Today’s ride I shall entitle “We Need Our Heads Looking At” for reasons which shall become clear......
So today was the day for the self proclaimed “Saga CC” ride out to Mansfield/Sheffield-By-The-Sea otherwise known as Skegness or more commonly Skeg Vegas!
I was up at 0515 this morning ready for a 6 o clock start to meet the others just outside Derby for 7. I spent a good ten minutes looking out the window watching the rain come down and observing the wind before I made a judgment call to crack on with the ride. I very nearly chickened out but somehow I really wanted this and it was this desire that ultimately swung it for me.
I had a 13 mile ride upto Swarkestone to meet the other lads and decided that with the conditions it would be best to hit the Cloud Trail as it was flat and sheltered from the wind. Managed to get to this point in 45 mins and that was probably the quickest I’d been all ride!
Five became four as one more dropped out and we set off at dead on 7 into some awful wind and rainy conditions which remained throughout. For a good while we were relatively sheltered from the worst of the wind and it was just the rain and standing water we had to contend with. Only once we’d passed through Nottingham did it begin to open up and we felt the full force of the wind. We passed the water sports centre at Holme Pierrepont where we encountered a few triathletes on their cycling phase. As we climbed out of Radcliffe on Trent we began to overtake some of the weaker riders and hang in behind the quicker ones to act as a wind break! We stuck with these for quite a few miles (which I’m sure we were all grateful for) and as we hit one village around Bingham there were crowds gathering and cheering on all the riders- including us! I couldn’t acknowledge- I felt such a fraud! By this stage the lads superior power and ability had left me several hundred yards behind and this was quite frequent thought but they did keep waiting at various points for me to catch up. An energy gel later and we were on our way towards Grantham. And this is where it almost began to unravel for me- about 2 miles from the services the gel I had consumed came back up and the stomach cramps were extremely painful. As I approached the Costa at Grantham services there were two roundabouts to negotiate as I crossed over the A1 and it was at the first one where a big gust of wind knocked me clean off- luckily into a grass verge but still clipped in! I was 55 miles in, cold, wet, in horrible pain with my gut and when I finally stopped at the services I said to the others I was catching the train back from Grantham. However after a black coffee I changed my mind and decided to press on with the ride although the cramps still remained. We had 15-20 mins and set off having planned our next stop. Immediately on leaving the services there was a good near-mile-long climb towards Grantham itself which was done with relative ease and we turned off to head towards the A607 and Sleaford. It was at the following junction when one of the lads got a puncture, so a nice ten minute stop to fix that was welcome! After heading north towards Sleaford the wind was behind us but the following 20 miles or so after leaving Sleaford were some of the most difficult I had ever faced on the bike- by now we were well into the Lincolnshire countryside which is flat and open and we were heading east and very exposed. The wind was south-easterly and as the ride was technically eastbound it made for some brutal riding. The turbulence from oncoming lorries was almost enough to knock me off on several occasions and I had no choice but to slow down until I got to the villages of Tattershall and Coningsby where we made stop number 2 at a pub.
After a pint of coke and 15 mins break we had about 29 or so miles left to go and the other lads really began to put the hammer down. I made no attempt to catch them up and just did my thing and rode at my own pace for the remainder. This was all pre-agreed with them and as much as it would have been beneficial to try and stick with them the truth is I just couldn’t! Only one more climb of note which was out of Old Bolingbroke towards Spilsby and although I was a little fatigued I managed to get up it fairly comfortably. Crossing the A16 at Spilsby was a bit hairy with the traffic and the crosswinds but eventually I got across, although I was glad of the rest! A few more winding lanes and I finally hit Gunby island and the A158 for the last few miles into Skeggy. Just when I thought the stretch between Grantham and Coningsby was bad, this was 10 times worse! All open and exposed, the wind and rain picked up as well and it was just awful riding as I also had to contend with passing vehicles and being mindful I wasn’t sucked outwards from turbulence. Finally I reached the Skegness sign and took a photo or two of my achievement and finished off the route with a steady slog to the clock tower where I clocked off. The others were 15-20 mins ahead of me by now but we all met back up and went straight to the chip shop before catching the train back.
112.4 miles in truly awful conditions, probably the disadvantage of flat routes as there were no descents and thus no respite and you have to keep working come what may. 7 hours dead for me, averaged 16 dead.
Repeated and slightly edited in Your Ride Today....
**a detailed analysis of the wind we encountered today, mostly head and side winds**
https://www.strava.com/activities/1736236541
. Time for August 
