As I was stamping cards at Grantchester, and I live just in Girton, Cambridge, I set off to ride to the control just after 9. Unfortunately, a few minutes tardiness getting away and an unexpectedly strong headwind, and I was pushing all the way there to arrive before the riders. I arrived at one minute to opening and a group of five riders had already been in, got receipts and were preparing to ride on! No-no-no-no-no! If the control's not open and you get PoP, you'll be DQ'ed at the end, guys! Pah, impatient lot ... anyway, I stamped them away at 10 and I heard from the Ellises that they arrived at Maglia Rosso before the control officially opened there, too
Most of the riders got to the first control within 20 minutes of it opening — the benefit of a strong cross-tailwind all the way up. A late starter meant I had to stay until ten minutes before the control closed anyway and I was there right through to closing time.
The next stage I rode the official REM route up Balsham hill and cross-country to Maglia Rosso in Hawstead. I thought this section had a strong tailwind and my pace certainly indicated meteorological assistance, but some of the riders I passed disagreed, eh?
The lanes from West Wickham all the way to Hawstead are some of my favourite riding in these parts
I made up so much time on the run over that the Maglia Rosso was still heaving when I got there. They had REM 100 + 200 plus two club rides and had only just coped at the peak. They did apologise for this — unfortunately the tailwind kept the REM riders grouped together delivering them all at once, so it was an all-but impossible task to have served everyone immediately.
After I had eaten, I chatted with the Ellises — Mary and her three daughters, two grandsons, and boyfriend-in-law, until the last rider came through and they could close the control. As they drove away, I joked that I would race them to Great Dunmow.
My DIY route now followed the REM route to Monks Eleigh, where I went straight on as everyone else headed left, and aimed cross-country to rejoin the route at Bures, missing out Manningtree. I do a lot of solo riding, so this was normal, but I plotted a route that took in lots of new lanery for me. It was another lovely bit of countryside, only marred by the turn back into the wind — at first my tempo was pretty good, but as I came around into the wind then my speed dropped markedly — verging on embarrassing
After the Bures reunion, on the series of climbs that followed, I kept expecting to be caught — climbing into that wind on fixed-gear, I felt exposed. Instead, I caught a group of three as they stopped just before Halstead to put on rainproofs, although they passed me back fairly quickly and I couldn't hang on. I did pass a couple later who'd stopped at a shop. But the rain on this section put the dampeners on proceedings — at first it wasn't wet enough to really need 'proofs, but later I was too cold to risk stopping, as I suffer within a few seconds in those conditions, so I kept the pedals turning.
Eventually I rode into Great Dunmow and arrivée alone just after 6pm with 155km ridden to find the room full of thousand-yard stares, and as riders came in having spent even longer in the rain, the stares seemed to get longer still! At least Tomsk's pizzas and Mary's cakes took the edge off it and everyone eventually thawed out. It was good to see Brian on the desk — last time I saw him was at St Ives control on LEL. Tasha was helping him with the brevets. Mary was helping Tomsk and Soupy with the hospitality. The Ellises said they enjoyed the day out, as they did last year
At this stage I still had 51km to ride home, but the rain seemed to be getting heavier, so I chose to wait it out. The clock was ticking — a 200km DIY gives 14 hours and I had already stopped for nearly three hours at the two controls. On the plus side, I had so far managed to ride every leg WITHOUT putting my foot down
After a couple of hours I decided to brave it, and, although it felt very cold, the skies had cleared and I had a moonlit ride all the way back to Cambridge along the B184 via Thaxted and Saffron Walden, getting home in just over two hours. I got held at traffic lights in Cambridge and did have to dab a couple of times, which was disappointing. Longest dab-free stage was MR to Dunmow — 77km
All in all a really nice day out on the bike. It's always great fun stamping cards at a control and meeting everyone who's riding the event — you get to hear some of the little stories, mishaps and anecdotes, as well as meet old friends and make new ones. It can be a bit hectic at the first control, as everyone's still closely bunched, but riding over to the Maglia Rosso and it was much more relaxed and so I got to chat to a few over lunch
It was really nice to catch with Mary, Lisa, Nikke and Tash and Ryan — Richard's PBP gilet nearly fits him now! — as well as meet two newcomers to the Ellis family from last year: Nikke's 10-week-old son Austin Richard, and Tash's boyfriend Liam.
The Orchard Tea Gardens said they are looking forward to seeing us again next year
in such contrast to Mistley Towers, who, from what I gathered, were a little less enthusiastic. Maglia Rosso were also very pleased to see everyone and are looking forward to the next one, too; just apologetic for any delays in getting food out during the crush.
As for the DIY — 207km in 13h26m, so allowing for minimum distance of 202, that's still a minute or two within 15kph time, even though DIYs are 14.3kph — I'll take that; still not a lot of time-in-hand at the end. Stopped time was a rather profligate 5h15m! But riding time a decent-enough 8h11m on fixed-gear, which I'm happy with (
Strava). I do feel like I just rode a quick 400, though — I need to get my hydration and salts sorted, I just don't drink enough on the bike ...
Of course, thank you to Tomsk for organising, the Ellises, Mrs Tomsk, junior Tomsks for all their help, and cake, and to all the riders for turning up and riding
