This sportive was a toughie. After reading Bruce’s blog warning of the pain ahead I had decided to switch from the longer to middle distance event.
Whilst waiting to sign up Stewat Kirkham turned up and persuaded me to keep him company on the longer challenge event(95 miles) Willpower was never my strong point so meekly I took up his suggestion. As we set out the heavens opened accompanied by alarming flashes of lightning.
The start was rather chaotic but eventually we set off. I kept Stewart company for a good 10 seconds before he dropped me. The group I set off with were averaging 20 or so M.P.H., I realised that this was to hot a pace for me so I eased up and tucked in with a slightly slower group. The first major hill was Kidd’s Hill and it proved, as always, a tough climb. The countryside was rolling as we headed out to Groombridge where on another steep ascent I was nearly overtaken by a female jogger!
We were lulled into a false sense of security riding through a truly beautiful stretch alongside a bird sanctuary before we hit a hill, which I now know to be Yorks Hill.This beauty was steep and long, ending in a 20%gradient. A lot of riders had to dismount and a guy in front of me lost the will to live, stopped pedalling and slowly keeled over. I asked if he was OK and managed to steer round him and ground my way to the summit. I take my hat off to the guys that hill climb up there, it must be an event well worth watching, .
After a climb up Ide’s Hill we reached Toy’s Hill. I thought toys were meant to be fun. A painful 2-mile slog ended in a scary descent, in the rain and mud quite a few riders came off, discovering that brakes in wet conditions are merely a decorative item on a bike and have no functional use at all.
We were now well over half way and I felt quite good. For most of the ride I had been riding solo and it is a testament to the fantastic signposts that, even with my legendary navigational skills, (your looking at the twit who managed to get lost on the speed judging contest, quite a feat when you only turn right!) managed to find my round without any problems.
At this stage I pushed on a bit. Behind me a chap, who I later discovered was German, sucked my wheel for about an hour. Eventually he pulled in front of me, I was looking forward to him repaying the compliment, but he put his foot down and left me in his wake.
After the last checkpoint, with just fifteen miles to go, I was looking forward to a nice easy ride home, but everything seemed to drag on, even the slightest of slopes caused problems causing an increasing number of participants to get off and push. The horrible climb out of the reservoir was followed by a leg-sapping crawl up to Cuckfield.
Eventually the end was in sight and I got back to base camp to see that the German had laid his towel out and was well set! Actually I had a chat with him afterwards and he was really a very nice chap. I caught up with a few Wanderers at the end, including Ian Craig who had enjoyed the ride. I am not sure that enjoy is the adjective I would have employed.
All in all this was a tough ride with climbs approaching 3000ft.The event was well organised, though it was a shame about the weather which made descending so tricky.
Roll on next year(attempt at irony)
Alan LLoyd