Sportive and Audax ride reports 2011.
Tour of Britain 'Pro Ride' Sportive, Stoke on Trent, 25 Sepember .
All for one and one for all, as they say.
Le Patron, deciding to stay overnight, packs his bags, checks the weather forecast and, seeing that it’s going to be dry all day, leaves his rain jacket and overshoes at home.
On the way over – rain, so contact Mal and request a spare jacket. Wake up on the morning to find it’s raining heavily – great!
Good breakfast and check with Mal and Andy, who’ve just arrived. Meet at the start – by which time it’s stopped raining – and queue up with hundreds of others, to be released in the third group of 40 riders.
A leisurely start, as Mal keeps saying he wants to warm up first, so we keep it steady. As promised to Mal, we keep on the front, allowing him to sit in and, gradually, the miles creep by through what I must admit is very nice countryside, with a smattering of villages.
Unfortunately, quite a few riders seem unable to keep a steady pace, flying by then falling back and when I go to the front to keep up our steady pace, they fall off the back, only to come roaring past further on – ah, well, it takes all kinds.
Get to the first climb and I try out the ‘big ring’ theory, blasting past some 30 riders to take the ‘prime’!
Going along nicely, with Andy to my inside and Mal tucked in nicely when, all of a sudden, some bird brain comes past and cuts in,
Fortunately, I was able to swerve out of his way (nearly taking Andy out!) and a few expletives were directed at him, whereupon, instead of just saying sorry (even if he didn’t mean it) and carrying on, he decides to try and argue something or other before pulling out and going behind us.
I think the word GIANT in big letters on his cycling top referred to the size of his mouth and inverse size of his brain!
A minute or two later and, not unexpectedly, he does the same thing again. Fortunately, I was ready for it and was able to avoid him, although he was worth only a few more words of firm advice.
Lucky for him we were on a mission, otherwise he would have found himself eating the grass verge – even luckier that Jonathon wasn’t with us otherwise he would have been popping into the nearest hospital.
Anyway, off he blasts and a mile further on who do we pass on the next climb? Yes, you’ve guessed it – Mr GIANT mouth.
Believe it or not, half a mile further on he comes past and starts mouthing it again – this time, however, it appears he has taken a dislike to Andy’s position on the road???
So, off he goes, again, finally to leave us alone.
I must say we did the club justice in not having him off and ramming his wheel over his head!
A pretty uneventful next 20 miles – which what it should be like – until Andy decides to puncture on the climb out of Leek. Nice large cut in his tyre!
10 minutes lost but we’re on our way and a mile or two before the second feed station, we’re flying down a hill when who do we see walking along the grass verge with his bike over his shoulder – yes, you’re right again – Mr GIANT mouth – oh, how sweet….
So, we arrive at the feed station where we stock up and Malcolm does his best to convince some guy that he really isn’t Brian Rourke, er, right…
Off we set and almost immediately arrive at Gunn hill, supposedly the one that brought Cav to tears.
Andy shows off his climbing skills whilst I talk incessantly to Malcolm, distracting him until we arrive at the top, which rather surprised him as he was fully anticipating the possibility of walking – no, Mal, we won’t let you do that!
Then the heavens opened – and Mal’s spare rain jacket became extremely welcome – and we continue through what was probably lovely countryside, if we could have seen it for the driving and stinging rain and burning eyes due to the sweat running into them.
Shortly after, I comment to Andy that he should get some decent tyres, when, oops, I’m sitting on something soft – no!!!! not what you’re thinking – I’ve gone and punctured as well.
We now lose half an hour, as 1) the first spare has a fault 2) It’s the devil’s own to get the tyre off and on – one tyre lever breaks! 3) the second spare has a faulty valve 4) everything is wet through and it ain’t easy to get a grip (as it were).
It’s an object lesson in tyre changing – much to the amusement of two security motor cycles, who’ve stopped to watch.
Anyway, Malcolm finally decides enough is enough and hands over an outsized spare, which beggared belief when it actually all went into the tyre – duly pumped up with my trusty CO2 cylinder without sticking to my fingers, although a lot of heavy breathing on the valve was called for.
Finally, we’re on our way, ascending the harder climb of Commonside and then the weather improved and the sun shone on the righteous, with Mal enjoying the flat roads, to such an extent that we ended up doing 22 to 25 for the last two miles and finally rolling in over the finish line to great applause (see pic).
Well done, Mal, it’s great to see you back in action – La Marmotte next year, then?????
La Look - 104 miles Sportive - Nevers, France. 15 May.
Arrived in France barely recovered from the nasty Lincoln Grand Prix and went for a gentle hour's ride on the Saturday pm.
Sunday started cold but bright-ish at the Magny Cours motor racing circuit, where we commenced with a frantic dash round the course before emerging onto the public roads.
