Today was Tour de Yorkshire day
I am, I admit, a fair-weather rider and while I don't necessarily mind if it rains while I'm out, I don't normally set off in the rain. So, when I looked out of the hotel window on sunday morning to see it absolutely piddling down with rain, I resigned myself to getting soaked.
And so it came to pass. 15 minutes was all it took for everything to get wet, and the shoes to fill with water.. sigh. Can't get any wetter now, but it's a bit chilly!
It wasn't long before the first stiff climb of the day came into view. Well, the bottom of it anyway, every turn you went round revealed more of it, and more, and more, for about 1.5 miles
. Once over that we were due to be going down Otley Chevin, but we were diverted as the Police had closed the road! So we followed the lumpy way of the diversion and came back on track at Menston.
Checked my average speed. 12mph. Hmm, I really don't want to drop lower than that. Handily, the next bit was just a bit undulating and going gradually down, before we plunged into East Morton. Then a few miles on the flat (!) and the average looked a bit healthier. Then Cullingworth happened. We are heading up again, and up, and up, and up, and the average speed dropped like a stone.. Not to worry, I've got a fair bit of time to reach the cutoff.
Another plunge down towards Haworth with another nasty climb up to it, ramping to 15%+ as I gasped my way to the top. Wait a minute, where are they sending us now? Ohhh, this is the cobbled high street they went up in the TdF
Cool! It's not that steep really.... Hang on, doesn't this ramp up to 17%? Yes.. Yes it does
. I wish to thank all those spectating on the street for encouraging absolutely everyone to get to the top, I've never really had spectators before and it was brilliant!
Sadly, that was where my good form ended. It wasn't long before we got to Goose Eye, and OMG it is just ridiculously steep. I made it halfway up the steep ramp and had to walk. Then walked a good bit of the steep sections afterwards
Average speed completely down the pan now, and I've finished my first bottle of energy drink. This was to be significant due to what followed.
As we plunged off the top of the Goose Eye climb, we went over a few lumpy bits and I was starting to fee distinctly unwell, and on the climb to Addingham I was getting stomach cramps. oooh, this was not good
It seems that gels + energy drink do not agree with me, whereas gels + water is fine.. and I've filled two bottles with energy drink. OK then, no more gels. But wait! What's this? The second feed stop at 45 miles, which is the cut off point. What's the time... I've made it with 30 mins to spare
This was the Maserati food stop and they had an absolutely awesome flapjack with fruit and seeds in it and a little yorkshire pudding with a slice of sausage in it and red onion that was sooo tasty
. What I should have done here is fill my empty bottle with plain water and ditch the useless energy drink.
I only realised further down the road, so I guess I was doing without drinks from now on and hope the stomach settles.
Next on the menu was the Cote de Cow and Calf. It starts OK and is mostly just a drag, until you get to the steep ramp near the top. I walked that bit. The next climb was torture as the tummy was not improving much and I was now just crawling along, then we were retracing our outward steps and came back to the 20% hill we had come down the first time. I walked it and even that was painful. I told the guy walking next to me that I might just wait for a broom wagon as we still had Chevin to do
"Nooo, we've gone around Chevin, there was a crash on it this morning and we were diverted. This is the last steep bit, it's OK from here."
I could have kissed him. I would make it, and sure enough there were just some relatively gentle drags to take us towards the finish. Riding up the finishing straight, I was smiling ear-to-ear from the spectators cheering us on, banging on the hoardings, shame I had no energy for any kind of sprint finish.
We were handed a bottle of water after the finish and I made short work of it. Sure enough, on the way back to the car, my tummy was feeling better.
What a day! Starting is rain and finishing in beaming sunshine, however I've worn away half my brake pads and destroyed a brand new pair of cleats.
It was a great experience, but would I enter it again? Hmmm..... No
https://app.strava.com/activities/297545866/overview
. So I thought I better get out and get May's imperial century done. Got up and it was dry but a little bit windy, waited until 05:45 for it to be properly light so I didn't have to bother with any lights.
