Ah the Legbreaker. Still up there as one of my hardest ever rides.
The jersey and cap are still going strong and habitual attire.
Sadly the edition I rode turned out to be the last. Bit of a shame as it was well ahead of the trend in terms of UK sportives both in time and difficulty. It also had some of the best food at the finish.
These days there is pretty much one sportive or another happening most every weekend.
Did the Legbreaker ride yesterday and, as planned, rode it without looking at my power computer (except for occasional peek).
Actually ride is one where power meter is of least use as consists of lots of sharp, steep ascents and hairy single track descents (as profiles above show...). Quite pleased with how I managed on it, I forced myself to go hard on the climbs and took it easy(ish) otherwise. (ish because high winds and occasional showers made going tough, groups did not really form given nature of terrain).
Overall stats were not too bad. I did the ride in just under 6 hours (it was meant to be 130km but a missing signpost turned it into 140km) and set a new PB for 5 hour normal power at 256NW.
Work time was spread pretty evenly across all of the buckets with near an hour being spent at VMax+Anaerobic. This is in sharp contrast to the Highclere Sportive:
and even sharper contrast to the Marmotte:
While happy I did it not sure I will do Legbreaker again. Not so much the climbing (dont mind that) but the fact that the whole ride felt very samey, just a constant succession of short steep climbs, often in woods, followed by similarly steep descents down single track roads. Latter led to a couple of accidents (fortunately all involved are OK) but even if trouble free are not really much fun.
Next weekend is Tour of Black Mountains, with several serious (but for the UK long) climbs which is definitely more my cup of tea. Just hope weather improves a bit...
