Hardy hand-cyclists brave blizzards to climb Skiddaw

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Adrian Disney and his support crew battle through that blizzard.

A pair of hardy hand-cyclists and their support crews battled with wind and snow to climb Skiddaw in the Lake District on Saturday.

 

The ride was the latest in a series of epic off-road adventures called ‘Hand-Bikes at Dawn, co-ordinated by Challenge your Boundaries, a project based at the Coed y Brenin Trail Centre, near Dolgellau, which promotes and improves access to adaptive mountain-biking.

 

Project-lead Graham O’Hanlon has run these epic rides over the last couple of years, but this was the first outside of his North Wales base.

 

“We like to take on classic mountain bike routes, such as Cadair Idris in North Wales and work out how to negotiate them with a hand bike,” said Graham.

 

“With a bridleway running to the summit at 931m, Skiddaw is a popular mountain-bike descent, although most riders need to push their bikes up the steep, loose path which has a 20 per cent gradient for much of the initial two kilometres It seemed like a good place to showcase what our riders can do without the option of walking.

 

“Our hand-cyclists, Adrian Disney from Pembrokeshire and Keith Robinson from London, were using specially designed mountain bikes which are powered by hand and have especially low gears to tackle the steep slopes found on the mountain. This means that people lacking strength or movement in their lower limbs can take on mountain bike challenges such as this.”.

 

Having had good conditions on previous rides, the weather came as a bit of a surprise.

 

“When I first saw the forecasts mention snow, about a week before the ride, we were basking in glorious spring sunshine and I had thought it was just a glitch in the system; a local village was briefly predicted to have temps of 60oC around the same time and that certainly didn’t arrive,” said Graham.

 

“However, this one didn’t go away and when it was repeated on other sites we had to take it seriously.”

 

The support crews, consisting of volunteer outdoor professionals and members from North Wales Mountain Rescue teams, were well prepared and unphased by the conditions. “It was just a surprise to find ourselves back in winter kit,” added Graham.

 

The riders took around six hours to climb the 4.8km from the start-point to the summit. The descent took about 30 minutes!

 

The ride is raising funds for the Challenge your Boundaries, ‘Walking with the Wounded’ and Mountain Rescue. You can help by donating at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/HBaD-Skiddaw

 

Further information about Challenge your Boundaries and the Hand-Bikes at Dawn ride can be found at www.facebook.com/ChallengeYourBoundaries