What a B’Stard – @Polocini Sportive 5th May

7266ft of ascent

Another Polocini sportive I can wholeheartedly recommend.  Starting in Oldham, once it was clear of bandit country, it offered a pretty and challenging route taking in some great climbs.  As per usual there was the incredible Polocini value on display – porridge, coffee, energy bars/gels, energy drink and bottle (both at the start and the feed station), recovery shake and hot meal – all included in the entry price.

And it didn’t rain (but it was BITTERLY cold).

I made somewhat of a mistake at the start, hanging onto (and leading at one point) the fast boys uphill and into the wind, until they finally dropped me after an hour up a long climb.

Luminous helmet and yellow wind jacket near the back!

Steve Robinson from the club hung on for a bit longer until dropping his chain and having a bit of a mechanical.  I caught him up and he limped into the feed station.  Whilst I filled my face with millionaires shortbread and flapjack one of the support guys tried to fix his mech, which wasn’t taking up the chain slack when dropping to the small ring at the front.  Unfortunately he couldn’t fix it and recommended Steve did the short route, so we parted company.

My legs were pretty knackered from the earlier efforts but I made decent time picking off riders until I hit the bottom of Holme Moss and spotted Anthony using the “facilities”  A quick chat and we set off up the big climb.  I didn’t see him again until the finish.

Speaking of which, just 7 miles from the end, a right turn took us onto Gorsey Brow.  The B’Stard.  This is a beast of a climb, especially after a hard ride to that point, and I struggled up past a rider who had decided walking was the easier option.  At that point it was touch and go who would reach the top first!

Hot food and recovery drink at the end was very welcome – and my legs were starting to seize up when I realised I still had to ride home.

Rick Robson took some great (considering what he had to work with) photos and these were excellent value – see below.  Check his work.

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Ride Stats : 68.6 miles in 4hrs 44mins @ 14.5mph average. 7266ft climb, average HR 154bpm, 4210kcals used

Strava ride here

Polocini Winter Sprinter Pic by Rick Robson

Picture by Rick Robson of http://www.cyclesportphotos.com/

Great picture – notice the mud splashes everywhere!

Polocini Winter Sprinter Sportive

Regular readers of this blog (both of you) will know that I’m quite critical of sportives, generally preferring audaxes because of the value for money you simply do not get from sportives.

Well today I rode the Polocini Winter Sprinter.  Let me first discuss value for money.  The ride cost £20 to enter.  When I arrived at the HQ I was given a cup of quality (not instant) coffee and a very large portion of porridge.  With my registration I also received a bag containing 2 CNP high protein oat bars, a CNP cereal bar, 2 CNP normal gels and a CNP caffeine gel.  Then I was handed a water bottle (I refuse to call them bidons – I’m not French!) containing CNP energy drink.  At the feed station I had a coffee and a yoghurt coated flapjack.  I could have had more.  After the ride I was handed a CNP recovery shake and I had very nice black pudding sausage and mash.  There was also a sports therapist on hand for those that wanted a free massage.  The added bonus was that the porridge and the sausage and mash were very, very tasty.  So all in all I think you’d be tight as a gnats chuff if you thought that lot wasn’t excellent value for money, so a big tick for that.

Onto organisation.  North Cheshire Clarion (and a few other clubs) had a lot of riders present.  A really simple but clever idea was that all the NCC registrations had been put into one box.  I simply took the box and dished all the goodies out to our riders.  Not only did that mean we didn’t have to queue – it meant that we weren’t in the queue holding everyone else up.

We had our photo taken by Rick Robson - another freebie as biggest club present – and then we were off.  The weather was stinking, with heavy and icy cold rain.  No mudguards on my bike meant my back was soon very wet.  No mudguards on most riders bikes meant my front was soon very wet.  The route was a nice roll through the Cheshire lanes, many of which are familiar from our club runs.  In the sunshine it would have been superb.  In the wet it was a bit less so!  Covered in mud and with waterproof gear failing at various points, by 40 miles I was completely soaked and the temperature was in the low single figures so I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes.  We’d set off at a fair tilt and I was only kept company by Ste from the club.  Our average speed gradually got slower and slower – perhaps dragged down by the increasingly heavy and damp clothing, as well as heavy legs. We avoided Swiss Hill as trying to ascend that in the wet would have been very difficult.  My one gripe about the day was the “sportive riders” issue which, to be fair, you get everywhere.  Too many unable to hold a line, or keep a steady pace up, and doing daft things like riding no-handed in a 20mph bunch whilst trying to open a gel.

