Centurion

On Easter Monday I took part in the Cotswold Spring Classic. I am not sure I have ever made up so many swear words in my life (although I should admit that most of these were conventional swear words with the word biscuit added to the end). 

Perhaps I should start with an excerpt from the rider manual:

Additional route information – please be aware that the 163km route includes some very tough climbs, and technical descents. Some may think that there is not much climbing, but you are in the Cotswolds and when roads go up – they’re steep!! The last third of the long route includes a lot of the major climbs, therefore if you are not sure of your ability this early in the season please don’t risk it. We do run a broom wagon and if you get caught by it we will have to pull you out of the event for your own safety.

During the safety briefing the above message was reinforced quite strongly - we were told that the final 60km of the long route involved as much climbing as the first 100km (but a bit steeper) and that anybody feeling a bit jaded or not quite up for it should stick to the medium route when the routes split.

Having not slept particularly well, I decided at that point that however much I might want to ride 100 miles (160km), this was not the time to try it.

The ride involved a procession of hills, some of which had photographers at or near the top and some of which were timed hill climbs. Some of them were quite hard work.

Another difficult thing about the ride was the number of feed stops. The Tour de Bristol, that I took part in the previous weekend, had three feed stops within 100km ride. This one had one feed stop for the 100km ride and two stops for the 160km route.

Around 90km into the route, I thought about a conversation that I had with a friend the day before. He had taken part in a sprint triathlon and really enjoyed it, but (sensibly in my view) had no intention of doing a longer triathlon - unlike his sister, who completed an iron man a few years ago.

This sparked a dilemma in my head. On one hand, I really wasn't up for cycling a further 60km of hills, tiredness and pain. On the other hand, (i) I am training for a 4-day ride (the longest stage of which is 214km long) so will need to get to grips with longer rides at some point, (ii) I had told people that I was going to ride 100 miles (i.e. the long route) so there was a degree of pride at stake, (iii) I rode 135km last month - would quitting at 100km be a backwards step? (iv) I had 4 hours or so before the cut-off time - if I try the 160km and it doesn't work out I can either walk up some hills or bail out and hitch a lift back on the broom wagon.

While the above was still going through my mind, I found myself turning off to take the 160km route.

I immediately saw what they meant about the climbs. Never mind, I thought, there were so many steep hills straight after the turning off that I was surely getting the climbs out of the way.

That turned out to be a whole load of **** biscuits!

The hills continued and it was not long before I started to dread the lengthy descents as these were always going to be followed by lengthy, and often steep, climbs.

As painful as the hills were, they give the opportunity for some impressive views. I was struck by the following view as I approached Sheepscombe - and was grateful for the excuse to pause while I took a photo.

Slad Valley was particularly painful and demoralising - going down one side, crossing to climb out of the valley on the other side before immediately descending back into the valley and climbing back out again. At this point in the ride I met up with another rider, who joined me for some swearing and - eventually - a short walk uphill.

I can keep banging on about hills, but the only way to do this any justice is a picture of the elevation of the ride. The below picture is a screenshot from my phone. 

To further illustrate how difficult this was, if you google "how many calories will I burn if I run a marathon" the top result tells you that the burn rate is approximately 100 calories per mile - i.e. 2,600 calories for the entire race. According to my Garmin app I burned 3,967 calories during this ride.

Hopefully I now have your sympathy.

There was a moment, about 7-8km before the end, that I realised I was tired, hungry, alone and struggling along even flat roads. Determined to finish, however, I pushed on through to receive a much-needed round of applause as I crossed the line and collected my finisher's medal.

It says a lot about my frame of mind at the end of the ride that I wanted to take the following picture (sorry James, that is a bit of my leg).

It was, so far as I can remember, the toughest experience of my life.

Fundraising 
This summer I will be riding 670km (430 miles) in four days as I tackle four stages of the Tour de France. More information is available here.

All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.

Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway.

Alternatively, if you would like to sponsor me but do not want to do so online, let me know and I will cycle over to collect your donation in person (within reason obviously - I am not cycling too far!). 


Thank you for reading!