Tim Parish reports:
I’d entered the Long Ride of the “Flat Out in the Fens” sportive as my final preparation for “La Marmotte”. However, those of you who’ve been on a club run to Welney would probably doubt the wisdom of anyone entering a 152 mile Fen-based sportive held on one of the windiest days of the year, and you’d be right!
The forecast was 15 mph south westerly winds gusting to 28mph as I headed out from Peterborough Regional College at 7 am and made my way south east via Pondersbridge, Ramsey, (where we encountered the major climb on the course – the ‘hill’ between Ramsey and Warboys, this was my type of event!), Somersham, Willingham and into Cottenham, where the first feed stop was to be based, before heading north to Littleport and Downham Market. I’d been making reasonable progress in what was basically a cross-wind for the first 3 hours, with average speeds of 20.5, 21.5 and 22.5 for the first three hours respectively, then I hit the Ten Mile Bank. By this stage the wind had increased and was blowing straight from the west and the Ten Mile Bank was very exposed and hard work. I eventually crossed Denver Sluice and actually got a bit of a tail wind going into Downham Market where I gratefully paused at the feed stop for half a banana and a bottle top up!
Making my way further north I was stopped at Watlington station where the railway crossing was closed – I had to wait there for 11 minutes and my frustration grew as other riders started to queue up behind. From Watlington we turned into the wind through Tilney St. Lawrence and I was on my own again, the others having dropped off the back, then on towards Long Sutton, Sutton Bridge, Spalding and Holbeach. The wind speeds were measured at Holbeach as 28mph, gusting to 38 mph and along the northerly stretch approaching Sutton Bridge I was struggling to stay on the black stuff. The next few hours were almost entirely into that strong wind and the event became as big a mental challenge as a physical one, with my hour splits plummeting to an avg. of 16 mph. There were no other cyclists about, nobody (and nothing) to hide behind and it was a sheer grind all the way to Pod Hole, Tongue End and then Baston.
From Baston the route turned south and there was a well deserved respite from the headwind as we headed down to West Deeping and then, joy of joys, a long downwind stretch to Thorny where, wind assisted, my speed shot back up to 25-28. The route then turned back south before the final grind back into the wind along North Bank from the “Dog and Doublet” and into Peterborough. A truly brutal, and lonely, day!
My final time was 8hrs 10mins 42secs for the 152 miles and netted me the fifth fastest time by the end of the day, 9 minutes behind the fastest finisher. On a reasonable day at least 30 minutes could be knocked off that time should anyone be foolish enough to do it – I don’t particularly want to see those Fenland roads again at the moment!
Three other St. Ives Cycling Club members did the event, but far more sensibly (?) chose the 112 mile route, which I’m sure was just as bad. The final times were:
152 mile route:
Tim Parish 8hrs 10mins 42secs avg. speed 18.67 mph
112 mile route:
Gary Page 7hrs 7mins 17secs avg. speed 15.78 mph
Neil Elliott 8hrs 16mins 53secs avg. speed 13.58 mph
Alan Hannibal 8hrs 24mins 45secs avg. speed 13.38 mph
The longest ride times on both routes were just over 12 hours, I think I might have topped myself if I’d been out there that long!!!!