1,957ft ascent

The route also threw most of the climbing in at the end, which made cold and damp legs suffer with cramp.  Arriving back at the HQ we were greeted with recovery shakes and hot bangers and mash, and a warm village hall.

So in summary, a really well organised day offering great value for money.  Highly recommended and I look forward to the next event.

Ride stats : 61.8 miles in 3hrs 32m @ 17.4mph.  1,957ft ascent, average HR 161bpm, 3,444kcals used

Strava ride here

 

Macc Monster 2011

Remember - the camera adds 10lbs...

On Saturday I was having a bouncing competition with my youngest daughter (don’t ask – she’s a bit childish like that) when I had to stop because of a pain in my lower back.  I thought nothing more of it and it went away.  Until the first real climb of the Macc Monster when it started aching quite badly, and didn’t really stop for the rest of the ride.  Last year I rode the Macc Monster in bright October sunlight, riding in shorts and short sleeves and enjoying a really nice day round the hills of the Macclesfield Forest and edge of the Peaks.  This year it was windy and wet, but still as enjoyable, with the Kidscan charity organising another super event.

7,087ft climbing

I mistakenly got up an hour earlier than I needed to having misread the registration time so I was there nice and early, with the weather damp but not too bad.  This is a well-organised sportive so we were off pretty much bang on time in a 200 strong peloton heading out from the HQ.  The field rapidly thinned out as we immediately started hitting the hills and I made my way through the field settling (and staying) in the first 30 or so riders.  We seemed to battle a headwind for most of the ride which somehow seems unfair considering it’s two loops but certainly as we hit the peaks the wind was blowing hard.

Not far from, and at the halfway feed station, I started chatting to a chap who introduced himself as Adam who had just joined North Cheshire Clarion.  He looks like the racing snake variety of cyclist and is apparently into time-trials so watch out Giles next year!  Adam, if you are reading this, welcome to the club.

The feed station had the usual basic, but very welcome, food such as banana, flapjack, malt loaf and water/energy drinks and I was soon on my way again.

Photo does not convey how wet and windy it was

The last 2 climbs were pretty tough.  The headwind was now brutal and the rain was being driven into our faces and was actually painful, especially up to the Cat and Fiddle.  But this is a great route and soon we were sweeping down descents towards the finish, and a complimentary steak sandwich and cup of coffee.

I keep recommending these rides – this one and the Peak 100.  They are great value, with well signed and interesting routes, good organisation and value for money.  And any proceeds go to the charity.  Give them a go next year – I will see you there.

By the way, if you like the photos they were taken by Rick Robson at CycleSportPhotos - I think they’re good despite the subject model – especially given the weather conditions.

Ride stats : 64 miles in 4hrs 40m @ 13.7mph average.  7087ft climbing, average HR 150bpm and 4099kcals used.

 

Ryedale Rumble

Not an old lady's leg

On Monday night playing football, my brain wrote a cheque that my body couldn’t cash, and I ended up going over on my ankle.  Several hours later it had swelled up to the size you can see in the photo to the left.  All week I’ve been wearing a brace, resting it and hoping the swelling would go down before today.  And so it did.  Sort of.  So at 5-30am this morning my alarm went off so that I could get over to Ampleforth to ride the Ryedale Rumble.  As Liz got up with me she gave me a supportive “I hate your bike rides” and sent me on my way.

Organisation was first class with plenty of parking and a dead quick and easy sign-on.  I set off at about 10 past 8 and pretty much straight away felt rubbish.  I put it down to me taking about 5 to 10 miles to warm up but frankly it didn’t get any better.

9064ft of climbing

About 16 miles in we hit the first of 5 big climbs – Boltby Bank, which is in the 100 Climbs book scoring 7/10.  I stuggled up it thinking it was going to be a long and painful day.  As it was my ankle was okay but I think I was subconsciously compensating because I was starting to get pain in other places that I never normally do – the base of my foot, the muscle on the front of my shin and my hip.  The only time my ankle hurt was twisting to unclip my cleats, which had me worried about some of the steeper hills.

