| 19-06-06 Well it’s been a pretty hectic month or so for me
starting back at the beginning of May with a trip up to The Lakes for
the Fred Whitton Challenge. We spent 2 days taking it pretty easy
cycling around the amazing countryside and admiring the views and
plentiful cake shops, even managing to conquer a couple of the passes
prior to the event on Sunday. The new Specialized bike felt great
especially on the climbs having changed the back cog to a 27, so far so
good. I started the course feeling strong and in good shape having even
given some thought to my food routine for the day which is unheard of
for me to be that organised, but 30 miles into the 100 mile course my
crank fell off leaving me stranded road side in the middle of nowhere.
Despite many cyclists stopping to offer assistance no-one had a tool
which would fit the carbon fitting. Eventually I was rescued by a
rider’s wife and driven to the nearest town where I found a bike shop
willing to help. The thread had sheared off the bolt so Lock Tight was
applied to hold the crank in place so that I could cycle dejectedly the
30 miles back to the start where I waited for 6 hours for my friend to
finish the course. On returning to London I took the bike back to Evans
to be repaired they changed the crank to an Ultegra model until a new
carbon crank was available and unfortunately at this time of writing
some 4 weeks on I am still waiting for that call from Evans.
So on the 19th of May we set off for the Yorkshire
Dales another beautiful part of the country with some great cycling to
be had. The Etape Du Dales is a course of around 110miles on undulating
roads, although the course does not contain the huge almost impossible
passes of the Fred Whitton it is unrelenting with no flat areas, you are
either going up or down! I had ear marked this as the long distance
event that I would treat the most seriously last year after finishing
3rd in 2005 I rode most of the distance with a couple of my Tri-London
friends but we did have to drop the male member due to his faffing at
the first feed station, so then the race was on between myself and Jo
and although we didn’t actually ride together, we both managed to pick
up a couple of guys to work with, and so seemed to keep leap-frogging
each other. Fortunately for me with 5 miles to go I had a bit more left
and over-took Jo to which she could not respond and so finished 2nd lady
with a time of 8:02: although the rumour is that the first “lady” was
actually a guy riding in her place and I think the time of 7:09 reflects
this!
The very next weekend I met up with Ross for the 3
day Tour of Wessex which was an excellent event with a 100 mile ride on
day 1, 100 miles on day 2 and 125 miles on day 3. The organisation was
amazing resulting in a lot of pack riding in manageable sized pelatons
which was new to me but which feels amazing when you are bowling along
at 25mph with very little effort although it definitely takes its toll
on your mental state with so much concentration required. Unfortunately
the weather was terrible on the first day which resulted in a lot of
serious crashes especially through Cheddar Gorge with I think about 8
people being hospitalised, the worse being when a rider met a car and
had her forks were sheered clean off the bike. Parts of the course were
off tarmaced roads which was strange and left the road sides littered
with people repairing punctures. Day 1 I achieved first place with a
time of 6:34. The quote of the day coming from an older guy who 5 miles
from the finish commented that “I was going well for a woman” not a
great remark at the best of times but after having just towed him and 2
other guys for 15 miles with no-one releaving me of the front position I
was a little non-plussed! Arrangements were made to meet up with some
other members of my starting group to share the work load the next day.
Day 2 dawned much brighter with dry conditions so
at 07:10 Ross and I were off again, unfortunately only a few miles in
Ross had to turn back due to a problem with his knee. It was great ride
alongside some friendly faces from the day before and lots of chat about
the ride. Fortunately the course stayed on-road today so the risk of
puncture was drastically reduced and there were much fewer casualties.
This may have been due to reduced numbers with some of the guys who had
entered the 3 day events taking Sunday off in order to watch the Grand
Prix and spend time with wife and kids(?) The day went well for me
although I found myself riding solo much more often then the previous
day and even managed to locate the egg sandwiches on the second feed
station which I had only heard rumours of the day before. I joined ranks
with Battersea Cycling Club in the last 15 miles when I was really
starting to feel it and they brought me home again first lady in a very
respectable 6:21
Day 3 and by now I am tired, 6 of us had hired a
caravan to stay in which did the job but with tiny bedrooms and very
small beds it was not the best of conditions,. My quads and gluts were
already starting to moan on the start line. Again the ride started
strongly, riding in a large pelaton with Jo and myself even managing to
take our turn at the front without dropping the pace which I was very
proud of! This was the longest course of the weekend and boy did it feel
like it, my legs literally had nothing for the hills making me tackle
them all seated, Jo on the other hand was having a great ride and after
we stopped to help her fix a puncture off she rode off into the
distance. I struggled round to finish and with a large lead over the
first 2 days was determined to hang on to my overall lead. We took a
coastal route today and then rode over the highest point of Exeter Moor
where again very welcome egg sandwiches were on hand. At last in sight
of the finish line I thought it was all over but no, a right turn and on
to a very unnecessary 3 mile loop to take in the last hill of the day.
At last I crossed the finish line in a time of
8:37 managing to win overall by @ 15 minutes and thank-you Ross for
being on the finish line with some of that fantastic flapjack!!
I decided to give the Tuesday TT at Eastway a miss
the week following Wessex as I was entered in the Polka Dot on the
following Sunday. By now all of the rides are beginning to merge into 1
but I have done the Polka Dot in the Peak District several times before
and was confident that this ride although 106 miles was not particularly
challenging. I shouldn’t be so complacent as shortly after meeting my
friends talk turned to the killer climbs of the day, Cat & Fiddle, Axe
Edge, Snake Pass and the worst Winnets Pass which I had had to walk up
the previous year. So my mood had changed from looking forward to an
easy ride to one of “oh no not again, have I left enough recovery time
between these events?” Again the weather was on our side, the heat had
dropped off a bit from the previous day, there was no wind and no chance
of rain. 8:18 back on the road. Surprisingly I felt strong and was soon
off pushing myself to a good time. Unfortunately although this is a big
event the riders did not seem as experienced as on the Tour Of Wessex so
there was no pack riding to be had but there was always some-one to pass
the time of day with en route. The same film crew was on the course as
in Wessex and as there are always so few girls they lent a morale
boosting hand. Managed to get over Winnets Pass no problem at all and
finished in 6:07.
That’s it now until 23rd June when we attempt the
epic ride from Trondheim to Oslo so I am going to put my feet up for a
while. Jayne Wadsworth
jaynewadsworth@hotmail.com |
