Monthly Archives: April 2015

White Horse Challenge 2015

I’m getting used to the 5:15am alarm. To leaving as the sun is rising. As I drove over Winscombe Hill, a deer and I shared space for a little while, before it vanished into a hedge and I carried on my way. Near Banwell tiny lambs were gambolling around in the fields. And, unlike the night before, it wasn’t raining. All of which seemed fairly auspicious as these things go.

Right then, White Horse Challenge, here I come. As ever, I beat the satnav to Shrivenham, arriving early enough to get a parking space on the field behind HQ. Which was good because I knew there was going to be a whole heap of faffing this morning, and that takes time. I have gotten my kit wrong far too many times lately, so had been obsessively checking the weather forecast for days, and had brought a whole variety of kit options with me. First off though, registration, on the basis that walking over there and back would show me how cold and windy it really was out there. Plus, it being earlyish, there wasn’t as yet too much of a queue for the four portable toilets outside, so I thought I’d take advantage of that.

Registration was easy. I signed alongside my name, my timing sticker was stuck on my helmet, and I was left with just my bike number to sort. I passed on the free coffee, grabbed a map and two cable ties, and headed back to the car. Being outside had demonstrated that it was indeed cold and breezy but, on balance, not quite as cold as it was last week. Well, probably not. So, what to wear? Ooh, decisions decisions. I mentally ran through my options, and what I’ve been wearing out there lately and, here we go, from the bottom up; toe covers, winter bib tights, s/s bamboo base later, s/s summer jersey, l/s winter jersey, lightweight gilet, winter collar, mitts, over gloves. I was really hoping that I would have gotten it right this time…

Time to get going then. My steed and I headed back across the field, where I joined a much longer queue for the toilets again. When I emerged and headed for the start, I found Gary waiting for me without even having to look for him. Yes, just for once I was doing a sportive in company. Ooh, the novelty! We’d had a chat beforehand and agreed that if either of us was as crap as we thought we were, and we ended up not being able to ride together, that neither of us would get grumpy about it, which sounded like a plan.

Time to go and put that plan into action then. Riders were leaving one by one as they wished, no bunched starts here, so we duly rolled over the timing mats together and headed out into the chilly Wiltshire countryside.

Now, if last week’s sportive was a ride of two halves, then this week’s was a ride of three thirds. The first 25 odd miles are fairly flat. Which is good because it means you get plenty of time to warm up. There is the odd up, but nothing drastic. However, all of two miles in, on one of those, and probably also something to do with not being warmed up yet, my insides screamed into painful life. And I use the word screamed because that’s what I felt like doing. I was already on the latest pills but it would appear they were wearing off! It fair took my breath away, and I was out of breath already. This did not bode well for the rest of the ride, let alone the hills 🙁

Still, on with the show, right? 25 miles of scenic flat back country lanes. Which we did fairly fast as it happens. I was muddling through, though probably not as conversational as I might sometimes be. I hadn’t warmed up yet, bits of me were screaming, and it was still pretty cold! I sat on Gary’s wheel as necessary, and we made our way around to the first climb of the day. I’ve done the White Horse Challenge several times before, and today familiarity was a good thing. For some reason it made the whole thing feel like a shorter event because I could break it down into chunks, and I knew all the challenges ahead. And the first climb of the day – past the White Horse at Broadtown – I have done many times before. However today, what with the pain, I was kind of dreading it. I was very worried that going up was going to hurt even more which, unsurprisingly, didn’t appeal. And I was also annoyed because I’ve been doing pretty good up hills lately and to be sabotaged by my own body seemed unfair.

So I was very pleased when it actually went really well. We’d agreed to meet at the top and yes, initially Gary drew away from me. But as we got going, and my crawler gear engaged, I got it together, overtook some other riders, and by the time we reached the top I was on it and actually overtook Gary as the road flattened out. It was, as I commented at the time, a lot better than I expected, which did massive amounts of good stuff for my PMA. And it hadn’t made the pain worse. ‘Rah!

Which brings us to the second third of the ride. Which started with a technical down hill, some flat and fun, and the first food stop, when I took the next dose of pills, ate half a banana, and popped into the village hall toilets. We set off, and headed for more hills. Which in this case would be the A4 past the next White Horse at Cherhill. It’s a very long gradual climb which is very attractive but, sadly, had a bit too much traffic on it. Still I was warmed up now, the pills were working, and I was feeling a lot better. On form even. I actually accidentally left Gary behind me, but I waited for him at a relevant point, and we were back together to go through the stones at Avebury. Which formed the pattern for a while. I’d get ahead, then wait, and then we’d try again.

