Air ambulance called to Fred Whitton incident on Hardknott Pass

I can help you out on this having done the 216km Dragon Ride last year and the FW two days ago. Some bare statistics recorded by me:

Dragon ride: 216km, 3310m elevation, 9hr01min moving time

Fred Whitton: 180km, 3580m elevation, 8hr23min moving time

Both rides were in good weather. On the face of it, pretty even with the DR shading it for time and distance. However the FW contains numerous savage ramps you have to haul your sorry arse up: Honister, Hardknott and Wrynose being the worst but far from the only. Those 25%+ ramps really bite. In terms of a feeling of achievement, I therefore hand the award to the Fred Whitton. And although Wales is lovely, the Lake District in good weather is unbelievably pretty.

As for being on Hardknott on Sunday, I would absolutely, no question, have cleaned the ascent if it hadn't been for Mountain Rescue  parked and attending the casualty on the most difficult corner. Well, maybe. Their Landie did finally force me off. I was ahead of the road closure although it couldn't have been by much, I saw the helo hovering about. There was also a man down and not looking great on the descent of Wrynose. Ambulance in attendance. 

My commiserations to the victims, get well soon, but the FW was a fabulous day out. I can say that Hardknott completely deserves its reputation. 

I did Dragon in 9h54 in 2021, and the hills broke me mentally as much as physically - the long leg sapping drags almost more than the ramps.  I'll take this and the above as guidance that Im not ready for the FW!

My local hills (Chilterns) are nearly all sharp and spikey (Streatley, Whiteleaf) compared to the Welsh/Northern ones, so good hill time is a problem too.

Thanks!

I'd agree. Did them in consecutive years in 2017/18. Dragon took me 8hr 57m, Fred was 7hr 51m. Definitely suffered more on the Fred - I still have unfinished business on the Hardknott and Wrynose passes. 

I rode the Dragon in 2014 and have ridden the Fred 5 times since 2015.

I found the Dragon a bit tedious; it's a big day out but it lacks the savage climbs & spectacular scenery of the Fred.

Here's my Part 1 video of the FW, takes you from the start to the first feed. No talking heads, just cycling. 

https://youtu.be/dFTGC7MZfU4

Watching your footage of Honister is one of the horrors I remember most about the ride - the difficulty of not only getting up the gradients, but doing so while trying to co-ordinate your side to side weaving with everyone else around you!     

That opening ramp on Honister is savage, not a surprise that people were weaving. The descent on t'other side was glorious though and the view was stunning.
More FW tomorrow.

Great video, thanks for sharing.  The other side of Honister, going towards Buttermere always blows me away, view wise.

Here's my Part 1 video of the FW

Extremely excellent, even though that's grammatically incorrect! Brings back memories. I've only done it once, on a hard weekend with the Keswick to Barrow on the Saturday, and the FW on Sunday. Car to Coniston cottage on Friday to deposit gear, drive down to Barrow, leave car and cycle back to cottage. Walk into Coniston to join friends for a lift up to the K to B start. Finish K to B, drive to Coniston. Cycle down into Coniston for FW, had to walk on both Hardknott and Wrynose, drive back home.