Rode to start with jwo... too fast for me, he is! My HR hit 180bpm which made my tummy hurt (happens when I over-exert when not warmed up).
Met various familiars at start control, plus one or two new incl Tara of this parish. Was a bit caught out at the start, so as everyone was leaving I faffed with GPS. Got off and set to chasing down the group - pulling Tuggo along behind me, cos he'd forgot to lock his van (jwo tells me it was Tuggo anyway, never met him before - that was a very impressive turn back into the carpark btw Grin)
Hit 184 bpm chasing the group then as I started to flag a little Tuggo pulled past and I had blown so couldn't catch on. Still plenty to get with the group which wasn't very fast then made my way out towards the front and rode with Tara, Mr L and a nice Canadian chappie whose name I never got.
Tara and canadian bloke dropped us for a bit and Mr L and I ambled along together at about 27kph, but navigational glitches from the other two meant we caught them just in time to discover the flooded road by the Thames. Mr L proceeded to ride through having the appearance from behind of a boat; I suspect he would've regretted using the trike yesterday. Tara did the same, whilst a debate raged in the rest of the group about What to Do. I went for the wade option - no way was I submerging a powertab hub and a SON! Stripped to bare feet and waded in, carrying the bike. It was a bit slimy at the bottom, and it got to knee deep, and I thought I was going to go over a couple of times; it was also deceptive because the end of the flooding wasn't really the end and there was more to follow... eventually we got out the other side and I got some wet wipes out and shared some out for others to clean up as well. By the time I got underway, my overall average which was 27kph so far was down to 18...
Off we went again, and because of the flood a larger group formed, which I charged along with for a bit but I was running a bit high energy output (pushing high 170s HR and pushing 300W a lot of the time) so I eventually dropped back. I found a few of them I was faster than on the hills, but the rest were long gone. Honked my way up the hill approaching Lambourn, and made reasonable time to the first control (Marlborough?) where an english breakfast was consumed despite some confusion amongst the staff. Canadian arrived having detoured rather than waded, and then going 6km off route... so I ended up riding
with him, dragging him over a long gentle climb (where was this, I have no idea, it was before the turn towards Devizes), i was motoring along OK at this point.
The Bradford-upon-Avon control eventually arrived, and there were still loads of people around when I got there - a distinct improvement over last week! Leek and potato soup and apple pie with icecream went down well, and off I went... there were some rumours of some hills, and they weren't long in coming... as soon as I turned off the main road it all got - as Arabella aptly put it - sweary. This continued for a long time, though i did manage to reel in and overtake a one legged man - yay for me! I was most impressed by Drew Buck's flapjack stall at the side of the road - marvellous, and just what was needed. Met up with Canadian chap there, Mr L, the one legged man (sorry don't know your name, but chapeau). His daughter was riding with him, on her first 300k at 17 years old. It wouldn't be my choice for a first 300!
I was the last to leave again - spending too long yakking and chewing flapjack - but soon found myself on scary descent into Cheddar, and fast ride into the town to arrive at the chippy. In for a penny etc so had the fish and chips which couldn't finish, then off up the gorge after bemused tourists had been told "yes we really are going all the way back to Oxford tonight" and "that thing is like riding in a hammock" etc. jwo had told me the gorge wasn't too bad, but I have been misled by audax ideas of steepness before but it turned out he was spot on: one or two steep bits near the bottom then it gets a lot easier and it was easy just to twiddle up.
When I arrived at the gates of the Big Green Bash they wouldn't let me through... despite apparent agreement having been reached to allow us through so a detour was taken and then off the top and down into the valley below. Got stuck behind a pony and trap for a bit and the horse was being very stubborn and refusing to walk on (despite frustrated instructions from the driver, so eventually I jumped up on the verge - grass lawn so plenty of space to get by safely) and walked past.
On arrival at the next control spied Mr L sat on the forecourt looking forlorn; the garage was firmly shut and so no chance of:
- food
- red bull
Others soon arrived and it was decided the outside tap was probably safe, so at least we got some water, answered the alternative info question supplied, and then I set off on my own again, but soon stopped for more clothing as it was getting colder as the sun dropped.
I got overtaken by the group twice:
- stopped for an energy bar
- stopped to investigate why the powertap had stopped powertapping (230k) I failed
to fix this so it's still not working. Troubleshooting to be done.
I honked past them a few times as they were climbing at the pace of a one legged man (literally). Eventually I decided to stick with 'em for company but the group broke up when I decided I was flagging, and it split into two (Dave not L, Canadian chap and me together) and we had a lie down in the dark to recover spirits. Off again, we pushed on to Cirencester control which was thankfully open (dodging drunks on the way) and finally I was able to purchase two cans of Red Bull, and the first substantial food since Cheddar. These two things combine to something with the consistency of rocket fuel, and I picked up alot for the final stage, for which we had something like 4.5h to do 40km due to the generous (14.3kph) minimum speed. We flirted with the Larrington on and off but eventually dropped him on the undulating bit back to the finish and arrived at about 2.40 am, thoroughly knackered.
19h40... not fast but the hardest 300k I've ever attempted, possibly only the the BCM Scenic has been a harder ride in my experience.
Travel back today was slow, hot and somewhat tedious, though jwo was good company on the ride through london and helped with route finding. My gps unit is this ---> <--- close to being chucked in the bin due to repeated loss of signal in the forests, I need something with a better receiver.
On the subject of Powertap data, I will try to extract graphs of power output for the interest value. I peaked at 785W (probably a short burst of acceleration on a hill) and spent most time when pedalling outputting around 200W (average much lower due to coasting on descents though). I'll have to find out if I've broken it already!