The stretch from Avebury to Hackpen is fairly rolling and fairly enjoyable, but without many places to stop. It’s not that wide a road which probably explains why the black Ferrari going past us all apparently nearly took Gary out – they’re wide cars! It just made me grin when it went past me – I love fast cars 🙂 Our next rendezvous was just after the right turn for Hackpen Hill, where we took a bit of a breather. Gary was feeling a tad dizzy, so the maternal in me nagged him into not just eating but also taking a gel. He did what he was told, though he may have been cussing me under his breath 😉

I love Hackpen Hill. It’s pretty, you can see it from miles off, the White Horse is lovely, I know I can do it, and I LOVE the flying stretch to Marlborough that comes afterwards. Stick followed by carrot. Overall it’s one of my favourite patches of road. The hill has hairpins and everything, and it’s steepest at the beginning and then gets easier – the way all hills should be. And again, it went well, I even overtook people on the way up. And I waited for Gary at the top, which was handy for taking photos 🙂

Having said that, the elastic holding us together was starting to stretch now though. Yes I’d waited at the top, but I then had to go have the fun I’d earnt. And I really did enjoy myself. Fast flying downhill? Of course I did. But I did leave Gary behind again. I waited in Marlborough though, as Gary and a small posse that had grown around him arrived, all of whom I’d overtaken on the way down 😉 We headed out of town down Chopping Knife Lane, which is a fab name, and set off into the middle of nowhere, with hilly wooded climbs, pretty villages, and yes, I’d dropped Gary again. I think I only have one speed. It’s either the speed I can go at at any given time, or no speed at all, and sadly today it wasn’t Gary’s speed. As I carried on there were quite a few more hills, including the one that has no name and no White Horse but is probably the worst of the lot! I went up it with two other riders. They both ended up walking. I did not 😉

I reached the food station at Froxfield, about 68 miles in, feeling fairly positive, and did the usual. I wasn’t that hungry though and actually, looking back, I didn’t eat that much today. One small flapjack, half a banana, some Clif cubes, and one gel. And about 1l of Nuun. I can’t say I felt the lack though, so I guess that’s ok. Anyway, Gary arrived shortly after I’d emerged from the toilet, and I was pleased to catch up with him again. Or have him catch up with me I guess 😉

Which brings us, inevitably, to the third third. Which was less fun. I dropped Gary again, and decided to just keep going. I felt a bit guilty, but the pills were wearing off slowly, it was still cold, and I needed to get this ride over and done with. I also knew he’d understand. Mind you there was also a killer head wind, and there were times I missed the chance of a wheel to sit behind! So off I went. There were more ups, and I knew that the big climb at Uffington was still ahead of me. There was also lots of long draggy climbing through yellow fields, on long straight roads, straight into the wind, that just seemed to go on and on and on… Talk about a slog. My hard earned average speed was ebbing away by the mile, along with my PMA…*sob* 😉

Finally, and somewhat later on the route than I expected for some reason, we reached that last hill. Uffington, aka the Dragon Hill apparently. Which does have a White Horse, but you never see it! It’s also a timed hill climb, which always brings forth a wry smile…as if! On previous rides this has been a pretty busy place, with spectators and the like. It was quiet today, apart from the obligatory photographer half way up of course, which was actually quite nice; less pressure to perform! And actually it was fine. Just another hill. A big one to be sure but hey, done it before, did it again. In fact I apparently did it the best I ever have. Go me! 🙂

Right. Enough with all the up stuff. With only 6 miles of down and flat to go it was time to sprint to the finish. So I did. Which was fun, even with that bl**dy wind 🙂 Finally it was time to cross the finish line, print out my time, and drink fizzy orange while I waited for Gary to join me, which he did a little while later. I’m pleased to say he was still talking to me. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? 😉 White Horse Challenge done 🙂

Cycling time: 5:51
Distance: 89.9 miles
Avg: 15.3 mph
ODO: 9092 miles

I’m a bit disappointed with my time; I think it’s actually the slowest I’ve ever done it. Which is weird because I swear it felt easier. And I did good up the hills. I guess what with the wind, and the whole screaming on the inside, and the painkillers, well…none of those are probably conducive. But disappointment not withstanding, and all things considered, it actually went pretty well. It’s a nice ride, on a nice route, with lovely scenery, and I got my kit pretty much right! I had a fairly good day out, and it made a really nice change to do a sportive in company though, even if we didn’t stick together for the entire thing. I may have to try and persuade more of my friends to join me at more events 🙂

Free to be whatever I choose

Time to ride the bike in the sun and see if the legs were still working. Which they were. On a route that was carefully planned to maximise the use of tailwind across the levels. And it was nice out there, as you can see. I had a good time 🙂

Cycling time: 1:43
Distance: 27.5 miles
Avg: 16.0 mph
ODO: 9002.1 miles

Today is MaxiMe’s birthday so, just for once, that’ll be all for me today. Priorities 🙂

Exmoor Beauty 2015

Hello Sunday. Hello sportive. Hello Exmoor Beauty. Which I was actually quite looking forward to. It’s not that far away, the forecast was pretty good, and the route had been made more beautiful and less beastly. Besides, what else would I do on a Sunday? 😉