Managing to avoid a pile up immediately in front of me at around 10 miles (interesting what a different sound carbon fibre hitting the road makes as compared with good old metal!), we covered the first third of the event at a nice 19.1mph, leaving me within my gold standard.
Then, after the first feed station, the pace dropped and, despite my going on the front to try and keep it at around 19's, no-one was prepared to go with me, so decided to sit in at 17's with the yellow metal rapidly turning silver.
After the second feed, the pace became frantic, again, frequently touching 25, with an occasional 19, but mainly 21's, right through to the finish.
Unfortunately, the middle section and the feed station breaks took their toll and I finished 10 minutes outside gold with 5hrs 47m 10s for a silver - only 1hr 19m behind a certain Claude Chabanel!
However, given the previous week, the undulating course and the uphill cobbled finish in Nevers, I cannot see that I could have done any better without a group effort during the middle section, so was pleased with the ride, overall.
Fortunately, the weather was near ideal - and I had a good meal with a bottle and a half of decent wine to re-hydrate that evening.
Fred Lyn
Lincoln Grand Prix, 7 May.
Day dawned cloudy, windy and cold, with rain threatened and looking imminent.
However, shorts and short sleeved top, with rain jacket seemed appropriate, but turned out not to be, as I had to take off the jacket at the first feed station, before I melted altogether.
Mind you, the pace was rather brisk, with me breaking the habit of a lifetime and actually doing a lot of the work with a friend from Wetherby Wheelers in clawing our way through the field.
Unfortunately, this exposed all my weaknesses as I suddenly started to struggle from around 20 miles.
Just before the first feed at 33 miles, we started to hit the Wolds and, boy, did I know about it - much hillier than I had anticipated and illustrated by touching 46mph freewheeling downhill!
Over cooked it on one descent but, fortunately, there was a run off (a gravelled parking area!) on the apex of the bend - so I ran off and managed to slow down sufficiently to get back on track without coming off - oops!!
Didn't stop at the final feed station, as my mate was just departing on his granny ring, his front changer cable having snapped and thought I could keep up with him - no I couldn't!
Got my usual cramp at 80 miles (just after the last major climb into the wind, followed by a rainstorm at the top, so put on my rain jacket).
Got rid of the cramp - I'm good at that, but really need to know how to stop it coming on in the first place!! - and persevered back to Lincoln, where, in an endeavour to show off the new Seacroft Wheelers strip, I removed said rain jacket just on the outskirts.
Penultimate hill just in Lincoln was an absolute pig, but struggled up, passing a guy carrying his bike (most people push, but, hey...) and finding my cramp niggling away by the time I got to the top.
Then a steep drop to the bottom of the cobbled climb of Michaelgate (right), whence out of the saddle and up we go.
Then, disaster of disasters!
Cramp attack with a vengeance - both legs cramp up and I can't get rid of it, nor get my foot out, so ignominiously fall over and need attention from two St John's ambulance chaps, who between them, eventually manage to straighten my right leg and off I set, up the hill - on foot!!!
The sympathetic clapping from the crowd did nothing to hide my embarrassment - nay, shame - and disgrace brought upon the club.
Took around 15 minutes to get to hobble to the top, whereupon I at least managed to re-mount and pedal with one leg the last 50 yards to the finish.
All in all, a bad ride!
Worse, I had only one week to recover before going to France for La Look!
Fred Lyn.
Jodrell Bank '80' sportive, 12 March.
The second running of this season opener.
As with last year, the day was dry, albeit warmer than previously, and with a moderate SE wind, which meant that we had a head/cross head wind for the majority of the ride.
I was fortunate enough to link up with a couple of guys from Chester, who set a steady (read fast) pace, although, even at my age, I showed willing and shared some of the work.
I managed to stay with it until around the 55 mile mark, when I simply fell apart and spent a lonely last 20 odd miles on my own.
Also, managed to miss a turn, near the end, but was fortunate enough to see a distant rider as I passed the junction, so turned round and rejoined.
The last loop was soul destroying, but catching several of the slower riders upped the tempo for the last three miles.
Down side: rubbish timing - supposed to have been electronic, but really was a guy writing down numbers on a sheet of paper as riders passed through the finishing gate and, unlike last year, the results were simply in ‘race number’ order, with no age comparison, so you could not readily compare your performance with your peers.
The whole event had a profiteering feel about it, which tends to take the edge off things.
However, finished in 4hrs 27m, which was 11 minutes faster than last year for a slightly tweaked course which was 4 miles longer, so very pleased with that.
Spending a few idle minutes trawling through the results showed that I was 29th out of 207 finishers in the 80 mile event.
Compared with last year 43rd out of 272 finishers.
All in all, a satisfactory start to the season.
Fred Lyn.
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