Severn Bridge Sportive, Sun 16 Oct. 2011

Very late report this, but that was a fantastic ride. 92 miles, two huge hills and two shorter nastier ones, one near the end. I rode with Nick from our club (Zappi’s) and we stayed together most of the way round. As usual I cramped out on the last hill at around 85 miles. This always seems to happen however well I hydrate with electrolytes, and yet again I had to get off and waddle around for a couple of minutes to clear my legs of acid.

Completed in 5:21 and was 45th out of 123, not that anyone’s checking apart from me! Its not a race .

Super weather, good organisation and great food, especially the soup, at the end. Deffo for next year.

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#severn-bridge

Cycling Summer Log

A list of the major bike-related things that happened over the warmer bits of the year.

• The ITB band issue went away in April, luckily. Regular stretching now!

• Rode the Princes Risborough Sportive managing 4:46, just within the Gold standard for the youngsters. Thats about 17.1 mph average so I am not too disappointed given the lack of training in March. Was hoping for 18. Winner managed 21… I have a long way to go.

• Managed to find some real Cinelli Spinacis to replace the cheapo jobs. These are pretty rare, but I much prefer them to drops.

• May 7: beat my personal best at 10 miles: 21.8 mph

• May 8: beat my personal best at 60 miles: 18.9 mph (Group ride though!)

• May 12: won some Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels on Ebay. Boy do they make a difference, especially uphill. I think those personal bests are in some considerable danger.

• June 10: bottom bracket grumbing so swapped in a new Ultegra BB and a second hand 39/53 chainset from flEabay. A lot smoother now. Bike below 10Kg! 9.98…

• June 19: rode the Great Western Sportive, managing 6:17, Gold standard for oldfarts, about 16.9 mph. Again, not as good as I hoped but not too shoddy. Lots of hills, serious cramp at one point and a mechanical that meant I had to get off 3 times going up Blowing Stone Hill. Winner’s average speed was 19.3. Wow.

• June 21: seem to have strained a calf muscle maybe during the Sportive, but it only became apparent on the Monday after the ride, during my commute. Ow. Healed reasonably quickly

• July 3: beat my personal best at 60 miles: 19.8 mph (Group ride with some racers!) Quite a flat ride but I’m pretty pleased with it!

• July 3: sorted my Justgiving page for the Brompton World Championships. Sponsor me please!

• July 17: The Anthony Maynard Sportive. Did the short (70 mile) ride. On the bike average was Gold (17.4), but I punctured and was with a group who stuck together (mostly!) and everyone punctured, so we spent about half an hour off the bikes. Enjoyable social ride though, apart from the torrential rain. Next up BWC! The founder of my club, Flavio Zappi ‘won’ the long (195 Km) route at an average if 19.8 mph. *Sigh*

• July 31: first chaingang with a ‘fast group’. Reached 30 mph on the flat and over 20 average over about 30 miles. I was dropped eventually, but it was a lot of fun while I kept up.

• Aug 21: Rode the Brompton World Championship. Came 59th in 25:57. Perhaps I should have trained?! Not too shabby though.

– September – Cat And Fiddle Rourkie Ride

– October – Severn Bridge Sportive

#anthony-maynard, #blenheim, #brian-rourke, #bwc, #severn-bridge, #sportives, #summer