Ben’s Sportive Report – North Downs 6th DecPosted by Scotty B on December 9th, 2009

This was my 1st ever sportive and I really enjoyed it so will deffo be doing another. Here is my memories of the day.

Well it started ok when I got up at looked outside. It had obviously been raining but the sky was cloudy but result – no rain.

I even managed to see a bit of blue sky trying to fight it’s way through the grey sky.

I managed to wake up the entire family with my banging about and cursing as I left bit’s of kit all around the place. Shoes in one room and bike in another. Eventually I got organised and left the house and made my way the few miles to Dorking. Then the rain started…….

I had mentioned to everyone to try and get there for as close to 8am as possible and I know I have mentioned before the Jelly is fast becoming known for either being late or not turning up at all. Today I knew he was coming cos Scotty and Jelly were cycling 17 mile to the event from Jelly’s house!!!! Yea I know…. mental.

I arrived at ten past 8 and made my way to registration – a really simple, quick and easy process. The Evans sportives are really popular and the car park of the school where it started was fast filling up. Tip for when we do one again – early is better.

I met Flavadave, Wannabetri, James, BPML and a friend of mine from work and we all stood under a bike hut in the rain that had now decided to get rather heavy. We were all waiting for Scotty and Jelly – The lads had decided to make the 17 mile ride in pouring rain, uphill and with a head wind!!!! Mental.

Once we all were ready for the off we handed in our yellow cards ( no idea what they were for) and were given a quick briefing about what to expect. Basically the bloke said about Hills, more hills and standing water… things looked a little bleak from where I was standing.

We got the go and Scotty shot off into the lead with a 2 yard lead followed closely by Jelly who if I was honest started 6 yards the wrong side of the start line. LOL

We all mooched up the road and the plan was simple – follow the pink arrows on trees and and lamposts and make our way round the 65 miles in true BCTTT style.

Within the 1st mile we were all soaking wet, my overshoes had done a crap job of keeping my feet warm mainly because they were soaking wet.  With every peddle stroke I could feel the water squelching between my toes. Nice!!!

We jostled for position and it was great to put faces to the names as we made easy progress to Boxhill about 4 miles away. Before we arrived at the base of Boxhill there was a small issue with the little pink arrow direction signs… namely, whoever had laid them out did it wrong!! We took a left hand turn and found a group of cyclists heading towards us – the told us where we had gone wrong as they had done the same.

We righted our wrong and ended up at the base of Boxhill. We all started to thin out as it’s actually pretty narrow up the hill and I found myself chatting with James…. Nice bike, great colour too.

He was telling me al about his glamorous races, 70.3 Monaco and 70.3 Hawaii in the coming months. Lucky lad.

He then decided to take things on and shot off like Lance Bloody Amrstrong and I found myself climbing to he top following some other riders – I do love Boxhill, really nice place to be.

The weather was still a bit cruddy TBH and I was wondering what the next 60 miles would bring. Still I looked forward to the laughs we no doubt would have along the way.

When I got to the top of Boxhill I couldn’t work out if I was last in our group so I waited for a few mins in case anyone came up behind me… no one did and after 3 or 4 minutes I was worried I was last and everyone would be waiting for me at the top of Pebble Hill 2 miles away!!! I sped up and made my way to the top of Pebble and found Flavadave and my mate from work ( Paulette) at the roadside as Dave had a flat!!! I stopped and waited for him to quickly change his flat…. this is where things started to get comical.

He struggled to get his Gattorskins of the rim so I lent him some more tyre levers and he soon was pulling the old tube out and fitting a new one. I then ran off into the woods to “use facilities” and found myself sinking overshoe deep into the mud…. shit!!! I did the business but no after the wind blew it all over my fight foot!!!! Bugger

I got back to Paulette and Dave and he was pumping up his tyre… result………Nope, he had buggered that one up too… never fear though so he whacked another tube in and pumped for his life…..pinched that one and that was gone too. So it was a try again approach. He then broke out the big guns and drew on his CO2 thingy and threw one of my tubes in.

By now BPML, Scotty and Jelly had arrived – I wasn’t the bac marker after all – Jelly punctured on Boxhill too. So there we were all at the top of a hill watching Dave cock up another inner tube change. James and Wannabetri had obviously made their way off down the hill and rightly so cracked on.

