JOGLE Day 5 – Penrith to Preston

Daily Stats – Day 5

Miles Ridden: 72.5 miles
Metres Climbed: 2504 feet
Time Riding: 4:59:15
Average Speed: 14.2 mph

Total Miles Ridden: 471.6 miles
Total Ascent: 20,264 feet
Total Time Riding: 30:18:39

Todays Weather: Overcast.

Day 5 of our JOGLE adventure started with breakfast in the Buttermere Hostel followed by a drive back to Penrith. We then got ready in the Car Park and set off through the streets of Penrith heading for the A6. Our route today would skirt around the edge of the Lake District and then on towards Preston.

The weather was grey and dreary and became particularly bleak as we headed up over the hill to Shap. I should have stopped here to look at the granite really, but this was a charity bike ride from John O’Groats to Lands End, not a geology field trip! I think Anna and Morgan stopped in the support car though.

There was a headwind now and things were getting more difficult as we climbed the flanks of the Lake District. I crested the hill first but didn’t stop to wait for the others as it was cold and windy up here. I did stop partway down the descent though and as I was putting on an extra jacket and waiting for the others, Mike, Ian and Kev went flying past me at 40mph. I quickly zipped up my jacket and gave chase, but had a scary moment when my deep section Dymag wheels were caught by the wind sending me into a nasty speed wobble. Deep section rims are good for time trials and certainly look good on my bike, but they can be a little bit of a handful in gusty conditions in the Lake District! I didn’t catch the others until we got to Kendal where we all re-grouped and headed on to the other side of the town for our first stop of the day.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful as we followed the A6 south through Lancaster and on to a late lunch stop at Garstang. The scenery was nice in places but as we were on a fairly busy road much of the time there wasn’t much chance to take it in.

We didn’t have an afternoon stop though as we were now not far from Preston and our Travel Lodge for the night. This made a nice change from the hostels, as we had fewer people per room and nice big double beds for the couples and comfy single beds for everyone else. I have to say though that although the bed was comfy, my saddle was beginning to feel about as comfy as it looked! Where would you rather spend 8 hours?

We didn’t eat in the Travel Lodge though as everyone else wanted to go out so we wandered around Preston until we found a steak house where we had dinner.

It took a while for them to bring out our meals and they got it all wrong, but the food tasted good. By now it was quite late though so it was back to the Travel Lodge and off to bed. We were now over half-way through our challenge as far as the mileage goes and things were feeling fine.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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