It never rains but it pours.  And today it poured, and then some.  It was pouring when I left the house at 7:00am.  The M4 was a standing water spray filled nightmare, with as much rain coming up off the road and the cars on it as down from the sky above.  Yep – looked like sportive weather to me *sigh*.

Today was the Wiggle Magnificat Ladies Preview Ride, which was supposed to be a group of riders of the female persuasion doing the 51 mile CommuniCat route.  Due to the amount of water around, water water everywhere in fact, it turned into a handful of riders doing the 26 mile route.

Why just Ladies I hear you ask?  Oh, and I’d better not be hearing anyone suggesting I’m not a lady… 😉 *grin*.  Well essentially it’s because the Wiggle Magnificat has teamed up with the Breeze bike rides initiative, which is aimed at getting more women riding bikes.  The Magnificat is the first sportive to incorporate a Breeze ride – the 26 mile Breeze LadyCat which, as it turns out, we rode.  So in order to help publicise this, and spread the word, there we were.  A lady from Breeze, who explained it all to us, the local Breeze Champion, ladies from the local council, from Wiggle, and also three assorted racing ladies.  Oh, and me, with my Cyclosport hat on.  There was also male representation from British Cycling, and Phil O’Connor from Sportive Photo.  (Small world – I’ve bought photos from there in the past, and actually chatted briefly to him on Blissford Hill on Saturday!.  And last but not least, two of the event organisers – Ken and Andy.

Ken Robson

It took a while to get us all together at the start venue, what with weather, Newbury traffic and so forth.  The event starts from Newbury Racecourse which luckily I found easily and quickly, unlike some others.  As we sat in the dry and warm drinking coffee and getting to know each other, outside waves of heavy rain were interspersed with waves of…lighter rain and very occasional sunshine was but fleeting…  Ken decided, based on his knowledge of the route and the roads involved, that the amount of standing water around was going to make the planned 51 miles route treacherous, and that doing the shorter route would be more sensible.  Once we were all together, and had learnt a bit about why we were all there, it was finally time to ride.  Well, having gone all that way and being already kitted out, it would have been a shame not to do at least some riding.

Press call - www.sportivephoto.com

Only 5 of us actually rode – Wiggle lady, the three racers, and me.  At least when we set out it was dry…  We were led by Ken’s car, and followed up by Andy’s – which was a bit unnerving.  I’m used to listening out for cars behind me, so having one permanently there was weird.  Following a car was also interesting as it was a lot easier for him to keep a constant speed than it is for me – especially on the hills!  Mind you being chaperoned around the route like that did feel a tad professional – and if their cars had been yellow and black with wheels on top… 😉

follow the leader...

It was a relatively easy loop – though the first hill straight out of the race course would have been easier if we’d warmed up!  There were a couple of other hills en route but nothing I couldn’t plod up without too much grief.  As you’d expect it wasn’t massively hilly, as it’s supposed to be a route that’s encouraging riders not scaring them off!  The full length Magnificat is 127 miles and has 2800 meters of climbing, which is a whole different kettle of fish!  As we went round the rain came and went, the sun shone teasingly in between times, and there was even hail briefly.  The roads were wet and had had a lot of gravel washed over them in places, but at least they weren’t muddy – that had all washed away.  By the time we got in we were all soaked through and splattered, and probably quite grateful not to have done the 51 mile route, even if it did break my two hour rule ;). Here’s what Bella says we did.

It was wet out there... www.sportivephoto.com

Cycling time: 1:49:29 hrs
Distance: 29.82 miles
Avs: 16.3 mph.
ODO: 13215 miles

Now I have been known to get home before getting changed but when you’re soaked to the skin that isn’t really an option.  Time for a shower and clean dry clothes before lunch, more chatting, and heading back down the still dismal motorway to home.

My new bike is delayed, and I’m starting to wonder if it’ll ever turn up at all.  Which probably explains my minor case of bike envy…

race snake...

I’m going to write a proper Cyclosport review when I get the press release and photos, but in the meantime, this is what you get :).

UPDATE: the official Cyclosport is up here, and also on the Wiggle Magnificat website 🙂