That was epic

Who would have thought it a little over a year ago when I posted my first blog?  Last Sunday I rode 85 miles in the howling wind (40 mph gusts included), lashing rain (Ride London 2014 all over again), freezing cold (and boy were my feet cold from just a few miles in), and endured 8 hours and 50 minutes in the saddle.  And I loved it.

The Evans Woking Ride It sportive was supposed to be a test but I didn't expect it to be an endurance ride.  I thought I would be challenged, but never like this.  Just as well I wasn't going for a fast time because I effectively came in last, with three of my fellow Woking CC riders.  Here is the proof - our list of times.

I set out from the house at 7.30am, having been awake, and to be honest a little excited, since 6am - on the Sunday the clocks went forward.  So, I wasn't exactly rested.  I met a few others from my cycle club and we made our way to the registration and start.  A lot of our club were taking part so it was easy to find a sizable group of ten who were happy to ride together at a reasonable pace.

For days we had been checking the weather hoping it wasn't going to be a repeat of Ride London 2014 - i.e. raining!  But it wasn't to be.  The forecast was grim - rain and strong winds - and it proved to be entirely accurate.  Still, as a group were cheery as we were all up for the challenge.  The route turned out to be amazing. We all thought we should do it again sometime - when the sun is shining.

We made reasonable time to arrive at the feed station at 34 miles and knew all we had to do was a loop out from there, back to the same feed station and then the familiar ride home of 26 miles, at which we hoped to pick up some speed.

But.  The middle bit of the ride was pretty awful.  Just riding was like constantly going uphill because we were always battling into the wind.  The roads were awful because the rain washes stones, flint, glass, mud, bits of tree and hedge right across your path.  This makes cycling tedious as you have to really focus on what is right in front of your tyres rather than looking up around you at the world passing by.  And then, for two us, the irritation began.

Between myself and Jez we had six punctures - he had four I had two.  These are a pain on a normal day.  On a sportive you really don't want them as they slow you down and take the momentum out of your ride.  Then when, a few miles later, you have to change another one...well, let's just say you have try very hard to remain polite in company!

Jez (right) remains cheery despite another puncture

So, we soldiered on and reached the feed station for the second time some 6 and a half hours in - about the time we could have expected to be finishing on an extremely leisurely ride.  By this time we had split our group and I was riding with three others - and it turned out that we were most definitely the last four in the event.  We were so far back in the field that the Evans' man who was riding the course taking down the signs pointing the way was just a few minutes behind us and, at the end, caught up and had to mark time to save our embarrassment.

We made it back though.  Clocking in at 8 hours 50 minutes plus. We didn't care.  In fact I think we were strangely proud of coming in last.  Finishing is everything.

Thank you Evans for a great ride.  Your staff were fantastic.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

And, if you have read this far, that surely must deserve a donation. Thank you  https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Flannagan5