All of which made for a 5:15am alarm call, aiming for registration at 7:00am, and the start at 8:00am. Which all went to plan, mostly. I even slept pretty well the night before, which is unusual. Surprisingly I was one of the first there, as very few seemed to have felt the need to get there for 6:30am when registration actually opened. I parked up, and walked over to the school sports hall, noting as I went that it was bl**dy freezing out there! My registration had gone astray, which does occasionally happen when you get places my way, but the timing guy just set me up all there and then, with a nod from the boss Marcus, and handed me my 1433 envelope, which contained my bike number, two cable ties, and a helmet timing tag. Then it was back to the car with an hour or so to kill. I alternated faffing outside with sitting in the warmer car and drinking my coffee. It really was cold out there, even in the sunshine, a lot of which was due to a fairly brisk and very chilly wind. Marvellous…

Someone once said that there’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing. Well that pretty much summed up today. With knobs on. Given a bright but breezy forecast and the patch of good weather we are currently enjoying, pretty much everyone had presumed it would continue to be pretty much the same, and dressed accordingly. Including myself. Yes I could have put on some of the other options I’d bought, but since it was supposed to turn into a sunny nice day, I was worried I’d just be setting myself up for over-heating trouble later. So I stuck with the plan. My only concession was to add the winter collar and my overgloves that I’d bought with me to the mix. This was not one of my better calls….but of course I didn’t know that then did I?

Eventually I stopped hiding in the car and took my bike off to the start pen, half hoping they might let people away early to save us freezing to death. Sadly not. The pen slowly filled up, and then bunched up, possibly huddling together for warmth? As the time passed I got colder and colder and actually shivering. Lovely. Eventually Marcus gave us a briefing ably assisted by a man with signs to show us, and we were let go as planned at 8:00am. I was unusually keen to get going, and to hopefully warm up!

If we’re going with quotes, which it would appear we are, today’s sportive was a game of two halves. The first half was pretty horrible. It might not have been if the weather hadn’t deteriorated further, and it had nothing to do with the route or the organisers. But 3 hours of slogging up hills whilst freezing? Not good. I’m sure it wasn’t all up, but it kinda felt like it. Mind you, I was actually making it up the hills ok, and some of those ups were real stinkers, but still… And with all that climbing, my average speed was busy being atrocious and making it look like I was going to be out there for considerably longer than the less than 5 hours I’d been hoping for. On the upside all the quiet country lanes we were using were mostly surrounded by banks and hedges, so that wind wasn’t as much of a problem as it could have been. On the downside, that meant that all you ever seemed to be looking at was road and hedge, and it all turned into a fairly featureless miserable blur.

It all got a bit head down and zoned out, and I had to remember to look up and look out for signs which, luckily, were large, obvious, and where they needed to be, so I didn’t get lost. That would definitely not have helped! Oh, and note to self, if you’re riding alongside a river and it’s flowing the other way to you, you are going uphill, however gradually, and that’s why it feels like hard work! At least having ridden a bit around here some of it was familiar, including a few of the climbs, but I think it’s fair to say I was not enjoying myself. I was also feeling a bit guilty that I wasn’t doing my job. I needed to be taking photos, it’s what I do and it helps me to write about it afterwards. But I couldn’t feel my fingers, so photos en route were out, and I certainly wasn’t stopping to get colder just to take pictures! Yep, I was not a very happy bunny. Really just because I was so cold though which was, sadly, colouring my feelings about everything. The rest of me was doing the best it could given the circumstances!

Which brings us to the food stop at Exford, which was advertised as being at 29 miles in, and was actually 34 miles in. This might not sound like a problem, but when you’re trying to plan eating, and stops, and feel like a break might be a good idea…? A bit irritating. Still, a break was indeed good when I finally got there. And it was made even better by three things. One – there were no queues for the portable toilets. Two – they had warm soup. Warm is good. So was the soup. And the nice lady in the food tent asked me if I was her gluten free lady. To which I replied I wasn’t her gluten free lady but I was a gluten free lady. So three – she made me a gluten-free ham loaf. Real edible savoury food. Practically unheard of and just what I needed 🙂 Thus a little restored, and knowing I was over half way around now, it was time to get going before I got any colder.