So I was already struggling and even the relatively flat bits of the course were full of short, sharp climbs.  The second big climb was, I believe, called Blakey Bank and it was the longest of the bunch but again, I struggled up to the top.  The descent took me across a moor with the most vicious cross-wind I’ve ever ridden in.  I was riding at about a 10˚ lean into it and still getting blown across the road.  It did cross my mind that I’d be riding into that at some point but only fleetingly as I was trying to avoid death.

Some of the hills were frankly ridiculous – the maximum gradients above are 41%!  And that was too much for me.  At 60 miles I was absolutely shot and then what I thought was Rosedale Chimney loomed into view.  You could see this thing from about a mile away, simply going straight up .  I think the road-makers in Yorkshire basically look at a hill and decide none of this namby-pamby winding up a hill nonsense – I’ll just drive my tarmac machine straight up and straight down.  I walked up the steepest third in the middle after my legs started cramping.  After getting over the 4th big hill, which came in quick succession, I thought that was it for the day.  At 80 miles I flicked my Garmin to the gradient view and I thought it was misbehaving.  There was basically a wall approaching.  Turns out this was Rosedale Chimney, so christ knows what the other one was.  I struggled up the first third which is about 20% gradient, into a very strong headwind, and then it got really steep.  Again, I just wasn’t in the zone today and I had to get off and walk.  I was a bit disappointed but there was no way I was getting up.  When the gradient dropped to about 16% I got back on and completed the hill – but that’s one that I will have to go back to as it can’t be chalked off in the 100 climbs book.  Downhill was also into the headwind and required pedalling – it was just relentless.

The feedstop was a welcome break and with only 20-odd miles to go I was looking forward to the end.  However, the last section was completely exposed and into that headwind.  I was on my own and it was a real struggle – I was on the small ring on the flat at some points.  Mentally my head had gone at this point, I wasn’t enjoying and I just wanted it to end.  I’d been passed and dropped almost continually during the day and Easter, when I blasted round the Spring into the Highlands sportive, seemed a long, long time ago.

Anyway, I limped in and handed in my electronic timing dibber, and was rewarded with a piece of paper with my time and a certificate that said “Silver Award”.  My total time was 8hrs and 5 minutes for 111 miles which meant an average of 14mph.  It also said I was 54th out of 70 finishers*, and the current leader had done it nearly 2 hours quicker than me.  I also got a t-shirt for finishing and some hot food.  Overall I have to say that organisation was excellent but I didn’t enjoy the ride at all.  I’ve spent the summer riding long audaxes at a relatively easy pace with long stops, so trying to do a sportive at quick pace really exposed that.

Ride stats: 111 miles in 7hrs 32m at 14.7mph.  Total climb 9064ft.  Average HR 151bpm, energy used 6648kcals

*I subsequently found out that I finished 61st out of 105 riders

A Very Windy Wheel Heroes 100 Charity Sportive

Bloody hell!  Can anyone tell me why I get up at 4-30am on a Sunday morning, load my bike into the car, pick up my buddy Anthony, load his bike into the car, and drive 130 miles to Stratford-upon-Avon?

Well in this case it was to ride the Wheel Heroes 100 mile sportive.  I’ve been pretty picky about sportives this year.  I’ve started to actually dislike them.  Many are expensive and full of idiots with all-the-gear-but-no-idea and generally they are not a patch on audaxes.  Of course this is not always the case.  I’ve heard good reports about Policini sportives, which seem to be good value and imaginative, and I continue to support and ride the Kidscan charity rides (which I’ve blogged about here and here).  The reason for riding the Wheel Heroes 100 was that it was a charity ride for a great cause – Cyclists Fighting Cancer, which provides cycling equipment to young people who have been affected by cancer.

There was plenty of parking at Stratford racecourse and the registration was quick and well organised.  But it didn’t half feel windy!  Refreshments were available, at a price, which is fine by me on a charity sportive.  Timing chips were attached to ankles and we set off over the mat and off.

Anthony summed up the ride as follows – 25 miles into a headwind, 25 miles up hills, 25 miles with a tailwind and 25 miles back into the headwind.  That’s a pretty good summary.

