Highclere 2007 - sunny day

A return to Highclere following successful ride last August. Starting to feel like an old timer at sportives now (somewhat prematurely given this is only my fourth event...).

Still first time for something as was riding as part of a team, a novel experience. Accordingly I steered clear of any specific individual target as not sure how others would be riding.

In contrast to Wessex the forecast for the weekend was for sun and it delivered. Day before event I kept off the bike but did do a fairly intense 30 minutes on indoor bike (15 mins Speed 18, 15 mins Speed 16). This seemed to have no adverse effect and I felt very fresh as Sunday dawned. I left early to pick up a fellow rider and we rode to the event together. When there he wanted to speak with bike-shop re his bike so I thought I would tag along and see if I could get a diagnosis as to the rattles coming from my Roubaix.

Chap found the cause, the bolts on my chainring were loose. Something I would never have thought of. He tried to tighten but one snapped. Clearly they were amiss. Happy that at least I knew to get some more I went off to join rest of team.

Course 2007 was reverse from 2006. This meant hard climb up Coombe to start but after then most of first half downhill. Return quite lumpy but no mega climbs.

Recognising this I thought it would be worth pushing hard from the start. So we led the way for our group up to the climb. There I changed down and started the tricky bit of ascent. After a short while my chain slipped off. I cursed, stopped and put it on again. With some difficulty I restarted only to go a few yards before it came off again. I swore harder and looked at the chain ring, discovering that the broken bolt had slipped out and this was causing the chain to come off. So I had to put the chain back on the middle ring. Restarting was especially tricky but managed and got to the top, rather upset. Met up with one team member and we hared downhill to join up with the others. We then hurtled down the Test Valley at a rate of knots, keeping up a 20mph average for nearly 90km. During this time we lost touch with one of our four. We thought he was in a group behind but later it turned out he was having a hard time and called it a day.

At this stage though things started to get a bit harder as south of Winchester we started to head east. The road started to get lumpy and it was difficult to keep together as a group. After a while it was decided best to split, one of us going ahead with me staying with the remaining team member who was doing his first 100mile+ event.

This proved a wise decision as from then on there was no group that we caught and those that passed were going too fast for us both to comfortably keep up. It was a hot day and I knew from experience it would be no fun to go solo, especially on a first big ride. Eventually the two of us made it to the top of White Hill which we knew was the last big climb. With one last push we made it back to Highclere and welcome beefburger/ice cream.

As it turned out the three of us who completed all hit gold standard and we ended up thoroughly enjoying the day. On a personal level it was a very good training ride, I had taken it comparatively easy (170W) and not had much assistance from riding in a group. Even so we averaged 28kph for the ride as a whole. This made a goal of riding an event at a 20mph average seem realistic given the right circumstances.

Tour of Wessex 2007 Day 3 - The Bad Day after the before

tour of wessex 2007 day 3

http://www.bikely.com/

Last day of the Wessex was the hardest. Not physically, single speed Sunday in the wind and rain took that honour. But mentally it was tough.

I was so knackered the day before that I had not bothered to check my time and how I was placed. I knew that, given the gold standard targets, getting a gold was pretty much out of the question. So I decided out the outset not to try too hard and treat the day as a tourist ride.

The weather was grey but not too bad through my hotel window, a definite improvement on the day before. I had breakfast and set off on my bike with gears. After a while I became aware of a noise coming from my bike which I identified as being the rear cassette being loose (having had similar in the past). This was a bit of a disaster. Fixing this was easy, but you needed the right specialist tool. I thought I may be able to scrounge one at the event but this would mean missing the start. The days route was long but the first 60km or so were quite flat. My plan had been to shelter in a group for this section then take it easy as the hills started. Missing the start would mean riding solo which would make things a lot harder.

I had a couple of pieces of luck. First was that the weather the day before had played havoc in the field where the event was held. Lots of things had blown down and most crucially the electronic timing was broken. So the start was on hold. Second bit of luck was that I managed to find a very helpful chap just when I was getting desparate because it looked like no-one had the tool I needed. He was sure he had the right gadget, only problem was he did not know where it was. He had a van full of bike stuff and it was only by taking this all out that we finally located the vital spanner. He sorted me out and I offered heartfelt but hurried thanks as I just managed to make the start in time to ride off with the pack.

As I expected the first 60km or so were quite uneventful. We bowled along at a fair pace averaging some 28kph. I was in a huge group of riders and as the route was along wide straight roads it was not too difficult for us to stay together.

Eventually we reached some signs directing us along smaller country lanes and at this stage a funny thing happened..I needed to go for a pee. Now I know this is quite a natural thing to do but luckily when I ride I don't seem to get the urge to go. I always put this down to me losing liquid via sweat etc. Anyway today was different. I needed to stop so put off the urge until a suitable bush appeared and then stopped for a bit of quick relief.