Which brings us to the second half. Not much later on, as we up headed towards Exmoor proper, the sun finally came out, we went up, and the views came out too. And the rest of the ride was completely different. There was more climbing, but it was seemed to be more of the longer, wigglier, shallower, more me variety. With scenery to look at, including a cairn and everything. My overgloves and collar went away, the camera came out, and so did my PMA. Mind you, there wasn’t much hiding from the wind up on’t moor! Luckily at some point it became mostly behind me. And here’s where I finally started to have fun. Faster, flatter, sunnier fun. In fact the basic trend for a lot of the last half was essentially downhill. So I hopped from wheel to wheel and I pushed it. Over the moor, and down into the valley to follow the River Exe, flowing downhill this time! At some point we joined the return route to Tiverton that the Exmoor Beast takes and I knew I was properly on the home straight. Fun fun fun – and I was practically warm by now! 🙂

The route turned out, unsurprisingly I guess, to be 68 miles not 64, but since this was familiar territory, it wasn’t as annoying. I just kept going to get to where I knew I was going. And then we were back in town and at the school, just like that. It always seems to come out of nowhere somehow, I guess it’s because it’s on the outskirts of the town? I rolled under the Finish arch, where Marcus was on the tannoy welcoming everyone in by name, and collected my souvenir tankard. The Exmoor Beauty was done 🙂

Cycling time: 4:49
Distance: 68 miles
Avg: 14.1 mph
ODO: 8974.6 miles

Just the other side of the finish line a familiar face was lurking, Geoff Saxon, and it was nice to have someone to chat to for a change. He’d also been riding, though much faster than me! However I was getting chilly again standing still, so I headed off, leant the bike against a wall and went inside to get my time printed out, and grab a fizzy orange as ever before going home. I had, as hoped, made it round in under 5 hours – both ride time and elapsed – just! Officially my time was 4:58 🙂 And when the official results went up a day later, out of 380 riders, I was 167th and 8th woman. I’m really really pleased with that. OK, so my average speed may not seem that impressive, but if you consider where I drug it up from…it ain’t bad!

Today was a BIG ride. Not because it was long – it wasn’t really. Or because of the climbing – I’ve done hillier rides. So not a big ride for the obvious reasons. But…. Today was, by my reckoning, my 100th cycling event. I know these things are arbitrary, but I’m the one counting, I am the arbiter, so I make it 100. So there. And I’m pretty proud of that. Besides, any excuse for fizz, right? 😀

One of these days the sky’s gonna break…

…but until it does, there’s still time to ride in the beautiful sunshine 🙂

Looks like Alan and I must have been pretty desperate for good coffee though – look at us go! 😉

Cycling time: 1:36
Distance: 28.8 miles
Avg: 17.8 mph
ODO: 8906.6 miles

As the sportive season rolls on, the Exmoor Beauty is next. I’m hoping it goes well…fingers crossed, wish me luck, etc. It’s a big ‘un….but I’ll explain that later…

You see I’d write more; but I have places to be & people to see. I’m attempting to have a life 😉

More letters from the sky soon enough 😉

Give up yourself unto the moment

See this? Ok, it’s not an official Col sign. But it’ll do me 🙂 This year’s mental century block had nothing on my enduring Draycott Steep block. I’ve never made it up. Ever. And I’ve been riding a while now. To be fair I’ve not tried that many times. Two or three maybe, and I’ve always had to stop and walk, even if that was sometimes wet road/traffic induced. Nonetheless I’ve never done it. And, due to my dismal prior performance, I wasn’t entirely sure I ever would/could, which is why I’ve been avoiding it. But Alan and I have been meaning to try it again for a while. It was supposed to be today. But last night, with the possibility that he’d have a hangover (he didn’t) and that I’d have earache (I did) I was half expecting us to change our minds about attempting it today. Well we didn’t.

It didn’t necessarily feel like a wise decision. It felt even less wise when, after we stopped post warm-up loop to stash gilets, I coughed my guts up again – this cold is taking a while to clear! But I did want to do it. Or at least try to. We have a habit of doing hills well together, though not actually together as it were. I don’t know if I’d ever summon up the motivation to try it on my own. And I know I wouldn’t want to try it following the usual race snake suspects, who’d be leaving me in their depressing wake. So I guess it was kind of now or never?

The time was now. It seemed as good a time as any. You’d be hard pushed to find a better day to do it too. OK, so we were in pre-sunshine mist. But it was dry. The road was re-surfaced a while back. It was warm enough. And barring the odd considerate vehicle, it was quiet. There was no pressure. And…? Yep, I made it up. All the way up. In one go. It’s long and it’s steep and it’s long and it’s steep! I’d say it nearly killed me, but that would be a tad unnecessarily over-dramatic. It wasn’t quite that bad, but it was bl**dy hard work. Alan had had to take a break near the end of the steepest bit, heart rate you know, but that was probably because he didn’t know the worst was nearly over whereas I did, so I could push on knowing that. To be fair, I just thought he was waiting for me! The higher we got, the sunnier it got, in serendipitously symbolic fashion. And after quite a while, for the first time ever, I conquered Draycott Steep. See this smiley face? Well, ok, you can’t, but even now I’m still mad happy about it 😀