3545ft of climbing

The route itself was relatively flat (in sportive/audax terms) but the wind put a very different complexion on things.  The first 25 miles or so were directly into it and in the exposed Cotswolds it was quite tough.  The scenery was beautiful – lovely rolling countryside, quaint little villages and chocolate-box cottages.  Which we rode through with gritted teeth!

Around the halfway point were some spiky hills with a bit of a kick to them, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Feedstations were at each 25 miles, providing drinks and simple, but welcome food.  After the halfway stop we enjoyed a bit of a tailwind until the final feedstation when we turned back into the wind for the final stretch.  Which was quite hard.  Is it me or has May seemed to be a very, very windy month?

Apart from nearly being taken out by an idiot in a white Audi near the end, the finish was a bit of an anti-climax – a finishers medal and a “goodie” bag but no hot food.

A note on sportive riders.  There are some very awful riders out there.  Borderline dangerous.  Can’t hold a line, can’t keep a constant speed and can’t ride close form.

Overall, a decent event.  Good route, good organisation and good feedstops.

Ride stats : 100.74 miles in 6hrs 13m @ 16.2mph average.  3545ft climbing, average HR 134bpm and 4520kcals energy used

Wrynose or Bust

With clear blue skies the Halton Army Training Camp at 7am this morning was 3°C.  It was absolutely freezing as I met up with ex-clarionista Andy and got registered ready for the ride.  The Rotary Club of Lancaster were organising this event and so far everything was smooth, with registration quick and easy, and a cup of coffee available to take the chill off.

The route started off running parallel to the coast up through the TT-ers favourite of Levens and then darting south-west to trace the edge of Morecambe Bay, before heading north into Cumbria.  It covered a lot of busy roads – a little too many for my liking.

Apart from the odd lump there wasn’t much in the way of hills for the first 40 miles, and we were averaging 17-18mph.  At Gawthwaite that changed as we got our first real hill, taking us up 500ft in a couple of miles with an average 9% gradient.  As we headed north again through the Duddon Valley it was easy to feel a sense of foreboding, as there were steep hills closing in on both sides making the ride feel somewhat claustrophobic.

At around about 48 miles we started the climb that culminated in the highest point of the ride at just over 60 miles.  Apart from one short descent that was pretty much 12 miles of constant climbing.  As we approached Wrynose we could see Hardknott on our left, and Andy helpfully told me that we were going up the “easy” side.  To be frank we could see the pass in the distance and it didn’t look much from a distance.  Then as we got closer I spotted a yellow dot on it.  The dot wasn’t moving much, if at all.  And at that point I realised it was a cyclist grinding up the hill.  Oh shit.  Andy had also remarked that there wasn’t much traffic and as if by magic a line of cars appeared behind us on the single track road.  I flicked the Garmin onto the screen that has the gradient on it, took a deep breath and tried to get into my “climbing rhythm”.  Andy was ahead, a line of cars behind.  Someone was cranking up the steepness now, 14%, 15%, 16%.  I couldn’t find my rhythm and was breathing hard.  Andy was worse though – with a cold and a bad back – and so I went past him.  Three cars went past me.  Then they stopped!  FFS, a car coming down and they couldn’t pass!  At this point I’m thinking that if I stop behind these cars I’ll never get going again.  17%, 18%, 19%.  There’s a massive scraping noise as the down car presumably hits a rock on the grass verge and the 3 up cars get going.  My heart rate has hit maximum and then some – 191bpm – and I was running out of power to turn the pedals.  18%, 17%, 16%, thank God for that, 15%, 14% and I’m hitting the peak.  A coupe of marshalls at the top clap me up and I stop on the peak to wait for Andy.  That was tough, and if it is the easy side then I don’t want to know the hard side.  But it didn’t end there.  I let Andy go first as he’s a much better descender than I am and off we went down the hill.  Oh.  My.  God!  I have never been so terrified on a descent.  My arms and shoulders were sore at the bottom from pulling the brakes.  At times the poor road surface had me oscillating to the point that I thought the bike would come apart, or even just throw me off.  I felt the rims of my wheel at the bottom and they were very warm!  It seems not everyone managed to keep control.  We chatted to one rider who’d hit a rock on the descent and ended up in a field, his bike a write-off.

