I’ve decided that entering a challenging sportive on the last day of a long weekend is a daft thing to do. Whilst it was enormously enjoyable and very hard work it did dominate the weekend, meaning I had to watch what I ate and drank (no bad thing I guess) and meaning there was no time to r&r afterwards, just straight back to work.
Good Friday began with Peaches and I taking in 50km around my favourite Aston Cantlow loop. 2 hours nicely paced and we managed to find the only 2 hour window all day when it didn’t rain.
I then intended, having failed to get on my bike Wednesday or Thursday, to take a short spin on Saturday to stretch my legs ahead of the big ride on Monday. This didn’t happen because I was decorating and of course now Beth is back on her feet I need to allow time for her to get down the gym too. She’s determined to get a bike and come training with me and to be honest I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not sure my mentality of set an impossible cycle challenge and complete it, meets with her more whimsical sunny summer pootle in the countryside. We’ll see. She’s pretty competitive so I suspect she’ll step up to the plate. I can’t wait to see her climb Edge Hill.
Anyway, Beth, Imogen and I were booked into a nice B&B ahead of the Monday ride, in the Cotswold Water Park Hotel. Lovely hotel, great location and great facilities but a little impersonal, but for £70 all in, a bargain. I bumped into Scott from Mike’s Bikes in Kenilworth who was also there for the ride (interestingly he’d targeted 6 hours, I targeted 8! I don’t know how he got on).
Monday was the day. A misty start but promising sunshine later. Peaches, the Mad Mackem & Brummie Dave were travelling down to meet me on the day, necessitating an early start for them (registration was 7am thru 8am, start between 8am and 9am – for those that don’t know a Sportive is not a race but it is timed via transponder attached to the bike and the results are published. It’s more of a personal challenge).
Mad Mackem overslept and then proceeded to leave his helmet amongst other things behind. A mistake he was to regret. We set off about 8:20. Dave had a friend with him, Malc (I think) who pretty much left us all behind.
The route was spectacular. Very difficult (lots of short steep climbs interspersed with a few very long climbs) and certainly the most challenging I have ever ridden. It certainly wasn’t a route I would have planned for myself, but then that’s the fun of these things, to put yourself outside of your comfort zone and overcome it.
Dave and Malc headed off and I stayed with Peaches and Mad Mackem to the foot of Birdlip hill, about 50km in. At this point I lost them, this thread will explain why: http://forum.220magazine.com/tm.asp?m=16949 . The route actually took us down the hill into Cheltenham along the valley and up again. On the way down I set off a speed camera, the speed limit was 30mph, I’m not sure how fast I was going at the time, but my computer clocked my max speed for the ride at 72kph (45mph).
I rode on alone, picking up and losing various groups although I was grateful to take a tow behind two women for 15km after the last big climb of the day, who sheltered me from the wind. The rest gave me enough energy to push on for the last 30km, where another helpful rider towed me along for 10km or so, before it became obvious I was slowing him down, so I told him to go on ahead.
I rode 168.5 km and finished in 7:59:13, bang on target. 4966 KCals burnt. My actual ride time was 7:20 with 40 minutes rest. Brummie Dave came in on 7:40 and Malc an incredible 7hrs. Now, Peaches and Mad Mackem were a long way behind but an outstanding achievement for them both. Mad Mackem (who I know is capable of matching me pedal for pedal), for sacrificing his own ride to stay with Peaches and coax him home and Peaches for a) having mad hair (see photo) and b) finishing at all.
The route was much tougher than we’d anticipated and for Peaches, who only threw his leg over a bike in November, a great achievement to finish. Nothing L2P throws up will compare I’m sure, although I hope the weather is as good. Apart from a breeze that kicked up after lunch it was pretty perfect, sunny, still and not too hot.
As I said, Mad Mackem forgot his helmet. Some of the roads were really broken up, steep back lanes with lots of loose tarmac and big potholes, after a severe winter. It was on a particularly steep and sketchy descent that Mackem’s handlebars dropped off, causing a few brown trouser moments and a degree of circumspection for the rest of the ride. Always wear a helmet reader!
For me, Monday has vindicated my training. Whilst I don’t feel that I’ve trained as much as I would have liked I have tried to focus what I do and augment bike work with gym and spin classes. Now I have proved to myself I can ride the distance (again) I need to focus on maintaining fitness for the 9 weeks until we go although I’m planning a very quiet week immediately prior to departure.
nb. For those who like a fright, there are official “action” photos (of me!) from the sportive here: http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/search.tlx?gsearchid=1239720615&pictureid=9026499
Bring it on!
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