And we didn’t leave it at that which, had I been feeling truly rubbish at the top, had been mooted as an option. But since the sun was out, and the worst was done, it seemed rude not to bathe in the glory for a while. So we went across the top of the Mendips to Burrington Combe, so I could enjoy a good down. And then up through Rowberrow so I could enjoy going down Shipham Hill. I nailed the ups, and I nailed the downs. It turned out to be a pretty awesome ride 🙂

Cycling time: 1:52
Distance: 26.8 miles
Avg: 14.3 mph
ODO: 8877.8 miles

OK, so since Alan had had to stop, and the Steep took his zing away for the rest of the ride, he probably doesn’t agree with me. But I had a great ride, and I couldn’t have done it without him. Thanks mate! We sat in the sunny Square for coffee and cake afterwards, and I did my best not to crow too much. Although I skipped the coffee and went with the more celebratory instead. Well, it is my day off 😉 Woo hoo – I made it up Draycott Steep!!!

Guide Dogs Tour of Berkshire 2015

Another Sunday, another sportive. Which is the story of my life this month, and I’m not complaining 🙂

This time it was the Guide Dogs Tour of Berkshire, running for its second year. It’s not a huge event, and it’s about raising money for the charity, not laying on an imitation Etape for Mamils. It is also one I haven’t done before, somewhere I rarely ride, and there’s a lot to be said for novelty value. I also knew that it was only 77 miles max, the forecast was good, and it had a whole heap less climbing than last week’s Cotswold Spring Classic. What’s not to love?

So, with kit lessons learnt from the Cotswold’s sauna experience, I headed off down various motorways to HQ wearing considerably less layers than usual. HQ was, unsurprisingly, at the HQ of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association near Reading. Which would have been easier to get to if “they” hadn’t closed a railway bridge a couple of miles down the road for re-surfacing, thus confusing both my TomTom and I. Cue a confusing and circuitous detour… But I was there pretty much as planned, around 8:00am, and parked up in the walled garden staff car park. All very pretty, just like the house and grounds itself. It was all fairly low-key, but very sportive. Portable toilets, tent to sign up in, various catering outlets, all set out on the lawn.

Even though the instructions had insisted on photo id, as did the desk itself, nobody checked. I do wish people wouldn’t do that, I only have my passport, and I always feel a bit nervous lugging it around and then leaving it in the car – those things cost serious money to replace! Anyway I was duly handed my bag with my official numbers and various small goodies, which I took back to the car, so as to faff. Just as well I hadn’t gone over there, all ready, with the bike, as I’d still have had to go back to the car to leave it there…

First off – the bike number. I’m not a fan of seat post numbers. They just don’t work with my bike/saddle bag combo, as you can see. And the “don’t bend” instructions for the timing tag on it had me a bit worried, but hey, there wasn’t much I could do about it. The helmet number was easy, though I’d rather not have bothered, but felt I ought to. I continued to potter in the sunshine, debating what layers I had and which to actually wear. The trick was to have enough space in the saddle bag and pockets to stash anything I might have to take off, without compromising on the other stuff I had to carry – food, drink tablets, etc. But I reckon I had it covered, and although warm was due, it wasn’t quite here, though the potential was definitely in the air.

Since kit recitals are becoming my thing, today’s tally was as follows: toe covers, shoes, socks, lightweight tights, s/s bamboo base layer, merino s/s jersey, arm warmers, gilet, and winter collar. See, wasn’t that interesting?

I missed the horn for the start as I was queuing for the toilets. Btw, life is so much easier without bib tights 😉 As I headed to join the start queue in my turn, it turns out there wasn’t a queue if you were doing the “Epic” route and I was ushered straight through. I was off, just like that! The lack of waiting and a briefing was a tad disconcerting, I’m a creature of habit after all 😉

Right then. Here I go again, on my own, as ever. But I was up for that. A Sunday spent riding my bike in the sun? Oh alright then 😉 Mind you, as it turns out, it was a pretty linear loop – mostly out to the west, mostly back to the east – and it was pretty darn windy! A wheel or two to hide behind would have been bl**dy lovely. When you’re doing your best and still only doing 9mph, you sometimes lose the will to live! Luckily, if you can put it like that, the first half was mostly head wind, with the second half being mostly tail wind, as you’d expect. And although there was, according to Strava, more climbing than I thought, it was mostly a case of ups and downs rather than distinct climbs and descents. Rolling maybe. Or Andalucian “flat” 😉 Mind you, the bigger climbs were all in the first half really, and gee, I really love slogging up hill into a killer headwind, it’s just the icing on the cake! 😉

That wind kept things pretty chilly, despite the wall-to-wall sunshine. The winter collar might only have lasted for the first 20 minutes, but my gilet stayed on until around 11:30am which is probably round about when I turned to face the other way, surprise surprise, and my arm warmers came off shortly after that. The sunshine did make it all very pretty out there though. Cultivated fields, thatched cottages, elegant country houses. It being Berkshire it felt a little less countryfied than the Cotswolds had, there were lots of little villages to cycle through, interspersed with rolling fields, woodlands. All sort of well-behaved. England’s green and pleasant land or something. And somehow the miles just ticked by…

There were three food stops. One around 25 miles ish, which I passed on, one around 50ish I think where I did stop, and a drinks one at about 68 miles which I also decided against, it being too near the finish for me. They were a little makeshift – a van and tables in a lay-by, with fizzy coke, water, cake and jelly beans, and sadly no toilets. Mind you the staff were friendly, the coke was good; add a few bananas and flapjacks and, of course, a portable toilet, and they’d have pretty much hit my mark.

