So I have still not done any races – hence limited input on the spanner. I did however head over to Dunsfold last night to check out the action. It looked frantic at times but was also a very strange experience, with a mass of riders cruising round the circuit in a pack, then the occasional straggler who has been dropped looking ill and travelling around a 1/3 of the speed. I will take part next week for sure, as long as I can find the £25 entry fee!
This weekend I took part in the Etape Caledonia. It is the UK’s only closed rode event and this year had over 3500 entrants. The course is 81 miles and travels along a pretty flat route, with 1 major climb at about 50 miles in.
I was riding as an invited guest of the organiser so I was trying to get a feel for the event. I was amused to find the event called a race on every form of documentation – very different to the Devil ride which is not a race. I repeat. The Devil ride is not a race. Entrants were not incredibly sociable, in fact generally took a big dislike to my chatting on route so my objective of having some fun changed at about the 40mile mark when I decided to ride a bit more aggressively.
I continuously bridged mile long gaps on my own to get into a train at a speed I was comfortable with, but always found the pace to be a couple of mph too slow – with over 30 miles to go I was bridging gaps at 27mph with no help and I feared I would never survive! Needless to say I eventually found my rhythm and within the last 20 miles I found a group of 7 who seemed motivated, we worked hard for each other for a little while before our group became 4 and then after I lead up a hill we were a 2 man break with 10 miles to go. Not very sporting I know and I am sure many will frown at this behaviour but riding at a slow pace just to keep a group in-tact surely cannot be a wise strategy?
My result is as follows:
Overall position: 51
Gender position: 50
Male 30-39 position: 20
My time: 4:07:12
Winning time: 3:44:05
I am pretty pleased with that. Without my slow first 40 miles chatting I would have beaten the 4hr mark I am sure.
Now I must put this result into context. The event was sabotaged this year! Some local folk who have been against their freedom of movement being taken away decided to get revenge on the organisers and put carpet tacks on a 10 mile stretch of the road. 1,000’s of people were affected. If was crazy. While I was surely one of the few lucky entrants who avoided a flat I stopped on several occasions to provide tubes and assistance to the British Ski Team who were riding our bikes and wearing our jerseys.
I can see why the locals were upset. Some of the villages we passed through are very isolated, so up to 4 hours of road closures is a royal pain in the ass, it affects their ability to go to church, they claim it has a detrimental impact on tourism and they just don’t like it. Yes to bikes, No to closed roads the signs say. The organisers claim they should be happy with 5000+ people bringing in over £500,000 to the local economy, raising over £260,000 for Macmillan and for putting the area on the map. But obviously this is not the case.
Anyway I had a fun time. It was 500 miles each way so I think I would rather do a race in Belgium next time, but a great experience all the same.
In the lead up to the 2009 Devil ride my calendar reads:
Etape Caledonia – Done
Bike Radar Live – Next Weekend
Dragon Ride – 14th June
Then I have 1 month of nothing so I will be looking for something 28th June – any suggestions?
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