Devil Ride 2009

Off to Wales for the 105 mile 'Devil Ride' sportive. Getting there is a bit of an adventure - Wilf and I have to smuggle our bikes on to the Piccadilly line to collect our hire car from Heathrow. We get nabbed as we arrive at Heathrow - too late though for anything but a finger wagging. We meet up with Rich and Mike at the campsite just outside the pretty town of Crickhowell and pitch up Rich's tent - gotta love tents with foyers:) Not a lot happening in the 'race village' so we head to town for dinner and the odd carb loading pint. Early night, back to the tent, raining fairly hard but the forecast is dry for tomorrow.

Race Day
7am alarm call, it's raining. No mass start so plenty of time to prepare. We eventually get to the line at 9ish and meet James before we roll over the start line. The 5 of us do a bit of through and off at an easy pace but as the first hill arrives I keep the tempo up and the rest drop back. Not intentional and I was surprised James wasn't with me. Another rider joins (Mark) and I push on before flicking the elbow to follow his wheel. Soon we're joined by a third rider (Karl) and we're working well together - passing loads. Kudos to the two riders, I drop a water bottle and they wait to let me rejoin. The three of us plough on with the occassional rider joining as we pass before dropping off. It's a good route but hard - lots of little hills which break the tempo.

The Devil's Staircase
We push on past the first feed stop and you can sense the excitement/fear as the infamous Devil's Staircase gets closer. This famous climb featured in the Milk Race in the 80s and forced the pros to unclip and walk! The road narrows and the climb begins. I'm in my 34-27 from the off and I'm having to take every hair-pin wide. There's no cadence, it's just push, push. Mark is struggling a bit but no wonder - he's riding 39-25! At the top we regroup, we're off again. Tough, very tough, but no walking. The descent on the otherside is superb. With the wind behind our backs we're pushing 50mph.

The Second Climb
This one is unannounced. The road surface is horrible - resurfaced loose gravel everywhere. The climb goes on forever and Mark drops back. 30 minutes later I drift off - Karl is a strong rider. This is the worst part of the race for me. I'm on my tod and descend like a demon bringing the group up ahead close (there looks like 10 or so riders). But as the gradient goes up the gap widens, I'm running close to empty. My solo ride goes on for 5-10 miles until eventually two riders catch up - Mark and Trevor (SWRC). I latch on to the back. At the second food station I load up with jaffa cakes and water. The feed station attendants inform us there's one more slog ahead.

The Final Stretch
Not exactly one more slog, infact there's still plenty of little spikes to sap all remaining energy. Round about mile 75 we're into roulering territory. Wheelsucking is pretty much all I'm up to. Mark's doing some great turns but with about 8 miles to go he's disappeared. We slow up for a moment but cannot see him so push on. I've recovered a bit and take the lead - Trevor and I are giving everything. I'm quite keen for the finish line but as my cateye reaches 105 miles we're still on the move. Aargh. I spot a sign for Crickhowell, 2 miles away - I can handle that. Soon I spot the campsite and we're rolling up to the finish line. 108 (and a bit) miles. Really tough ride - lots of spikes and I was pushing hard all the way. Great result though - 5hrs 56mins, a Gold Classificatiion and 11th overall.

South Down Way in One Day

First Attempt
My first attempt at the South Downs Way was back in September. This was a 2 day attack and a valiant effort but ultimately we were defeated. Andy G's sub-par Carrera and Dodge's heroic lack of fitness were the culprits. Crappy weather also didn't help.

The Plan
I'd discussed taking on the SDW with Mike. Like me he's an ex-MTBer who's now a born again Roadie. Mike's idea was to do the route in one day. Hmm, 100 miles off-road wouldn't be easy. We agreed on a date - July 4th - and roped in Jorge as well.

The Big Day
Insane Alarm call. Only a couple of hours sleep (grrr). Cycling to Clapham Junction for our 5.20am rendezvous was slightly surreal - plenty of people staggering their way back home from the nightclubs in Brixton and Clapham. The train journey to Winchester takes just over an hour so plenty of time to enjoy some bacon and egg rolls. Worryingly, as we approach Basingstoke the clear skies we'd enjoyed in London become obscured by thick fog.

We set off from Winchester just before 7am and after a mile or so on the road we hit the trail. The route is mostly well marked but there are points that without a good map, or in our case a couple of Garmins, getting waylaid would be easy. I realised that on my previous attempt we'd taken a 5 mile detour and climbed 2 big hills unneccessarily - oops.

Round about 12pm we stopped for lunch having covered 50 miles. Reasonably on track. The weather couldn't have been better. There had been a patch of drizzle earlier but the skies were clearer and most importantly it wasn't too hot. Onwards - the second part of the trail gets a bit steeper and fatigue starts to set in. Mike has several encounters with the 'Man with the Hammer' but we're fairly certain we can make it. After 80 miles or so the coast line appears and we see what we think might be Eastbourne - it isn't - more pedaling to be done. By the time the real Eastbourne rolls in to view the sun is starting to set but it's mostly downhill from here. Infact, the last section into the town is a real hoon and at some point I must have buckled my rear tyre. 100 miles on my cateye and we arrive at Eastbourne and my rear wheel has more wobble than Big Daddy's belly. It's 8.40pm - time to get some fish and chips and a beer to enjoy on the train back to London.

It's been a hard day but our mission has been completed. Demon's laid to rest.

Food Consumed (including brekkie and post ride munchies)
5 Torq gells, 3 Mule bars, 1 Clif Bar, 3 Bananas, 2 bacon & egg rolls, 2 sausage & mustard rolls, 75% of a Soreen malt loaf, 1 Muller rice pudding, Haddock & chips, 1 beer, over 8 litres of water.