UKC

Having been off the bike for almost 6 weeks, bar for 2 50 milers, due to a hand injury, I've just realised I'm supposed to be doing the C2C in 2 days next weekend.
Is there any real training I can do in the next 5 days that will help me?

I'm normally happy with 80 mile riders at 14-15mph and have done some longer stuff so hopefully I've got a reasonable base fitness and won't die too horribly.

Any C2C tips welcome.

In reply to gethin_allen:

I don't imagine you're going to gain any appreciable fitness, but if I were you I'd do a couple of steady 25 milers with space between them and before your c2c. I definitely wouldn't go mad at this stage as I imagine you'd prejudice the freshness you've got without improving fitness.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

That's pretty much what I thought, a few miles after work on Wed and then spend the time making sure the bike is set up for it.

In reply to gethin_allen:

I did it in three days a couple of years ago. Day 1 was Whitehaven to Penrith. Day to was Penrith to Allenheads (short day). If I did it in two days I would do Whitehaven to Allenheads in a day. That gets almost all the climbing out of the way on day one. If you aren't too fussed about following the ride exactly you can save quite a bit of mileage by cutting out the loop out to Mungrisdale.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Anyone know where we can park a car in Workington or Whitehaven? I see the train station has a carpark but are we likely to get a space and/or ticket and if we don't are there any other options.
Someone suggested asking a hotel/B+B (obviously offering to pay), anyone had any luck doing this?

In reply to gethin_allen:
Er... drive slowly away from the station until you find a residential street with no parking restriction? Just take care that in the excitement of the start you don't forget where you actually left the car. Guess how I know about this?

In reply to gethin_allen:

If you are returning by public transport, you can't take bikes on the metro from Tynemouth back to Newcastle. Also there is very limited space on the train back from Carlisle to Whitehaven there are only 3 bike spaces and you can't pre-book, although the Conductor may let you sit with your bike.

In reply to wilkesley:

The plan is to stay somewhere around Sunderland on the Sunday night, cycle to Newcastle, train to Carlisle, then cycle to Workington/Whitehaven or wherever we end up leaving the car. Just need to sort out where we're leaving the car.
We've booked anytime train tickets so we can hopefully get a quiet train late Monday morning.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Nothing fitness wise, but you can teat out the setup you plan for carrying your gear for the overnight stops etc.

In reply to Lion Bakes:


After a failed attempt last night with an altura Vortex (large seat bag type thing) I've resigned myself to carrying a small rucksac as it's the lesser of two evils when considering the alternative is to take my battered old bike that would probably self destruct on the start line. I'm going to keep most of my drinks on the frame and have a small seat pack for basic tools and tubes and the bag (an osprey syncro) sits quite high on the back so I can still fill my jersey pockets with food and things I want to be accessible. So there's shouldn't be much in the bag and it shouldn't be too much of a burden.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Just get some time on your bike so your backside gets used to it again!