Much earlier this year my son spotted the Tour of the Black Country Sportive, starting from Wolverhampton on Sunday 10 May. It certainly looked interesting so I signed us both up.
However my son then dropped out as he had a conflict with Final Exams so I was left to ride on my own. Someone else that I know was also riding it - Martin Lewis so we sort of met up at the start.
I dithered a bit about what bike/tyres/wheels to use given the off-road sections but in the end I took my Scott and the only concession I made was to drop the tyre pressures a bit. I wasn't the only one to have made a similar decision - there were a lot of high end road bikes on the ride.
It was a relatively early start although for me the journey to Wolverhampton (specifically Aldersley Stadium) was relatively short and the M6 was clear. Unfortunately there was some sort of administrative cock-up and the sports centre was not opened in time for the sign on. Asa result there was a generally disorganised melee while the sign on took place outside. I was withing the first couple of 100 or so but the queue for later people was quite long. After getting my number I found Martin, got ready (car out of boot, all cycling clothes on etc) and we rode to the start. There was phased start of groups of 20-30 but we cannot have waited for more than a few minutes to get going.
The weather was OK - warm enough although a little overcast and a light breeze - so the pace was high and I took (as I always seem to now) some time to warm up. Suddenly we were on the first gravel section. It was not what I expected - it seemed like riding on ice. It was both very bumpy and over the main surface was a lot of small gravel. It was on this that it felt like you had no control. I started dropping back from Martin quite quickly as he seemed a lot more confidant on the surface. I realised that the objective was to keep riding as fast and steadily as possible and avoid sudden steering inputs. It was at this stage that I started not to look forward to the remaining 19-20 sections of off road riding that were coming up! Once off the section I pressed on and caught Martin back up. A number of other sections of varying length kept coming and going of various levels of unpleasantness. Several were rutted enough that it was easy to get caught in the rut (literally) and whilst the other side of the track might have looked better it was almost impossible to cross from side to side of the track. It was also very tiring both physically and mentally. Each section I dropped back behind Martin and like a gentlemen he slowed a little at the end to let me catch up. This to- and fro-ing continued up to the 1st feed stop which was in a pub in Belbroughton. A reasonable selection of sugary (aka unhealthy) snacks were available, as were drinks and toilet facilities. I started my Garmin Virb at this point as I intended to capture the remaining sections up to the finish.
After Belbroughton it was a relatively short ride to start the apparently infamous "Waltonberg Climb". Martin had pulled a minute or so away from me by this point. The climb appeared almost from no-where and started straight up with a steep gradient with a very bad surface. The surface was mostly bricks (cobbles might be a stretch too far) with some good bits and some not so good. However the poor surface combined with the steep gradient made it very hard from the outset. The track veered to the right and got steeper but was pretty straight from that point on so it at least gave a chance to try and pick the route and swap sides for the best part of the track. Some areas of the track were very slightly damp and it was possible even for me to get wheel spin whilst still seated. All I can say was that I ground up as steadily as I could and that I was very grateful for having fitted the 12-30T cassette rather than my more standard 11-28 - I know that I would not have made it with the 28. Also as I got nearer the top there were a number of people walking who had had to give up and they were drifting across the track - I almost ran in to the back off one of them. There was also a very focusing moment when I needed to avoid an obstacle and at such a low speed I nearly came off - I just managed to keep upright and going forward - and from that point the gradient started to ease. I'd got the the top - just - and was very pleased.
Here's the video from my Garmin Virb:
Here's a photo from one of the course photographers at about 2/3rd of the way up:
Having achieved the "difficult" part it was going to be mainly downhill from there. The first descent was down St Kenelms Pass and as a result we lost almost all the height we gained from the ascent from Belbroughton. More off-road sections came and went, and I captured these on my Garmin again:
Each section was different and all were hard work although I was starting to feel a little more confidant. I rode straight past the 2nd feed stop as I felt fine and pressed on the to end. The final few hundred meters or so were riding 1/2 a lap of the Velodrome which was interesting - I was doing about 20mph (nothing special) and started near the top of the bank - but was clearly not going fast enough - I was riding fully vertically on the left hand bank - so I felt like I should have been leaning to the left but was actually leaning to the right (relative to the track surface) - I allowed myself to drift back down to the bottom of the track. I crossed the finish line - but rode round another lap for the experience.
Having finished I rode to the finish area - got my "goody item" (a water bottle) but declined the piece of coal and the glass of champagne. I met back with Martin (who was about 10 minutes ahead of me in the end, bought a coffee and had a chat, then packed up and left.
Summary - a good ride - very different, and challenging for different reasons. The 60 mile nominal distance wasn't particularly challenging in itself, but the off-road sections and the velodrome made it a good event. Would I do it again - perhaps once more.
Here's my Strava data: Tour of the Black Country
Total distance - 56.2 miles
Height Gain - 3850ft
Average Speed - 15.9mph
I was reasonably happy with the average speed - I lost most of it on the off-road sections
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