Dave was ready to inflate his tyre with the CO2 and bent down to do so and emptied the entire contents into the atmosphere. To say we laughed was an understatement. ( sorry Dave but it was funny)

After some friendly ribbing ( in the nicest possible way) Scotty stepped forward and showed us all how to do it. One emptied CO2 canister and one fully inflated tyre later we all bombed down Pebble hill.

The ride continued for a few miles and at about mile something or other Jelly started to suffer. He failed to eat any breakfast and as things turned undulating he bonked and rightly so despite throwing gels and food down his neck decided to call it a day. Not before I saw him simply fall off onto a grassy bank still clipped in to the bike. The lad was suffering.  No one left him and we all rode with him until he could peel off and ride 5 miles back to the start. He had my cars keys so he could keep dry and warm. Well done Jelly mate….. cos If I had known what was coming I would have joined you.

In no time at all the hills arrived… and they were rather long and painful. My little chicken legs and a double chainset did not make a good combination. I really struggled and started to feel the burn alot earlier than I had hoped for. All the previous delays ( me holding people up – sorry lads ) had put us under a bit of pressure as their was a cut of time for the 65 mile long route of 1230pm. Things didn’t look good. Quick stop at the water stop, Sis drink ( horrible why do they make it taste so disgusting) and a banana and cake and we were off. I can’t emphasise how I was taken by surprise with the hills…. I was suffering quite alot and on some of the really steep ones, I’m sure 18 or 20% I couldn’t get up them… I took to walking. It was still raining. I got wetter.

I felt terrible at holding the others up so I tried to jog up some of the hills, the legs were on fire and I kept slipping on the cleats. There were wet leaves and mud all over the road so I decided to be careful and not risk a fall as I may injure myself. I carried in walking…. And getting wetter!

We came to the top of one big hill and there was a long descent which we all really enjoyed… until we realised the weather had taken it’s toll on our rear brake blocks… they we disintegrating….. rapidly. I had virtually no rear brake on the way down and it was a long way down holding onto both brakes all the way. I have never heard the noise of worn brake blocks trying desperately to hold onto fast spinning wheels down a long decent before. Strangely satisfying though. We passed a few runners – one of them running with a dog.

We all made it safely to the bottom and after much screeching and metallic scraping later we looked at our brakes. I need to change my rear blocks and Scotty had simply worn right through his.. here was bugger all left!!!!

Things brightened up weather wise and I took my Jacket off – oh next time can someone tell me not to wear brand new white kit – it’s doesn’t look good covered in crap and mud!!!

It soon became apparent that there was no way we would make the cut off for the 65 miler so we opted for the medium route ( thank god). The hills really had taken their toll on me and I was suffering – still going but I only made it halfway up every hill on the bike. I need to do more hill work I fear. The bloke a the aid station told us the biggest and longest hills were still to come and I felt gutted to hear that. I think everyone was hurting a little.

I didn’t know the hills in Surrey could go up, then level out then go up some more!!!! It really was painful and I was getting pissed of at not being able to climb them. I simply didn’t have the power there. I’m sure others have ridden bigger hills but to me they were a good test and I want to go back and do it again.

We all soldiered on and eventually we made it to the finish. Wannabetri and James had obviously demolished the course and had gone home and I had a party to get too so we all said out goodbyes. Scotty is officially mental as he kitted up to cycle back to Jelly’s 17 miles away. Crazy!!! jelly got a lift to the station and Paulette ( she is too fit to join our club – you should see her run!!!!!!!!)and BPML sat in the cafe stuffing their faces and rightly so.

So in summary, I enjoyed it despite the pain and suffering, I need to man up and grow a pair and ride many more hills to get stronger. I have never ridden hills like that before. We have agreed to go back and attack it – Scotty had it in his GPS so whenever we get a go I’m game.

Great day, cheap at a tenner and well run I’d say. Deffo worth a look and maybe some other Evans events.

What have I learnt from the day – I need to sort our nutrition – I took way to much liquid. Ended up stropping 5 times for the loo – I was simply not sweating anything out, Also have a bigger breakfast and ride more hills.

Thanks again to all that turned up in crappy weather and here’s to the next one. I shall not be defeated