I had a great time in my first bike event this weekend. I entered the Dunsfold Sportive mid-distance, 58 miles of hilly fun. Having almost joined Redhill cycle Club (application form would have been in the post if I hadn't left it in the office last Friday)I planned to ride out with a club team. In the event I joined two others, Gary and Sean to form a break away, more by accident than by design.
The day started well, up early to load the car and eat breakfast in plenty of time. I was disappointed by the threat of rain but got to the venue at 7:50 and had plenty of time to load pockets with food and provisions and lose my phone - which I then found in another pocket I hadn't checked! The ride started well, riding in the pack with all the Redhill CC from the off. A nice comfortable pace, cruising at 20mph had me very optimistic that a gold finish was virtually in the bag. After a few miles I joined Gary at the front for a share of the pace setting, but after a couple of short climbs we found that we'd strung the group out a bit. Being impetuous we didn't back off to allow the others to regroup, but pushed on. On a short sharp hill we picked up Sean and dropped everyone else. These guys taught me a lesson in self-inflicted pain!
We rode in a three man mini-chain gang through Cranleigh and Walliswood and up Leith Hill. We were overtaken at the top of Leith Hill by a rider who looked unstoppable so I jumped on his wheel and we screamed down the hill getting up to 37 mph on my computer. Not so fast as to be amazing, but fast enough on a damp, leafy and stony road. I had so much fun that I didn't even notice my pump jumping out of my back pocket. Gary reckoned it went so far he nearly caught it. I only learned about my loss as the boys caught me just before the first timing checkpoint, and I wasn't going back up!
After a quick half-banana it was back on the bike and chain ganging again but after the short stretch of A25 at Wotton the boys had made me dip well into my reserves and I couldn't stay with them on the ups. I hung on the back until the second A25 stretch outside Shere where I retired from the attack. We were all totally aiming for a Gold standard finish, but I didn't want to hold them back as I was clearly toiling and they were going strong. Gary kindly lent me his pump as I'd lost mine, a kindness that cost him some time later on as it transpired.
From there I effectively rode on my own, just doing everything I could to keep my average speed up at 17 or higher. Although I was tired on the hills my love of downhills saw my speed range regularly from 7mph up hill to 25+ on the downs, just keeping me around the 17 average mark. I did discover that Eccles cakes are hard to digest when you're trying to pedal hard. By Shere I was struggling riding on my own and resigned myself to missing gold standard, but every time I came across others on the hills I managed to overtake them. Even though I wasn't a match for Gary and Sean I was clearly strong enough to hold my own. Things were looking more promising again after I drafted a couple of guys going at pace from the Chilworth railway crossing, but I lost touch with them at Shalford as I couldn't hold the speed any longer.
Then I made the route mistake that cost me my gold finish - not that I'm competitive or anything but I was furious with myself. I missed the right turn at the mini-roundabout before Bramley as I was head down and cranking. I was two miles down the A281 before I realised I'd lost all markers and riders. I turned around and found the turning with no problem, the sign being quite visible when you were looking. I rode the rest half depressed and half angry but pushing myself, using the discomfort as a punishment for such a stupid mistake. I entered the Dunsfold entry road with an average of 17.1 mph and determined to give it one last ditch attempt - the up slope saw me dropping to 15mph but with a final effort through the gate I crossed the line with exactly 17.0mph average. I ended up getting a Silver standard time.
Post race fatigue saw me sitting gently propped in the corner of the living room for the rest of the day. Apart from slightly tender ITBs I'm totally fine today, no quad tiredness at all. As a runner I'm used to going for 1.5 hours max on 99% of runs, so this 4 hour cycle thing is making me use up all my muscle glycogen in a way I'm not used to. My new book on bike racing says that I'll adapt as I train so I'm looking forward to finding my feet in the 2010 race season after a winter of training rides.
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