I was unable to make the club ride on Saturday, so
instead I thought I’d let you know about the sportive I did on Sunday with
George W. This was the last in Performance Cycles’ winter mini-sportive series.
Entry was just £7 with a few freebies at the start and included hot drinks,
bacon rolls and cake at the finish. With numbers limited to just 175, it should
come as no surprise when I tell you that they ran out of places some weeks ago
and also had to stop adding names to the waiting list.
There was a choice of either 74.5km or 102km. The two
rides on offer both followed the same course up until the 57km mark. According
to the elevation map the serious climbing would already be in the bag by then
and with the promise of plenty of sunshine my mind was made up the night
before, it had to be the 102km.
Long Route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4043514
Short Route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4036198
We
arrived in good time at the Cotswold Water Park. Performance Cycles don’t do
‘faffing around.’ Parking and registration were hassle-free. Judging by the
amount of lean looking, Castelli clad riders, there were a fair few who weren’t
going to be hanging around. We opted to ride at the tail end of the second wave
and hoped we were far enough back to avoid a demoralising stream of cyclists
passing us.
Settling
into a brisk pace we headed west out towards Nailsworth via Kemble, Cherrington
and Avening. As the highly impressive Stroud peloton purred past, one of their
riders seeing my MCCC jersey introduced himself as Mike West and said that he’d
just joined our Strava Club. (Mike lives in Malmesbury and was keen to see what
his local cycling club was up to).
The
descent from Avening into Nailsworth was spoiled by the two sets of temporary
traffic lights, typically both on red when I reached them. After waiting for
what seemed like an age at the second set, pedal power prevailed and we all
went through en masse with the lights still against us.
The hill
out of Nailsworth up onto Minchinhampton Common was a bit of a beast, but now
travelling eastwards we were treated to some fantastic countryside as we rode
through Frampton Mansell and Sapperton before taking a bit of a dog’s leg
around to Daglingworth.
Our
original intention was to do our own thing, but with the field well and truly
spread out by now, I enjoyed having the company and we made useful sparring
partners doing our best to keep the pace up.
With the
two steepest climbs behind us and just the lumps and bumps to worry about we
headed for the split point. My DIY bike fit where I experimented with my saddle
height and position to try and rid myself of a niggling knee injury seemed to
be working and I had no hesitation in taking the longer route.
The sun
had definitely brought the crowds out. We found Bibury awash with tourists and
the road through the village choked with motorbikes. Leaving the hustle and
bustle behind, we rode down to Fairford, skirted the airfield and then crossed
the A419 back to the start.
A
lakeside cup of tea and three slices of guilt-free cake were very much enjoyed
by me whilst George W’s bacon roll disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Time
taken: 4 hours 40 minutes
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