6708ft ascent. Guess which one is Wrynose

19.4% - Wrynose

Mistakenly we thought that was the worst of it over.  At 80 miles there was a horrible climb at 15% and then, as legs were failing, at 105 miles one at 10% in a cruel sting-in-the-tail trick.

The countryside in the Lake District is absolutely stunning.  Some of the views we were treated to were fantastic.  Unfortunately it’s popular with motorists and walkers (who get there by car) and so there are far more cars than in other rural areas.  And to get to the good bits you have to use (relatively) busy roads.  But the weather was good, the clouds dissipating to leave us with a warming sun.

The organisation of the ride was excellent.  Signs were good and marshalls were posted at key points, such as dangerous descents like Tow Top, or key turns.  There were a number of feed stations but these, unfortunately, were not as good as they could be.  They offered bananas, gels and energy drinks and towards the end had run out of anything but gels and water.  I much prefer food to gels so this was a bit of a pain.  At the end there was a free goodie bag and a really nice pasta meal.  Overall a great ride with good organisation.  I think this ride must attract more “serious” riders as whilst I was 30th out of 131 in the Peak 100 last week, in this my time was only good enough for 74th out of 117, and my average speed was higher!

I’ve run a guess the time competition at work to aid my sponsorship.  Here’s the stats.

Ride Stats :  112miles in 7hrs 33m 16s @ 14.9mph average.  6708ft of climbing, average HR of 136bpm and 5602kcals of energy used.  Top speed 45.6mph

Peak 100 Update – Plus Photo’s from @CSPhotoscom

Really chuffed to find out that my “official” time in the Peak 100 sportive was the 30th best out of 131 riders.  That’s a marked improvement on what I was capable of last year already and given that I’m still about 7lbs heavier than I was I am really pleased with it.

Anyway, here’s a couple of photos from ace sportive photographer Rick Robson at www.cyclesportphotos.com – great value and great quality

Climbing Axe Edge

KidsCan Peak 100

This year I’ve been looking at riding audaxes more than sportives because, frankly, you get just as good an experience for a fraction of the price.  For example whilst many of my clubmates had spent a small fortune to ride the Cheshire Cat, I’d spent a fiver to ride a 200k audax on many of the same roads.  I do, however, make exceptions.  Last year I rode the Macc Monster sportive which was brilliant.  The Peak 100 is by the same guys so I was looking forward to this one.  And what’s better is the money goes to charity – specifically KidsCan, a charity for children with cancer.  So I’m happy to part with £25 on that basis alone.  However, when I signed in I received a High 5 bottle will a couple of gels and a couple of powders in it.  The main feed station had malt loaf, bananas, cereal bars, chocolate biscuits, powerade and water.  About 15 miles from the end two nice ladies in KidsCan t-shirts were flagging down cyclists with more gels, powders, choccy biscuits and water.  To cap it all, at the end there was a voucher for a steak sandwich/bacon butty/chips and a drink.  Absolutely brilliant value I think you’ll agree.

The route left the HQ in Macclesfield and was essentially two big loops – going through Langley, the Macclesfield Forest, Cleulow Cross, Bosley, Key Green, Timbersbrook, Gillow Heath, Mow Cop, Knypersley, Lask Edge, Rudyard, Rushton Spencer, Bosley Minn, Allgreave, Flash, Longnor, Crowdecote, Glutton Bridge, Axe Edge, Cat n’ Fiddle and back.  The scenery was absolutely fantastic – great climbs rewarded by fast and exhilarating descents – maximum speed today just under 41mph.  Yet another great route and superbly signed throughout – although the provided GPX was turn-perfect too.  The only (masochistic) disappointment about the day was the advertised climb of Mow Cop.  Well, it went near Mow Cop but it wasn’t the Mow Cop that everyone knows.

The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Shorts and shirt-sleeves for the first time this year and I was still overheating on the bigger hills!

5978ft of climbing

The ride is advertised at 7000ft of climbing although the Garmin suggested it was only (!) 5978ft.  The Garmin also developed a new trick today – at 30mph it suddenly decided I was doing 0mph and auto-paused.  Only a reboot brought it back to life!

Lots of spiky hills!

