LEJOG Day 5: Bury to Carlisle

Metrics	Daily Total	Cumulative Total
Distance	198.2	885.8
Ascent	1891	8676m
Riding Time	8h 16m 4	37m 59m 48s
Calories Burned	4481	25346

Other Daily Stats You May Be Interested In

Average Speed: 23.9 km/h

Max Speed: 76.0 km/h

Average Power: 136 watts

Max Power: 720 watts

Average Cadence: 76 rpm

Max Heart Rate: 124 bpm

What a day, what a very long day. I had been concentrating so much on day 2, that I forgot about what day 5 had in store...and as you can see from the cross section above, the second half traversing the Lake district was going to hurt (and it didn't dissappoint).

But first things first, it was up and up out of Stourbridge, with some lovely views along the way - I would be very happy to sit on this seat with a coffee and watch the world go by. So the first half took me around Bolton (insert jokes here), up past the turn off for Blackburn, before heading through Preston and a brief stop for food and a quick chat with mum (she does worry). Back on the bike, past the turn for Blackpool (and resisting the urge to turn left), I headed north up the coast towards Kendal, and through some lovely country lanes.

And then it was almost time to start the climb, but first...more food, need some energy for this one. So I pulled over into a layby, had a quick chat to the sheep (honestly, I don't think they were really interested), then headed up Shap Pass.

It started almost immediately and didn't really let up for several kilometres, I was probably concentrating too much on maintaining momentum than looking at the scenery, but did manage to glimpse it every now and again. I got to the top in one piece, but did need to get off the bike to stretch out a bit. It isn't just the legs the suffer on long climbs, the back hurts as well, so was huge relief to stretch out at the top and take in the scenery. Like always, it is worth the effort.

Not a long blog, as really quite tired after today's near 200km ride. Another '100 miler' tomorrow will see me straddle the Scottish border and head to Edinburgh. I am now at the half way mark from a time perspective, but have completed nearly 60% of the expected total distance - hoping the second half will be a little easier, although am sure it won't feel it.

Sleep now, for tomorrow I ride.