Up until about 2 weeks ago I was finding cycling hard work. I think this was mostly because I had been putting a lot of miles in up to going away and then 2½ weeks away in hotels had just destroyed my fitness. However suddenly I seemed to regain both pace and stamina and it became easier again. The weather had also improved and during the week commencing 23 July I rode every day except the Wednesday and did just over 200 miles. The following week (commencing 30 July) I managed another commute and rode on the Saturday and Sunday and got a reasonable number of Strava achievements and did 127 miles with a 55 mile ride on the Sunday at an average just below 17mph so was feeling back to where I would hope and expect to be.
During the week I had idly looked at what Sportives were around and saw the The Great Shakespeare Ride advertised. A colleague did this last year and recommended it, so I thought I might ride it. There was a 100mile and 100km ride available and although I felt better I still was not sure that if I rode the 100mile route I'd enjoy it. The route looked fairly rolling (for Warwickshire) and I did not want to get to 60-70 miles and then struggle for another 2 hours just to get back, so I decided that if I rode it I'd only do the 100km route. Also as it was a 9am start 100miles would not have seen me back at the start until 3.30pm or so and that was the whole day blown time wise. Over the 100km distance I was hoping for a ride time of between 3:30 (very optimistic) and 4:00 (very disappointed) and this was my nominal target.
I also decided that I'd leave it until as late as possible and look at the weather which if was OK meant I'd do an EOD. By the Saturday I had decided to ride so sorted myself out the night before, not that that took long. A quick trip down the M40, 1 wrong turn and I got to the start location. It was based in a Hotel near Stratford Upon Avon with overflow parking about 1.5 miles down the road. I parked up at the overflow (sad to see a load of losers parking on the side of the road to avoid the ride - if you can't cycle 1.5 miles then what are you doing entering a sportive??) and rode to the start, paid my fee and rolled round to the start line. A few minutes later we were off so beautifully timed.
It was a mass start event (the first I have done) and was off at 9am almost on the dot. With so many riders together it was quite slow for the first 5-6 miles when it started to open up - there was a gentle "climb" that did make a bit of a split this was "Frizz Hill" on Strava, approaching Compton Verney to cross the Fosse Way. There were plenty of groups and it was easy after this to get on the back of a group to match the speed I wanted to do. There were a few hills in the first 20 miles and this split the "peleton" up quite a bit further. The first "big" climb was Tysoe Hill/Sugarswell Ln Climb - 100m or of 14% in the middle that certainly split the riders.
At about 20 miles the routes split - for once it seemed as if the bulk of the riders were doing the 100mile route - normally it seems to the the other way round.
Because of this the number of groups dropped and my pace slowed a bit. I pulled out a 7th place on the "A429 to B4479" segment (good result).
At about 30miles a small group of about 5-6 people formed and the pace rose again until we got to a monster hill at about 40 miles or so which I think was "Larkstoke" - 1.5miles long, 426ft ascent at an average gradient of 5.4%, although another 14-15% gradient in many places, and this hill broke the group immediately. One person slowed right at the start even before the hill, another dropped away in the first 100m or so, and a couple slowed between about 1/3 - ½ way up - the man (in a Cavendish World Champion kit who was very strong on the flat) dropped first and then his wife/girlfriend (on a really nice Focus) a bit later. I think this was Mark & Sue Oakes as these 2 people finished about 6 minutes behind me overall. I was left following the person who'd gone off very fast and almost caught him by the top. The two of us then rode all the way back to the finish together.
The weather had been OK to this point but just after this hill is rained on and off quite heavily and I got soaked, although it was not cold rain and the pace was high enough to keep warm. Not pleasant following someone's wheel though with a face full of spray!
Although I'd not done this route before quite a lot of it was on previous Sportives I have done in the area such as The Pedal for Parkinson's, Cyclists Fighting Cancer and Shakespeare 100 for example, and this helped because I could pace myself reasonably well knowing where a number of the climbs were going to come. Because of this I got a PR on the "Park Hill" and "Hampton Lucy Drag to A439" segments as well. The "Hampton Lucy Drag to A439" is exactly that a real drag, and its a segment that I created so I have only myself to blame!
As I said I went out on this ride with the intention of completing between 3:30-4:00 hours, and rode hard. The speed from the groups helped enormously and I finished according to my Garmin in 3:39:56 an average speed of 17.5mph. I was really pleased with this. When I uploaded to Strava I was 2nd fastest on the route. I have moved down since and at the time of writing am 7th of 60. Two of those times are from previous years so I am actually 5th for the 2012 ride. For me this is a stunning achievement and I am really pleased. I also got a few "PR" on some of the segments I have ridden before as well, thanks to working with or chasing the person I rode to the end with.
The official timing placed me at 20th position (out of ~478 riders) with a time of 3:40:04 which was even better that I could have hoped for.
Here's my moment of Strava glory:
And here is a link to the ride in Strava proper:
It was a good job I got my back brake sorted out as only have a front brake in the wet would not have been a great experience.
It was a good job I got my back brake sorted out as only have a front brake in the wet would not have been a great experience.
And the event? Well organised. Well marshalled. Could have done without crossing as many of the busy roads to Stratford but this is a problem for all routes in this area. A good route, and glad I did not do the 100 mile route.