I was doing my best to push it a bit for a change. Especially on the flat with the wind behind me 😉 I knew it wasn’t too massive a challenge, and I was fair flying from time to time, and feeling pretty good with it. It’s odd how the time goes though. By the time I got in, I wouldn’t have wanted to do 100 miles, I felt like I was done. But then if I’d known I was going to do 100 miles I’d have paced myself differently, physically and mentally? It felt longer than some though, maybe because it was a lot of all the same for 5 hours? Or maybe I’m just getting bored of spending so much time with myself 😉 I did enjoy it though, which is the main thing. It went pretty well too 🙂

I rolled over the finish line, camera in mouth to avoid dropping it, and took up residence on the manicured lawn with the traditional can of fizzy orange, to watch the other riders come in for a while and get my breath back. And catch a few more rays of course 😉 I couldn’t stay there all day though, so I re-established verticality, popped into the toilets, and de-faffed before heading home. It had clearly been a pretty long day, as having hit the M4 rumble strip a couple of times, my eyes just weren’t going to stay open any longer, so I had to take a break at Chievely Services for a nap before heading on my way home again! I think I need to remember to eat when I get in too – that might well help.

Cycling time: 5:00
Distance: 77.6 miles
Avg: 15.5 mph
ODO: 8851 miles

It’s not a high falutin’ sportive. It’s a modest well-run well-meaning event. There were around 250 riders, and not including the money raised by individual riders, they’ve already raised over £1500 for the charity. It was well sign-posted, though the odd repeater sign might have been nice, and the wind had played havoc with a couple of the signs – which the friendly marshals were busy fixing as I went past. With the variety of routes on offer, 41.5km/84km/125km, it’d be a good event for the sportive novice, and with the relative flatness it’d also be a great route to try and do really fast as a group. According to the results on-line 99 riders did the Epic Route, and I was 50th. 11 of us were female. I was the fourth one of those, beaten by 3 Seniors but first in my V40 Category. I’ll take that 😉

Santini Cotswold Spring Classic 2015

Oops, I’m behind again. Three rides behind. But since two of them were cake related coffee runs with Alan, and I’m a busy bunny with a stinking cold, I’ll stick to just telling you about the sportive I think. In this case, as the title makes obvious, the Santini Cotswold Spring Classic. Which, having gotten my Cotswold’s sportives all muddled up in my head, it turns out I’ve not done since 2011, rather than more recently. What can I say, I’ve done a few sportives now, occasionally they all blur into one… At least I could look back through this blog and refresh my memory. On the other hand I’m not sure that helped. I did it with Guy, it was long and hilly, he danced up the hills, and I walked up them! Oh good. *gulp*.

Ah well, too late now, or something. I’d signed up, had nowhere else to be, no-one to see, it was Easter Monday, and the weather forecast was good. And walking up a hill is not the worst thing in the world. Worse things happen at sea. Etc…

The Cotswold Spring Classic HQ is at Cirencester College, and the car park opened at 7:00am. I left a little later than whichever route planner suggested I should so I could play beat the TomTom, which is always a good game. As I headed up the M5, the sun was coming up, and the street lights were going out one by one as I went past them, which was a little spooky 😉 Having duly won the TomTom race, I arrived at the car park just after 7:00am, one of the first to do so, with the proximity thus garnered putting me a just a short walk from registration in the main school hall. Sunny it may have been, but it was a bit nippy out there. Mind you, it was still very early for a Bank Holiday morning! There was a short queue for the few portable toilets outside but, having read the pre-ride pdf, I knew there were some inside so I nipped in to use those instead first. My pre-ride email had also told me I was rider 740, so I found my registration desk, signed my life away, and was given my map, bike number with timing tag on the reverse & two cable ties, and a couple of edible things.

Back to the car for much faffing. What on earth to wear? The forecast had said 14C, sunny, no wind. Apparently it had leapt up to 18C overnight which I was unaware of, but it was already feeling like warmer than had seemed likely. But… Oh dear. Decisions, decisions. I didn’t have summer kit with me. And it was only a forecast? After a few trips to and fro killing time and wondering, I did the best I could. I left the base layer and winter collar in the car, and took the shoe covers off. Which left winter bib tights, toe covers, long sleeve warm jersey, versatile winter jacket, head Buff, and mitts, with gilet and over gloves in the saddle bag just in case. And that was that. Nowt more to be done. Except to ride back to the start line again and queue up of course.

