100 miles round the beautiful Cotswold countryside with a couple of cycling friends from Twickenham cycling club sounded like an easy day compared to my usual routes in mid Wales, so I was looking forward to this ride. This ride was much harder than any of us anticipated though.
The first part of the route was on gently undulating roads which gave the legs a good warm up before the first climb which tested the lungs and got us all into the climbing groove. The climb at Tysoe at about 1.5 miles long and nearly 200 metres high was the hardest so far with about 100 meters at 18%! During this first section I managed to loose my two friends on one of the climbs.
At the first feed stop I stopped a while to see if my friends were not far behind, when they did not appear after 10 minutes I decided to ride on alone. We were deep in the Cotswolds now and the roads were never flat, you are always going up or down and it always felt more up than down!!! After a fairly perilous steep descent into Winchcombe and a quick refreshment stop, I had been advised there was a severe climb ahead.
Col du Sudley turned out to be the hardest climb of the day; it started off fairly gently but soon tested the legs and lungs, 4 miles in total, with a 1.5 mile stretch of between 17% & 18%. So now there was only one more official climb Snowshill (1.5 miles/300 meters), the legs were now getting tired from the very undulating demanding terrain.
The last feed station was half a mile off the route so I decided that with only 20 miles left to ride, it was not worth the visit and just stopped at the roadside to take on water and a Frusli bar.
In the last 20 miles there was a lot more climbing to be done before reaching the finish, even small inclines were assuming much greater proportions to my tired legs. I managed to find a good back wheel to follow for about 5 miles of a rider who was on a fully kitted out TT bike which must have been really uncomfortable to ride on this course with so much out of the saddle climbing needed. On one of the last climbs I decided to take my turn on the front looked around at the peak of the hill and the TT rider was no where to be seen so I pressed on.
A swift downhill finish took me over the finish line in 6 hours 59 mins 14 seconds, 3rd lady home and 45th overall. I had a much needed post ride massage to easy my cramping calves and something to eat while awaiting my friends who had found the ride much tougher than expected finishing 2.5 hours after me.
This is a well organised event, friendly Marshalls and good signage, the food stops were slightly miss placed could have really done with one at half way rather than at 25 miles in and with 20 miles to go. I thoroughly enjoyed the event with beautiful Cotswold country side and villages, but would advise be prepared for the 2034 meters of climbing which comes in many short steep sections followed by perilously narrow twisty, grit covered descents.
