Norwich/Cambridge trip

Some of you may remember that at the end of last year I accidentally entered the  North Cape 4000. Which, along with 499 other riders, is a 4000 km (2500 mile) cycle event from Lake Garda in Italy to the North Cape at the far end of Norway. There is a 3 week time limit to complete it and if you do, you get a sticker.

Well, with only 6 months before the Gran Depart I decided it was time to start training. I also decided I will blog the whole experience, from start of training to hopefully being the furthest North person in Europe at some time in August.

The first training ride will be a 140 mile round trip to Cambridge and back. I have obviously been waiting for strong winds and a storm before confirming the date but with both forecast then today seemed perfect. 

I also decided to try and make things as hard as possible to help toughen me up for the event. I therefore put on a pannier rack and heavy panniers plus invited “Always injured” Steve to ride with me, things don’t get tougher than that.

This morning, in my secret underground bicycle workshop at Crusader towers, I prepared my bike and set off to collect Always injured Steve from his house in Wymondham.

When I set off it was fairly still with a sunny blue sky, not the conditions I was looking for. Fortunately by the time we had teamed up it was overcast and the headwind had picked up nicely.

Obviously Always injured Steve was keen to update me on his latest hamstring tendinitis situation and the amount of drugs he had to take to even be able to sit on a bike…….. zzzzzzzzzz. I would like to update you on his news but I have long since developed the skill of zoning out when he tells me anything so I’ve no idea how bad it is. When he eventually finished I just said, sounds like it’s on the mend. Apparently it isn’t and he cycled off in a huff

20 miles in then the rain picked up as well as the wind and it was at last a proper ride. We changed into our waterproofs at a convenient bus stop. I know the people who read this blog are they type who love a photo of a man putting on waterproof trousers, so here it is.

With the wind and rain getting worse we enjoyed many miles of pleasant cycling as we crossed the Norfolk Suffolk boarder before arriving at Bury St Edmunds for the planned lunch stop.

There was no time for faffing so we picked the first reasonable looking cafe, The Lounge. 

It didn’t look promising from the outside and got off to an even worse start as not only did it serve Cadburys as its hot chocolate option (standard score of 5) but the effective cake selection was wrapped in cling film so despite a good range only scored 5.92.

However after that things improved as the staff were very friendly, the hot drinks (I obviously implemented Cadbury HC rules and had tea) were solid (7) and the apple and blackberry flapjack type thing was excellent (8.1). Although not part of the rating system our jacket potatoes were very good too. Surprisingly we both agreed it would be worth coming back to again.

I checked the weather forecast on the super unreliable BBC app and announced the worst of the rain was over. This obviously had the desired effect as the heavens opening giving us  a proper soaking for the next 20 mikes to Newmarket.

After that it was just a 15 mile slog into an ever strengthening wind as we grinded it out to our Premier inn in Cambridge.

On arrival the reception guy was so impressed or sorry for us he said we deserved extra chocolate and gave us a handful of mini bars each. I decided to save most of them as it would mean Mrs Crusaders forthcoming birthday present was now sorted.

It had been quite a tough day so I set my bike up in clothes horse mode and pondered what I had learned for the big adventure 

The main takeaways

1. make sure you remember to have the right plug adapter on your gadgets charger and not the one from your last foreign holiday (obviously the reverse will be required for North Cape).

2. If there is a risk of getting cramp then don’t get in the tiny hotel bath as you might be there a long time.

Tomorrow’s return leg has more rain and even stronger winds being shown on the super unreliable BBC weather app but sadly it’s likely to be a tail wind, which doesn’t count. However  having to hear about how “Always injured” Steve’s injury was overnight will keep me in the zone.

Todays route

Scores for The lounge

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5	7.	5.92	8.1	6.45	6.494