Start times for the mid (100km) and long (160km) routes were from 8:00am and even having done that to-ing and fro-ing I was still near the front. I then had a disagreement with the Garmin as to whether I not I should be allowed to do the activity I’d downloaded for once, or whether it would go on strike. It went on strike. So, this having happened before, I stepped out of the queue, reset the darn thing, and decided to settle on just recording what I did. I’d wanted to have the route so as to be warned when the hills were coming, but hey, if it wasn’t to be…

So I was away, post rider briefing, in the third of the groups of 50 or so riders being let away at two minute intervals. At which point the Garmin told me I was actually doing the route, by beeping route instructions at me slightly too late for me to ever actually do them. There was no way I was going pressing any buttons though, either to stop that, or to see if it was actually working – I wasn’t going to risk it throwing a strop again! So I left it to its own devices, figuring if I did get lost it might come in useful anyway, and headed off into the just slightly chilly Cotswolds.

I’d done my research. Well, kinda. I’d sort of looked at the route profile anyway. So I knew that the first few miles, out through Cirencester and then beyond, were ok, then the hills would start. A fairly hilly 15 miles in fact. And they were hilly. And I was not warmed up. There were two really big climbs. But…I wasn’t walking. Yes they were steep. And frequently also long. But I seemed to be grinding up them in survivable style. I even sort of enjoyed one of them 😉 A good start. Not that this stopped me worrying…as if I was going to do the long route, which was still up in the air, the majority of the climbing would come in the last 40 miles! Which seems a little unfair but does mean that the organisers can run two events for two audiences. It’s an early season event so anyone looking for a reasonable ride can do the 100km. Anyone looking for a real challenge can do the longer route. Which was I?

Ok, so the first chunk of hills were behind me, and I knew the next 30 miles would be a lot easier. The scenery was lovely, especially in the sunshine. Well it is The Cotswolds after all! Chocolate box villages, cute cottages, country piles, all glowing yellow in the sunshine. With flowers and trees and green countryside. All very pleasant, all getting warmer and warmer…and I really don’t like too hot. So by the time we got to the first foodstop at Performance Cycles HQ (event partners & also mechanical support) at Paulton, around 35 miles in, it was time to take action. Well, once I’d negotiated the cattle grid to get in…which was easier said than done with riders coming in and out. I cheated and walked the bike through the side gate next to it! I topped up my bottles, grabbed half a banana, and queued for quite a while for the toilets – 2 portable toilets and one urinal cubicle was not cutting it. It was however the best place to do the obvious as well as taking off the jersey from underneath the jacket. Sure, I’d have like to have lost the jacket, but my storage options were limited. The jersey fitted into the saddlebag, displacing the gilet and overgloves into pockets, and that was all I could do really. That and pull the jacket sleeves up a bit, and unzip the vents it has. I did say it’s versatile 😉

Time to head off again, all the time debating my options with myself. As I understood it the route split was at around 70 mile, at which point we’d be nearly back at HQ, so it would be a choice between 72 miles or 100. I really wanted to do the 100 miles, having failed to do so at The Lionheart, and I was feeling the need to have that first 100 miles of the season under my belt, before I got a real mental block about it. But I still really didn’t know what was going to happen. Sometimes these things are, as we know, out of my control. In the meantime I was feeling pretty good. I was eating regularly – testing out Clif bars and bloks – and I was drinking my Nuun as I sweated my way around the countryside. The weather was gorgeous, and so far it was all pretty much working.

Somewhat to my surprise the route split actually came at 60 miles, a little while after things had started going up in the world a little more often, and before I’d decided what to do. And it just felt too early to go home. So as it happens I didn’t even think about it, I just took the long route right turn. It was in fact a non-decision. So, for better or worse, I was going to get that 100 miles done. Which, although I knew a whole heap of hills were coming, was quite motivating. PMA!

They weren’t lying about the climbing though. OMG and holey moley! There were lots and lots of big long steep hills. Hard work, especially being so warm. And I had a way to go… So I broke it all down into chunks to deal with. 40 miles to go. Last 6 miles flat. So that’s 34 miles really. More than two hours of ups, less than three. With as much up as down, presumably. I took a break every hour, just to kick back a little, eat and drink, and recalibrate, and the second food stop broke things up too. I chatted to the photographers lurking on hills – nice to see you again Phil. Twice! I grinned, or gurned, at other riders, depending on the gradient. And I enjoyed the downhills of course. It all worked out. And I didn’t walk. A great many others did which, as ever, always makes me want to keep going that bit further…although walking might sometimes have been quicker! And those last 6 miles back along the main road to Cirencester were pretty flat, as promised 🙂 I was pretty close to bonking about two miles from the end…hot and tired I guess…but it seemed a bit late to eat anything. Luckily I made it in and over the finish line without losing it completely. First century of the year done, with around 7000 feet of climbing!

