Just brief summary of the Exmoor beauty, that took place on Sunday.
All week the weather had been extremely changeable in the lead up to the event and Sunday was no different but I opted for a base layer and my coat (need to get a decent wind proof jersey!) as rain was possible and the wind was cold and reasonably strong.
As me and my (more experienced/fitter!) mate went off from the start, the sun was out and it was lovely all the way out of Minehead (from Butlins) and I was comfortable all the way to the first major climb, where I obviously sweated some! My friend disappeared from sight in front lol.
The 30 miles to the feed stop went well enough, and i enjoyed my new experience on the whole, and set off once again after a free banana and flapjack stop. Straight into an absolute sod of a hill, that had many stopping - trying to stop their flapjack from reappearing!!! It really was cruel
.
And then the rain came, and came some more....bringing more wind with it! Up on the top of Exmoor we had hail too and it was hell for about 20 miles on the exposed moorland
.
All that wet weather (I'm a fair weather cyclist at the best of times lol) and a monster headwind really made me question my cycling, and I could have easily binned the bike in the nearest bush a few times. But I tried to rally myself as I passed many a person stopped for a puncture, at least I dont have one of those I thought.
As we started to come off of the moor I really was struggling to get anywhere and for a moment thought I'd come to the end as i was never going to finish, but then my brain kicked in and I checked the rear tyre.....FLAT! But guessing that we were no more than 12 miles from the finish back at Butlins I tried my luck and pumped the tyre back up and rode on. It wasn't ideal but the tyre was hard for 20 minutes or so before needing attention so I just topped it up a few more times.
Off of the moor in the country lanes, the weather improved greatly and the last hour was as good as the first. Upon reaching the finish we had to ride into a building where some holiday makers were clapping us in and a guy on a P.A. announced us home, which was unexpected and a little odd to be truthful......but quite nice in a way.
A small girl was handing out our t-shirts as reward for completion.
I finished in 7hours and 1 minute, WELL over what I was expecting but the weather was the problem there, not to mention the puncture. My mate did have a couple of hours to himself in the car waiting for me though
. But even he agreed it had been a tough 70 miles and that if I could do that one I could do a 100 miler (though he may have just been making me feel better - it was nice to hear from a 'better' rider!)
But i was faster than someone else I knew
...not that it matters of course 
One serious incident involved a cyclist going underneath a car and having to be air lifted to hospital, sound like s/he was going to fast down hill and couldn't stop. But the organisers did warn us of some nasty decents and the weather conditions before we left, with some good signs all around so I think it was solely down to the rider.
Overall most people seemed to think it was a tougher route that it was advertised as, a more gentle sportive it wasn't (though I have no previous experience of course) and the amount of punctures were huge (spoke to one chap who had 3, and he knew of someone who had 5
). But the weather really ruined it, a shame for the first time - for the organisers and me.
But I did feel pretty damn heroic for having done it and am planning the next one (after I spend some serious time cleaning up the bike!).
All week the weather had been extremely changeable in the lead up to the event and Sunday was no different but I opted for a base layer and my coat (need to get a decent wind proof jersey!) as rain was possible and the wind was cold and reasonably strong.
As me and my (more experienced/fitter!) mate went off from the start, the sun was out and it was lovely all the way out of Minehead (from Butlins) and I was comfortable all the way to the first major climb, where I obviously sweated some! My friend disappeared from sight in front lol.
The 30 miles to the feed stop went well enough, and i enjoyed my new experience on the whole, and set off once again after a free banana and flapjack stop. Straight into an absolute sod of a hill, that had many stopping - trying to stop their flapjack from reappearing!!! It really was cruel
.And then the rain came, and came some more....bringing more wind with it! Up on the top of Exmoor we had hail too and it was hell for about 20 miles on the exposed moorland
.All that wet weather (I'm a fair weather cyclist at the best of times lol) and a monster headwind really made me question my cycling, and I could have easily binned the bike in the nearest bush a few times. But I tried to rally myself as I passed many a person stopped for a puncture, at least I dont have one of those I thought.
As we started to come off of the moor I really was struggling to get anywhere and for a moment thought I'd come to the end as i was never going to finish, but then my brain kicked in and I checked the rear tyre.....FLAT! But guessing that we were no more than 12 miles from the finish back at Butlins I tried my luck and pumped the tyre back up and rode on. It wasn't ideal but the tyre was hard for 20 minutes or so before needing attention so I just topped it up a few more times.
Off of the moor in the country lanes, the weather improved greatly and the last hour was as good as the first. Upon reaching the finish we had to ride into a building where some holiday makers were clapping us in and a guy on a P.A. announced us home, which was unexpected and a little odd to be truthful......but quite nice in a way.
A small girl was handing out our t-shirts as reward for completion.
I finished in 7hours and 1 minute, WELL over what I was expecting but the weather was the problem there, not to mention the puncture. My mate did have a couple of hours to himself in the car waiting for me though
. But even he agreed it had been a tough 70 miles and that if I could do that one I could do a 100 miler (though he may have just been making me feel better - it was nice to hear from a 'better' rider!)But i was faster than someone else I knew
...not that it matters of course One serious incident involved a cyclist going underneath a car and having to be air lifted to hospital, sound like s/he was going to fast down hill and couldn't stop. But the organisers did warn us of some nasty decents and the weather conditions before we left, with some good signs all around so I think it was solely down to the rider.
Overall most people seemed to think it was a tougher route that it was advertised as, a more gentle sportive it wasn't (though I have no previous experience of course) and the amount of punctures were huge (spoke to one chap who had 3, and he knew of someone who had 5
). But the weather really ruined it, a shame for the first time - for the organisers and me.But I did feel pretty damn heroic for having done it and am planning the next one (after I spend some serious time cleaning up the bike!).
