|
Hell of the North Cotswolds
from our westcountry correspondent
Thanks again for letting me know about the
HoNC ride - it was really good - I stayed in Winchcombe for two nights on
the weekend to take part. On Saturday I took the train to Cheltenham Spa
and rode over Cleeve Hill to Winchcombe. After riding the 100k route on
the Sunday, I woke up at 6:20 on Monday morning, left the B+B at 7 to ride
back over Cleeve Hill to Cheltenham, catching the 7:54 train to Bristol
for 8:40. After which I cycled to work for 9! It was quite a weekend!
The ride itself was very good - one of the
driest years they've had apparently - I would not have wanted to have
ridden through thick mud when covering that kind of distance! We started
at 9:00am with 904 riders this year in the mass start through Winchcombe
which was amazing. I wasn't quite as prepared as I could have been so I
was much slower over the first half of the course than I should have been.
I didn't get a chance to review the map & directions beforehand and
had to read them on-route. Riding off-road with a map in one hand and not
being able to use the rear brake wasn't working too well! So I stopped to
tape it to my handlebars and put some more air in my tires.
At the second checkpoint I was 194th! I
knew it wasn't a race but in a way it felt like one and it was difficult
to decide when to stop for food and drink. I knew if I didn't I would be
suffering later with lack of energy. I was overtaking riders but they kept
catching me when I stopped to read the next set of directions. I stopped
again for food and drink but told myself that I should really wait until
my first puncture! I ignored this, hoping it would never happen but later
when bombing down a rocky decent between two riders on cross bikes(? - I
didn't get a good look at their bikes due to the speed I was going!) and
dodging a waterbottle on the trail I heard a hissing sound - thought my
brakes were rubbing before feeling the rear rim hitting the ground. A
flinty rock had slashed a 5mm hole in the inner tube! So when I got to the
rest stop I was among the last to arrive.
The rest stop was exactly half way this
time whereas last year it was passed 2/3rds distance. I arrived 3.5hrs
from the start but I had only been on my bike for 2h 43m. My average speed
was good though - 11.1 mph. The food was crap - there was supposed to have
been a bun and drinks but when I arrived I was only able to take two small
pieces of cake! It was good that I had brought plenty of food with me. I
left after a 30 min break, much less than the hour I rested during the
Bristol to London ride.
The second half became more of a get
focused and ride through it kind of ride. There were plenty of good
off-road x-country and rocky descents (as with the whole ride) but they
also seemed some what infrequent for those of us used to riding x-country
all the time. I was still riding faster than the others around me but
began to get tired intermittently and had to keep eating. On one long
climb when I was feeling particularly strong, I rode it all the way in the
middle ring, but I think this is also when I hurt the muscle by my left
knee.
The final part following the Cotswold way
around Cleeve Hill contained a mixture of descents, bumpy tracks and short
steep climbs, which, after over 50 miles, were challenging - but I managed
to ride every one! I was now riding with a small group and mentioned to
one rider about my need for suspension forks. He had a pair of Pace forks
which didn't need servicing (or at least a major overhaul) for 5 years and
are still as good as new. Shortly afterwards I shot passed him and another
rider on a decent! I am getting much faster downhill...
I had nearly made a few wrong turns during
in the second half of the ride but managed to keep to the correct route.
However, three miles from the end we took a left 50 metres too early
(whilst surrounded by hedges) and descended on the wrong track through a
farm to meet the B-road to Winchcombe half a mile too early. I stormed
back to the start because I wanted to finish (and it was a fast road
descent into the town itself) but was pretty pissed off at the end when I
realised what we did. After 58 miles I arrived back at the school to
finish at 4:11pm. I didn't aim to arrive before the latest time of 4:22pm
so I was really pleased to have done so! I was the 694th rider to finish
which means absolutely nothing as it doesn't tell me how many actually
rode the 100k route! - they didn't record this...
In summary - I took 7h 11mins to ride 58
miles at an average riding speed of 10.5 mph. The fastest person on the
100k route got round in 3h 22m!!! - before I had reached the halfway rest
stop... I think I could now do a 6 hour Enduro event - I certainly want to
ride the HoNC again and be more prepared at the start...
Check out the pictures at: http://www.davidbirkin.com/honc02
- I haven't looked through them all yet to see if my photo was taken...
It was all good training for the Red Bull
in June (along with the 9feet.com trail which we rode the previous Sunday
- they've modified the route and added another long descent with hairpins
- this time out in the open.) - Si and I have managed to enter a team. Did
the Addiscombe team get their entry accepted - if so, who are we up
against?!
Cheers,
Martin S.
|