100k Killers

Killer Climber Simon Warren accepts two 100km hilly challenges from fiendish CW readers Garry Lindsay and Adam Smith

- Simon Warren

LAKES OF WRATH

There appear to be many origins for the saying ‘Make a rod for your own back’, many of which involve some sort of chastisement or corporal punishment. One account suggests that when a child was to be punished by his or her father they would be allowed to choose the ‘rod’ (an item typically used for beating the ass of cattle) before it was used to hit them. The idea being not to choose a really big one as it would hurt more.

Through time this scenario has simply come to mean ‘don’t put yourself in a situation that will bring you trouble in the future’. For example: Don’t suggest to the readership of Cycling Weekly that they send in their ideas for the hardest 100-kilometre ride in the country and then offer to go and ride it.

After my initial attempt to find the most arduous 100 kilometres of British roads was published and the gauntlet to find a harder one laid down, further suggestions did indeed flood in. As it was my foolish idea, CW kindly offered me first pick and after careful deliberation I singled out the route sent in by Garry Lindsay. Set in the Lake District and featuring such beasts as The Struggle, Kirkstone Pass, Birker Fell, Hardnott and Wrynose passes to name a few, it looked like a brutal test.

I had considered heading to the Lakes for my initial attempt but settled on the North York Moors because I presumed the close proximity and severity of its vicious little climbs would give me more elevation and make for a tougher ride. I was wrong. Thanks to immaculate plotting and while sticking to the three rules of starting and finishing from the same point, not using any hill twice and keeping the distance under 100km, Garry had managed to devise a route that climbs a whopping 2,688 metres. Incorporating a total of 10 gruelling ascents, this was indeed going to be a serious test. I couldn’t wait to get going.