Today was a "Ride Like A Pro" event at the Kendal Jaguar dealership (since my local dealer isn't doing it
)
In effect, it's a free Sportive with refreshments and a goody bag, and three support cars (Jags of course) that patrolled around in case of mechanicals. One car was in Team Sky livery, one plain white and one from Wheelbase. A 30 mile route with some "nice" looking climbs awaited us, but it was warm and dry, even if some of the roads could still be wet.
With 70+ riders, we were set off in 3 groups of about 25 riders each and I settled for the third group, which had 3 of the Wheelbase riders in it. The first 7 miles was actually very flat and allowed the group to stay together, chat and socialise (I didn't see anyone doing anything stupid, which was nice).
There was a crash though as we came to a pinch point with a car on the other side. The group stopped and one girl at the front had a clipless fall. No harm done and once she'd got the chain back on we were on our way again. It was now that I noticed we had two youngsters with the group, both probably about 7 or 8 on their road bikes and having a great time
One was doing the shorter, flat, route with his dad, the other was the son of one of the Wheelbase guys and he was taking on some of the hillier route. They were back before me, so I guess they cut the course short. Not that I blame them as there were some properly steep climbs in there.
On the way out of Grange-Over-Sands is the first climb of significance, more of a long drag, but more than 5% most of the way, which gets the heart started. By now, the group had been split up by the town and I would catch up with some of them later on.
A nice descent through Allithwaite followed, catching up with two cars that had passed me on the climb
but then I spotted our marshals making sure we didn't miss the next right turn. WTF! There is a wall in front of me
. That had to be 20% I thought as I ground and gasped my way to the top. (Never trust Sportive route planners BTW).
Now we were heading towards Cartmel and Cartmel Fell... hmmm, I didn't do so well there last time. Once the road went up again, it was all straightforward, long climbs as we made our way over to Barber Green.
I was now wishing I'd gone to the loo before I started, I'd been trying to hang on, but it was no use, I needed to make a pitstop for a pee. Now... if you do this on a supported event, you just might find that a support car has sneaked up on you just as you've finished to see if you're OK
Anyway... Onwards through High Newton and the longest climb of the day out onto the top of the fell, followed by a brilliant flowing descent to finish off the climbing. Only one more little bump in between us and the finish now.
That was an excellent route and the coffee and nibbles at the end were most welcome back at the showroom. Our goody bags consisted of a branded water bottle, a jaguar magazine and a voucher for 40% off a Rapha wet bag. I've just looked it up on their site, the bag costs £135
so even with 40% off I'm not sure I really need one
I'll be back next year
http://app.strava.com/activities/190575949/