I left the house a bit later than intended - about 6.30 with about 35km on the route to get to the start but I took a shortcut down Cherry Hinton High St to recover some time. It was looking a bit touch and go with a gentle headwind but I managed to roll into the start at about 7.55, got the card, said hello to people, and we were off on the first loop.
I rode with jwo early on and managed to keep up with him all the way to the first control at 43km. Ordered cake (cherry and almond - very nice) and Large Cappucino (made with filter coffee Sick). jwo left before me, so I rode the next stage with Greenbank and a few others and we continued to set a pace. I started dropping the group I was riding with so let up to let them catch on again - I was putting in a good shift in any case and did start to tire late on in the stage. Arrived back at HQ about 12.20 to find Charlotte, Comet and Wowbagger on the 100km, also between loops.
Lunch went a bit quicker this year and set off after about 40 minutes after bakes beans on toast and coffee, with Manotea, ChrisS, Greenbank and Fidgetbuzz. I was still riding strongly until the info control when setting off again my legs revealed they had decided to go on strike like last week (1.5 days from playing 5-a-side when I'm still getting used to it again is my theory). At least this time I was 113km into the ride (so about 150km into my day) so I hope it's improving. This was the hilliest section unfortunately, and I got dropped by all the others. Found Charlotte and Comet sat on a bench watching a mouse apparently without the use of its rear legs (broken back?). It occured to me after I set off again, maybe it should be put out of its misery.
This year's route heads further west and goes near Royston, to Barkway, and seems to be higher and hillier at this point. My unhappy legs were not impressed. However eventually they seemed to recover and I sped up as I started to descend back towards the HQ. I got there around 4pm and Greenbank and ChrisS were outside so I sat with them to avoid the football on the radio. A man came outside whilst I was eating my soup so I had to put my fingers in my ears, then Manotea, Greenbank and I set off again. This section seemed to be easier and we went OK up towards the info control, it was like the first section, mostly gentle undulations. We got to the info at about 5.35, and turned north. Manotea was on a charge on the descent towards the next left turn, but charged right past it. Greenbank called his phone, and he reappeared a few minutes later.
The other two set off, but I stopped again to turn my lights on as sunset was approaching and with cloud it was quite dull. I lost sight of them and then in Ashdon climbing out the other side I started to bonk a little so stopped for banana, and some squeezy gel. This had no immediate effect, but the stop meant I had recovered a little, and I continued climbing until the descent into Saffron Walden, where I found the others waiting at a Mini Roundabout as I sped past. I waited on the climb out the other side of the town for them to catch up and we started climbing, but then I dropped them. It turned out Manotea had stopped for food for similar reasons to me. I pressed on, wanting to beat last year's time of 11h - then my fastest 200k - and with some effort managed to roll in about 6.55, so including the time to get to the controller, probably about 3 mins better than last year. Not much to show for 12 months, though:
- riding 35km at 25kph to the start, into the wind
- having a cold
- playing 5-a-side on Thursday
are all valid excuses.
Greenback and Manotea arrived shortly, I hung around for a bit after eating my food to talk to the organisor about his Maniac 1000 and picked up a lot of useful advice. It's quite sobering really.
I estimated about 1h30 to get home but I found it much easier than expected, with the wind now behind, my legs in full working order and rested from the finish control, it only took about 1h20.
It was a lovely route, not too hard, and the weather was brilliant. Another great day out, and 275km in the saddle.