There was some serious climbing on this ride.  As we left HQ in a big group I knew that the hills would start to thin it out fairly quickly and so they did with 6 miles of climbing from the off.  I managed to keep in touch with the leading riders, generally finding that they pulled away from me on the flat but I got back on up the hills.  I felt pretty strong most of the way round.  On one particularly long climb I got into a fantastic rhythm which saw me just spinning along at 80rpm and reeling in rider after rider as they all started flagging.  Feeling pretty good about myself one of the guys in a Peak Cycles jersey went past me like a train, followed closely by his mate; a timely reminder there are always bigger fish in the sea!

The finish joined the Cat n’ Fiddle just before the pub and then followed the road down into Macclesfield.  That was a great blast and I managed to ride a couple off my wheel into a headwind so a great end to a great ride.

Organisation again was great – parking no problem, no queues for toilets or sign-on, no queues for any food, quality signage and a great route.  I’ll be back for the Macc Monster and I recommend  it to everyone.

Ride Stats : 64 miles in 4 hrs 24m @ 14.5mph.  5978ft climbing, 3840kcals energy used at average HR of 150bpm

 

Mad March Hare

Copyright Walt Disney

Another stupid o’clock start saw us heading down past Birmingham again for the Mad March Hare sportive.  Five souls from North Cheshire Clarion (and one ex-clarionista, Andy) braved the very cold early morning chill.

After chauffeur Anthony delivered us down the M6 we arrived at possibly the most bizarre HQ I’ve seen.  Not the bike shop, Cult Racing Cycles, which was fine, but the parking area looked like a cross between a disused farm and Steptoe’s scrapyard, and we parked in a very long and dark cattle type shed!

Registration and a cup of coffee were very easy and we mingled a while with the many Sportive riders milling around before setting off.  The route took us west across the top of Redditch before turning south into a strong headwind.

Andy had set off on his own to get a time, and with the first couple of hills the field started thinning out, with Giles, Anthony and I breaking away from Paul and Martin, who with recovery from recent illness were being sensible.

I noticed that my stupid, useless Garmin was reporting an elevation about 200ft below sea level at this point.  I really do despair about this.  I had to downgrade the firmware because it switched itself off periodically and now it was reporting the elevation many hundreds of feet below where it should have been.

We were setting a strong pace, especially up the hills.  We weren’t expecting anything too hard until the middle of the ride, but there were a couple of cheeky hills fairly early on.

3,059ft of ascent

We were making good progress but were wondering where the “big” hill was.  Then in the distance we saw it, rising above the treeline as we headed towards it.  It started with about a mile of “gentle” 3 to 5 % and then got difficult.  Riders were going backwards, desperately searching for more gears as the gradient hit double figures for the final mile.

Quite a few steep spikes!

Several gave up and got off, but we were going strong, dodging the riders weaving across the road.  Then I saw Andy go past me on the inside – apparently I had overtaken him, head down, earlier on the climb.  We pressed on until the top, Giles out in front followed by me, Andy and then Anthony.

The feed station was not far down the other side of the hill and I helped myself to 4 slices of cake.  Andy didn’t stay long but we hung around a short while before launching ourselves back down the hill.

Progress was pretty fast as the wind was slightly behind us now and we got on the back of a fast moving group, enjoying the tow.  Apparently not fast enough though, as Giles took us past them and onto the front, in the name of “doing our turn.”  Turning round I realised we’d dropped them fairly quickly though and we pressed on.  A community speed trap and car in the road managed to split us up, with Anthony having to stop to pull out round it whilst we continued on.

A set of temporary lights and a right turn onto a busy road saw Giles leave me for dust and for 13 miles I gave it everything to try to catch him.  Round the twisting country lanes I occasionally glimpsed a guy in blue so I put everything into reeling him in.  After 7 miles of going past rider after rider I finally caught guy in blue only to find it wasn’t Giles!

Pulling into the finish there was Giles and Andy waiting.  Anthony came in soon after followed by Paul and Martin.  Some nice Moda bikes on display at the end and a massive queue for a bacon butty cooked on the world’s slowest grill.

Overall a good day – decent organisation, good company, great route and the sun actually came out!  What more could you ask for?

Ride stats : 71.3 miles in 4 hrs 18m @ 16.5mph average.  3,059ft climbing, 3,692kcals energy and average HR of 148bpm