Having dropped from the group I was with I did not feel any urge to catch up. The roads were narrow and twisty so I could not see them to chase and in any case wanted to save energy for the climbs ahead. These included the "highlight" of the weekend, Dunkley Beacon, the highest point of Exmoor with a long (for England) climb of some 300m, much of with a double digit gradient.

I ambled along, enjoying the countryside and the weather. The latter was proving to be nice and reasonably sunny. All went well until I hit Crowcombe. Halfway through a sign pointed right and more importantly up a small road. This led up to the Quantock hills. The climb was immediately tough, as steep as any around Newbury and longer. Then I saw a sign warning(!) of a steep climb ahead....(as if this was not steep enough..) I soldiered on but with huge difficulty. The climb measured 30%+ according to my HAC and though I pedalled up it at one stage I had to resort to a slow tac across the slope rather than straight up.

The top of the climb had a food stop and here I stopped. Previously I had ridden past these but today I was in need of a banana. I pushed on heading quickly downhill and to the coast. I passed through some seaside towns then off west. This bit was a real slog. The road was long, straight and devoid of shelter from the wind that blew straight into my face. I slogged on not enjoying the experience very much and praying for a time when we would turn south and head to Exmoor. Eventually this happened. Just before a couple of riders passed me and jumped on their back to get a tow. At one stage one beckoned to me to take a turn at the front. I declined pointing out I was tired having done the last god knows how long solo. I did not point out that I recoginised the person doing the beckoning as someone from the first day who had been in our group heading to the finish and had spent precisely zero time doing any work for the bunch.

The big climb was a bit of a tease. The route took us right of the road onto a cycle path/byway through a wood. There were a number of false starts when the road kicked up only to drop away after a couple of hundred metres. So I started the climb proper without realising I was on it.

It proved a bit of an anti-climax. It was long but manageable (my triple working sans problems). Subjectively it was easier than the previous Quantock torture, helped by the fact the sun was shining and the views as you went up were great. On the way up I was passed by some Army guys I recognised from Newbury. They were planning to ride the tour de france route and using the TOW as their last training ride.

At the top of Dunkley Beacon were find views and more bananas. Then a fast descent and some small medium climbs. After 130km or so the route profile showed these were over and it was downhill or flat to the finish.

I cycled along quite quickly, roping in a few others to do a bit of work then pushing on. All was fine until we headed off the main road and up an unmarked (on the profile) hill. It was not the steepest or longest of the weekend, but did have some bits at 25% or so. I hated this hill, mainly because it was not meant to be there. I gave up any attempt to go fast and just twiddled up it. When I got to the top I decided to go slow to the end in protest. I kept to this resolution until I was joined by some others and it seemed easier to stick with them, which I did pretty much until the finish (which came later than posted at more like 210km than the 200km that were meant to be).

I reached the finish with a sense of anti-climax in around 8 hours. All there was quiet so I returned to the Marston Arms for a well earned pint (or two)

First 25 Miler - Harder than I thought

Did first official 25 mile TT last night. Turned out harder than I expected. Largely my own fault as I did no preparation. In fact I only decided to do the event the day before and then only so I could get hold of a club jersey in time for the sportive this weekend.

My preparation was further hindered by me feeling very good the night before, so having quite a hard workout on the Banjo ride, averaging some 190+W. I felt so good I headed off solo at the end to put in a couple of climbs. Then spent the whole day yesterday on my feet doing a mixture of house chores, bike maintenance, golf lesson and errands in town. I literally only stopped 30 minutes before setting off for the event.

Whats more the evening itself turned cold and windy after a day mainly full of sun....

So lots of excuses. Being my first 25miler I really did not know what to expect. I set a target of 280-300W following my 325W average on the 10 miler last month. For the first quarter this seemed well attainable as I averaged 288 but slowly and surely the average declined so that at the turn after 25km the average had dropped to 280 and I had difficulty keeping it around that level up to the finish. My final reading on the bike was 278W but Cyclepeaks reckons 280W for the event itself so just on target. But I felt very tired, unable to hit the 170+ bpm I reached during the 10 miler and writing this the day after I feel much more tired than I expected.

On the good side though the time was respectable. One grail for a cyclist is to get under the hour for 25 miles, and I nearly managed this first attempt do 64 minutes. The course was a bit downhill overall but the wind on the return leg made it harder. Famout last words but I reckon I can break the hour on a warm calm night with a bit of preparation.

Also I set a PB FTP (CP60) of 280W and managed to keep rpm up at 83 average. Re latter though interesting that my most powerful rides are those with lower cadence. Towards end of the event I found a technique of counting 1 2 3 and pushing hard down on the 1 (so alternating legs) seemed to work well in terms of high power but not feeling too hard. Will experiment with this before the next time I brave a TT

Other good news was that my bike performed well, and no bits fell off despite me doing lots of work on it during the day including dismantling bottom bracket and fitting new Toupe seat. Tyres stunning. Inflated to 10bar and they went fine.