Cycling time: 7:15
Distance: 100.5 miles
Avg: 13.9 mph
ODO: 8773.4 miles

Having done the ride on my own, and with the mob being away, it was a little bit of a downer to have no-one to ring and be proud of myself to. But hey, I’m a big girl, right? I can pat myself on the back 😉 And of course it was all worth it, because the goody bag included not only a voucher for free hot food, a well-earned medal, and a cycling cap but also an Easter Egg! A Cadbury Creme Egg Easter Egg – my favourite. ‘Rah! 🙂 And I could also have had gluten free pasta bake but it was taking so long to sort the gluten free pasta for me and another rider, that I realised I was running the risk of falling asleep sat waiting for it, even having had a can of full fat coke, which I didn’t like but probably needed. So having had a chat to Andy Kirk, who’d sorted my place, I headed back to the car to load up and go home. I’d have had a shower first, the option was there, but I decided I’d rather sort myself out chez moi. Well, there was cold beer in my fridge 😉

It was a very good day out on the bike. Sunny, scenic, well-organised, and a real challenge, that I think I rose to. I am still a happy bunny about it. Not the Easter Bunny though 😉 Disappointingly I was slower than I thought, as according to the results I was further down the pack than usual. But hey, on the upside there were far more girls than usual too, which was great to see – around 10% on the long route and more like 25% on the medium route – which is very rare. It wasn’t all great out there today though. There were some pretty grotty lanes out there, a couple of dodgy descents, and some interesting patch resurfacing which was leaving the puncture-stricken parked up left and right, if not centre. I didn’t enjoy the two stretches on the A419 much either, as it had far too much holiday traffic on it, and didn’t compare well with the quieter scenic country lanes, even if it was faster and flatter! But let’s face it, where do we get good roads over here these days anyway? Overall it’s a really good event. And it only cost £28… Just saying 😉

These are the contents of my head

Alan and I had a plan to ride today. But the forecast was lousy overall, and ever worse for later in the day, and we don’t really do early. He bailed. However I did want to ride, as the prospect of a third home workout in a row was not appealing. But left to my own devices, as I was, the chances were I would bail too. So I pinged Chris, who happens to be on holiday this week, and as he’d bailed on his long ride plan for the same reasons, we made a Plan B. OK, so it meant an earlier start, but I’ve been sleeping rather a lot later and actually welcomed an excuse to set the alarm. Which would explain why last night I couldn’t get to sleep for feckin’ ages and didn’t get half enough shut eye. Whoever Murphy was, he has a lot to answer for!

So I wasn’t precisely grumpy this morning, but I definitely wasn’t perky. Not after my first coffee, nor even after the second coffee when Chris arrived around 9:30am. I was yawny. Which is not an adjective, but will have to do because it’s what you’re getting and I can’t think of a legitimate alternative that I prefer 😉

So, where to go? Well considering the continuing considerable wind, the sensible thing to do from a motivational point of view was to head out into it so it would be behind us on the way back. With the odd hill because always flat is not good from a training point of view. And since the wind was from the west, we decided to do a seaside loop, starting with Shipham Hill. Who’s stupid idea was that anyway? Ah yes, that would be mine. Still, at least I was warm by the time I reached the top. Not warmed up, but warm 😉 And with that under my belt, I was set for the rest, which turned out to be a little flatter than planned, in a make up the route as you go along way. birthday belt

Some rides are just good rides. Unexpectedly for the most part. Chris did enquire at some point if, due to the way I was pushing on, it was one of those days. Nope. And I wasn’t, even if it seemed that way. It’s just that sometimes your legs have it and sometimes they don’t and today they did. So why was it so good? Good question.

A little while ago, after a good start to the year and post-training camp, I was feeling good. Like maybe I could. And then with this latest flare-up, I’d definitely started to feel less good. Like I couldn’t. And the longer the weather was keeping me off the bike too, the worse that “I can’t” feeling was getting. Even if the reasons I couldn’t weren’t/aren’t my fault, it still put a serious dent in my PMA. So getting out there, and discovering that those miles are still in my legs and actually I still can was just fantastic. A real boost. I felt good, and I had a blast. Even up the hills we did do. And especially when that wind was finally behind us *grin*. Yep, definitely a good ride 🙂

Cycling time: 1:58
Distance: 30 miles
Avg: 15.2 mph
ODO: 8615 miles

According to Strava, when it comes to going uphill, I’m putting in the best times I’ve done in over a year, and I’m still getting better. Which is great! I may have started off the day a little less than cheerful, but I’ve been a shiny happy person ever since 😀

Talking of shiny things, it would appear my birthday gifts all had a certain theme. Hence the belt above, from the mob. And the earrings that my folks bought me from Cycling Jewellery. Both of which I may have had a hand in choosing 😉