4th and 5 th of October was the weekend of the Autumn epic sportive, a 94mile bike tour of some of the Welsh marshes an Hills, Scot Hargreaves had volunteered to drive us the 190 miles there (and 190back!!) and we would split the costs when we got back. We would meet up with Andy Manfredi and Jack Harrison at a campsite 6miles from the event start where we caught up with each other and set up camp. One thing we didn't prepare for was the sheer drop in temperature at night, with the weather dropping below minus2 and only having summer sleeping bags we all took the decision to sleep fully clothed. it made for a cold night an im quite surprised none of my fingers or toes had dropped off :) .
Rock bridge park campsite was excellent with clean facility's and ample space, Steve, the campsite owner had even left out various shower gels and toothpaste in case any one had forgot, the views from the site were Amazing running along side the river Lugg and the showers are some of the best showers ive come across on a campsite rivaling my own at home!. If your ever around and need temporary accommodation they are definitely worth a visit http://rockbridgepark.co.uk/
Sunday morning was a early start, needing to warm up from the cold night I cooked some porridge on my meths stove and used the excellent showers, It was a well drilled rehearsal from all of us to eat, get changed and pack up camp ready for sportive start at Knighton.
we had collectively decided to ride the event together each playing a role in sharing the workload on front of our own pack and controlling the pace to suit. However Jack Harrison wouldn't be riding on the day as he had previously broken his wrist in a downhill mtb accident, however the support from Jack was very much appreciated and I hope he has a quick recovery. the bikes were given a timing chip and number so we could easily be identified throughout the event. Scot had also managed to upload a map to his garmin 310xt so we could follow the route with ease however the signage at the event was spot on with clear yellow marker arrows along all the turns for the entire length of the course with feed stops marked out alongside several of the notable climbs of the day.
Its worth noting at this point how well the event had been organised with several motorbikes circleing the course with a barage of spares on board and words and signs of encouragement from the riders they made the ride feel safe in the knowledge that should anything happen to go wrong support would never be far away, at the feed stops there was endless supplys of water bananas flapjacks and jaffa cakes, a little to much endulgance on the first stop I must add :), however the volunteers were very accommodating, its also worth a special mention to the driver of the black saab who I believe to be the event organiser who couldn't do enough to help out, if your reading this thanks so much for the support and positive attitude towards all the riders on the course your up-beat attitude certainly shone through to everybody else who had given up there time that day.
The ride itself was challenging, coming from lincolnshire Its difficult (although far from impossible) to fit in a ride with lots of elevation gain, with my gps recording a rough estimate of between 7500 an 8000ft of climbing on the day it was certainly not for the unexperienced rider, with 25% gradients in places some one after another! But what goes up must come down with sweeping hairpin decents and speeds upto and over 50mph in places on virtually empty roads I challenge anyone to come down one of them decents without a massive smile on there face.
Although we had decided to stick as a group Andy had been showing me how to decend all day long, I knew that the last 3miles were all downhill so my competitive nature took over on the last climb putting several minutes into both Andy and Scot making sure he had no chance of cstching me on the final 5km however there was no real need for any upset as it had been a social challange for us all and not a race
At the end tea and coffee was provided along side jacket potato with a topping of your choice, this was welcomed after all the sugar hits from the flapjack jaffa cakes and bananas ! We sore off Andy and Jack on there way home and set off for home ourself after a excellent weekend
With Autumn now settled in and winter on its way the journey home was a good time to reflect on our winter training plans, with Scot being one of my training partners and fellow triathletes it's nice to share information on our plans and share each others motivation for the following months, both realising that long winter rides are very much possible but also both realising more kit preparation is needed for the up and coming cold and wet months.
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