I don't usually do ride reports, as writing isn't one of my strong points, but here goes -
I wasn't sure whether to do this ride, but I'm glad that I did. I expressed an interest in it back in July when Steve offered to look after the slowest riders, and after exchanging a few PMs with Steve explaining just how slow I am I decided to give it a go. I had hoped to get a few long rides in between July and the start of this ride, but having three kids an a job based nearly 400 miles from home that didn't happen. The only decent ride I did was two weeks ago when I rode out to Oundle and did the 100km Audax and then rode home making a total of about 200km and I felt strong at the end, so thought that there was a chance of making around Steves 600. When I looked at the weather forecast at the beginning of last week it looked just about perfect, 18-20 degrees both days and a slight tailwind on Saturday so I decided to definitely give it a go.
Mrs Chris kindly offered to drive me down to Milton Keynes for the start. The drive down there was through dense fog, and at times we were down to 20mph, and even though we allowed an hour for the 25 mile drive at times it looked like we wouldn't get there on time. We arrived at MK at about five to six, Rich Forest was the only other rider there, then at six o'clock Steve and five other riders appeared out of the fog. We immediately set off (I'd head that Steve doesn't like faffing around), at a cracking pace and my immediate thoughts were that there was no way that I could keep this up for another 380 miles. At Newport Pagnell we were joined by Leeg and we continued back up the B526 towards Northampton and at about 25 miles we passed about 120 metres from my house. We were on familiar roads, and the route as far a Harrington is one that I ride often. From Harrington Steve chose a route that I do not ride much, up and down the hills of south east Leicestershire. Hills are not my strong point (going up them that is) and I was soon off the back of the group. When we got to the big hills in the five or so miles leading up to Uppingham, Steve dropped back and gave me some moral support. He told me to take it as easy as possible over the hills so as not to wear myself out. He also described the features of each hill so that I knew what was coming. I took his advice and used the granny ring up some hills that I would usually use middle ring on. At Uppingham it was a bash up the A603 to Oakham including a down then up that I have often thought about riding which Steve described as 'the Big Dipper' - 43 mph freewheeling down and 4.3mph grinding up the other side. We got a receipt at the garage at Uppingham at about 10:45, that was 60 miles in 4 hours 45 minutes, probably my fastest ever 100km, and we still had another 500km to go!
After a sandwich or two we headed north and as we passed the lumpy parts of the Vale of Belvoir, the mist finally lifted and the sun came out. We passed the Travel Lodge at Great Gonerby that was to be our rest stop one hundred and fifty miles later! A quick bash up the A1 and a nasty right turn across it saw us on the fens across to Lincoln. With a slight following wind I started to feel a bit more comfortable as we made good progress at about 18-19 mph. At Lincoln we battled through the traffic and stopped for a proper meal in the cafe at Morrisons.
Lincoln is on a gert big hill and we left the cafe and climbed it on full stomachs. It wasn't as bad as I expected and we were soon on the flat again making our way north towards Yorkshire. The ride up to the turning point at Howden was mainly on narrow lanes, nearly all flat and very pleasant, but it seemed to just go on forever. I kept trying to do some mental maths as to how far it was, but couldn't seem to get a sensible answer, so I just kept pedalling. We passed Thorne Rugby Club which is used as a control on LEL, then through Thorne and onto Howden where we stopped at the CO-OP to get a receipt. We retraced back a few miles and stopped at a pub for a meal and a well earned rest.
The next control was at Gainsborough about 30 miles south. I don't remeber a lot about this leg other than one village where the local yoof had been drinking too much Tesco value cider and a couple of them ran out into the road and tried, without any success to push leeg (I think) off his bike. We arrived at Gainsborough at around midnight, and I gained comfort from that thought that I felt a lot better than Ian H and Peter M looked!
After a 30 minute stop for yet more food we were on our way again and I drew comfort from the fact that there was only another 40 miles to go before I could get a couple of hours sleep. At some point on this leg I hit the low point of the whole ride. I was struggling to keep up with anybody else, Steve dropped back and rode with me, but I was finding it hard to keep going. Just before Lincoln we came across Pete Turnbull who had stopped to mend his rack I stopped and told Steve that I needed a couple of minutes rest, be he told me to keep going. I reluctantly pedalled off and five minutes later I felt strong again and pedalled up the hill into Lincoln with no problems. Riding down the big hill in Lincoln in the early hours was a bit of a buzz as I hit 47mph. We only had about another twenty miles to the Travel Lodge and I was feeling remarkable good until we got to the A17 which I mistook for the A1 and I thought I was only about a mile from the stop. I found the next five miles very hard and I was glad when I finally made it to the Travel Lodge at about 3:15 on Sunday morning.
Steve had suggested a six o'clock start so that meant only two and a half hours sleep. Pete Turnbull kindly let me have the bed and I was soon asleep. At about quarter to six I got ready, then went to the cafe for a cooked breakfast. We seemed to take a long time to get going, and I struggled from the start, probably due to the virtually no existent nutritional value of service station food. I knew that there were some big hills near the Vale of Belvoir and I was dreading them. Steve rode with me giving lots of encouragement, yet letting me ride at a pace that suited me. We arrived at Oakham and had a quick stop for a snack before heading off for Moulton. The 'big dipper' between Oakham and Uppingham is harder when heading south, and I had to dig deep to climb up out of the valley. The hills after Uppingham were hard, but I just spun away in my lowest gear, I knew if I could get up them without getting out of breathe I had a good chance of finishing the ride. Steve was a great help on this section describing the gradient of each hill before we got there so I knew what to expect. From Harrington onwards I was on familiar territory and the next ten miles were a lot easier. We all stopped at my house in Moulton where Mrs Chris had laid on some food. I had a good feed and changed into some clean clothes. Earlier in the ride I had thought about quitting when I had got home, but I now knew I was capable of finishing well within the time limit, and quitting now was the last thing on my mind.
I was feeling confident when we left Moulton, and the next fifty miles were probably my strongest fifty of the whole ride. I kept up with Rich Forest until just before Stoke Bruerne where we got separated due to traffic whilst crossing the A508. The last seven miles into Buckingham were a blast along the undulating main road. More food and a receipt at the service station, and we were on our way to the final control at Thame.
This section had a sting in the tail, the climb up out of Long Crendon into Thame. From the bottom I could see Pete Turnbull climbing slowly after the left hand bend that is half way up. A lot of twiddling in granny gear, and I was at the top, it didn't seem a bad as it had looked. Another receipt and a pint of milk in Thame and it was time to put the lights on before making our way back to Milton Keynes.
I was begining to feel tired now, but knew that I had five hours to do thirty miles so I decided to take it easy. The road to Aylesbury was quite flat and I managed to keep up with everyone else, but after Aylesbury it starts to undulate and I dropped back and pedalled at my own rate. Eventually there was a sign for Milton Keynes - 2 miles and two miles later there was releif as we passed a sign saying 'Welcome to Milton Keynes', but MK is a large city and it was another couple of miles to the finish and they seemed to go on for ever.
I finished with the others at quarter to ten, two and a quarter hours to spare. Mrs Chris was waiting for me so it was a quick goodbye to everyone before heading of home.
I knowI would have found this ride a lot harder without the help from Steve and the encouragement from the other more experienced riders - Justin(e), Pete Turnbull, Ian H, Peter M and Rich Forest.
This was a great experience and a fantastic introduction to long rides, so thanks Steve for giving up a weekend to ride at my speed, and thanks to the other riders for the good company and for waiting for me when I dropped behind.
Poll