Highclere Castle

Next up: Highclere Castle, 8th June. Not particularly hilly, but not far from me (Berkshire).

There are 2 ways to ride 200km - a hard way and an easier way. HCVL was one of the hard ones. I arrived in plenty of time with the intention of setting off in one of the first fast groups. In the first group there didn't appear to be anybody very serious. The 2nd group 2min behind likewise - some army and navy blokes but no obviously fast team or anything. One other Dulwich rider in the 2nd group, which after a last-minute Eddy Mercx with the saddle height, I set off with. It soon became apparent this was going to be a s l o w group. Perhaps this is just one of those uncompetitive sportives. (Wrong - the fast chaps set off later). But at any rate my aim was to get some good training out of it. Getting a good time was secondary. So I set a good pace, shared with a couple of navy blokes, and followed by a group happy to follow. With a tailwind on the flat we were doing a brisk pace. When we got to the first short but steep hills on the Ridgeway I + navy + couple more left most of our group behind.

33kph for the 1st 2 hours at the 1st feed station - yeah that was pretty quick and nobody had caught us. However by 70km I was in trouble. The legs just died and I realised i had done too much too soon. The little hills became painful. I had written the climbs on the top tube but it was meaningless - they werent climbs as such, you couldnt tell when they started or finished so I couldnt get into a climbing rhythm. It was all rolling stuff that wore you down gradually without any sense of progress or achievement you get when cresting an alpine col or Lake District pass.

One fast group caught me, and I tried to hang on for a couple of kms before losing them. The legs couldnt take any more. It was really hot. I made sure to leave the feeds with full bottles (but should have drank more while at the stations - didn't piss all day) but even so, the heat does seem to sap my strength. Except for Fred Whitton, my best rides have been in cold and rain (NoveColli, Polka Dot), when I think most people get cold and demoralised, but I get on with it. I've really suffered on hot ones (PIP, Maratona). Another group caught me - strong Norwood and Addiscombe chaps - and I stayed with them for a bit longer before getting dropped. It was pleasing to see others dropped from that group who i caught up with over the next hour or so. And that group didnt get much ahead of me as I caught up with them at the last feed. Another group passed me as I was getting water, and I lost a small group when I stopped at a junction and checked my rear quick release was still tight (it was, just at a funny angle) but I caught them after several kms of too-hard solo effort.

The last 50kms I did in a coalescing group of 15 or so, in which I spent no time at the front. Deserved I felt, given my earlier efforts and how much I had suffered. I certainly felt stronger after the last feed, and with 50 to go the end felt in sight. Hell, I even dropped some of our group on the last climb into Highclere.

It wasn't just the legs, my whole body hurt. As after the potholed roads of Polka Dot, my lower back felt sore. My new Mavic wheels are certainly stiff and I felt every bump. I think my sloppy low spoke tension Bonts absorbed more shocks than the mavics. Probably more relevant than frame material / geometry that the journalists always bang on about.

So I thought I hadn't been overtaken by more than 50 or so riders. And so I hadn't - 41st place, 6:54, average over 206km of 29.9kph - got me a gold certificate which I feel I earned the hard way.

Looking fwd to Dragon Ride on Sunday :)