Due to a lack of sleep and excess of incompetence, I set off from Chez Organiser about half an hour late along with DKhan. We made good time to the Oakham control, but had to stop as my bowls had a reaction to the lacking of sleep - we found a public toilet in Melton Mowbray, with the help of a nice (Chinese?) market stall holder.
On we went, with some wind assistance (no not from me) and got to Oakham about an hour in hand, so we'd made up 1h30. However I was worried about my gear cable as the shifting was becoming erratic, so I checked it out and found that the cable was down to about 4 strands inside the shifter. Ah, memories of PBP - this needed to be fixed. So instead of sitting down to the food we'd ordered, I was busy shredding my hands (mental note: if people advise you that you don't need to carry cable cutters, for future reference: tell them to bugger off). The knife on an Alien isn't up to the job, so it was only after a lot of separating out of strands, generally being hacked off, having a passer by stop to tell you their life story, I eventually had it fixed. By then Dave was gone and by the time I'd eaten I was 10 minutes OOT. It'd have been a 5 minute job with the cable cutter.
It took me about 40km to catch up with Dave; part of that was cos he went off-route. We got to Huntingdon with again over an hour in hand and did the Tesco thing, and away again, now into the wind. The Fens and wind do not mix and once we'd turned west from the info at Thorney it was really not much fun. I was having a bad patch now so Dave did a fair bit of work on the front and then my bowels asserted their authority again. We dived into a pub which was closed for a function (they were just setting up) but they let us use the loo and sold us drinks and crisps anyway. We arrived at the next control with about 2h in hand but then we managed to fritter it all away, Dave not feeling well and being unable to eat was not a good sign. Service was slow too but at least I managed to buy some Immodium. We were nearly OOT and heading into the night - not a good situation.
The ride across to Alfreton got hillier and hillier, and we became separated as our GPS routes differed and I had dropped Dave. I waited for him at the top of a big hill whilst I ate some bonk rations. Then I went back down the hill and he wasn't there so I went back up it again and continued to the control where I found him. The actual control was now closed, so it was ATM time, and off again.
We deviated from the route as Dave had a Cunning Plan to go via Worksop. However he claimed it'd save 18km (which I queried as I was sure that wasn't possible). I found out after the event it actually saved 4km. But I digress, we went via Worksop, which was exciting. I arrived at the control just as others were leaving; two others had packed due to their bikes being nicked and were still there. Didn't sleep - well fell asleep in the chair for 20 mins - and left at 5.30 or so, about 30-40 mins in time. Dave had decided to pack so I left on my own. Now it was flat again and I made up a lot of time. I watched Drax come and go, and then sped over from Selby to Howden. I seemed to be catching the other group a bit as they had been at that control about 1h30 ahead of me. The ride over to the Humber Bridge was interrupted by having to remove a load of layers to avoid overheating as the cloud cover vanished. I had a doze on a park bench under a tree, and then sped off again. At the Humber Bridge control there were loads of Audax riders doing a 100 (Three Bridges 100k). One of 'em recongised me from the MSG 300. I got mixed up with them for quite a long time on the next section; mostly they were going far too fast for any help to be got though a couple did draught me for a couple of KM after they took a wrong turn. The routes diverged just after we crossed the Trent and I continued southwards.
I was quite demoralised on this section by the wind blowing across the plain, it was tough going and it seemed to take an age to get to the next control. Finally I made the turn towards Gainsborough and saw the 3 riders I'd been catching about 1km out - one of them shouted "Keep going!". I had probably gained about an hour on them in the last section. This cheered me up as I felt I could catch them before the finish and have some company.
One the way out of Gainsborough I was helpfully informed by a passing motorist that there was a cycle path on the other side of the road. Ta. I had split my routes for the last bit into two so I was unsure of the distance to go. It was getting more and more hilly but I preferred this to the windy plains. I found the 3 other riders stopped at the side of the road, at which point I found out why I'd been catching them. Seven - 7 - punctures between them! The air was turning blue.
I waited whilst they put the offending tyre back on (complete with tear and boot) and we were off, and one of 'em said they had a less hilly route back to the finish through Mansfield.
Unfortunately that meant lots of traffic and combined with tired riding from a couple of people in the group I didn't feel safe, so when they stopped for some water I decided to push on and (using the GPS) made my way over to the official route. I had been doing mental arithmetic and if I took off the 18km then it wasn't all that far to go. The route was much more pleasant (and the others had talked of riding down the A38 next!) but yes very hilly. Laney hills are preferable to crappy traffic in my book. The big shock came when I checked the crow flies distance to the finish and found it to be 28km. This made me realise something didn't add up - and once I got to the end of the first of my two routes for the final section I still had 30km to go (rather than about 10km I had assumed given my previous arithmetic). I decided I was going to need food so stopped for a pasty and a Magnum at a petrol station. But the hills stopped so I made good time and did that 30k in not much more than an hour.
I was only about 1/4 mile from the finish when the McDonalds (or similar) drinks carton hit the back of my legs (thrown from passing car) so that's a new experience for me on an Audax (have had it before when riding through London suburbs but it never made contact). Fortunately the organiser's alsati
ans were on hand at the finish to lick my legs clean.
