I’ve generally gone off paying for sportive rides unless there’s something a bit different on offer, so this year I thought I’d take a day trip to France to savour the Le Classique sportive by UK Cycling Events. They threatened an early start in Dover to catch the ferry, and they meant it. The photo was of the sign-on queue at 5am in the car park. Riding up from Folkestone in the dark was a bit of an abrupt wake-up call for me.
We were then loaded onto the ferry with absolutely no fuss with passport control arranged in the boarding lane and a whole car deck to stash the bikes. Then it was up to the lounge for complimentary coffee and croissants during registration.
Once in Calais, we were set off past the timing mat in groups of 20 and the route was carefully chosen to leave the town on quiet roads. Within a couple of kilometres we were in open country and enjoying the smooth tarmac and strong sunshine.
The route was straightforward but the scenery is far removed from home complete with canals and tree-lined avenues. The feed stops were also suitably Gallic with assorted pastries and fresh French baguettes with “beurre doux”, as well as the more usual energy products. No wine though, disappointingly. The “Epic” route took us out of the flatland and up the rolling downs towards the historic town of Cassel. There we were ‘treated’ to a cobbled ascent up the Route de Dunkerque. I was glad I wasn’t on my best bike, for sure!
The return took us past more stunning vistas to the old windmill at Watten (again, a bit different to our East Anglian designs) then back fighting the brisk sea breeze to the ferry, again avoiding any tourists or EU migrants.
The finish was also well organised with plenty of water, protein recovery bars and more real food before we were ushered onto the next available ferry for a glass of wine and a relaxing sail home to Blighty.
I reckon this was pretty good value for an organised day out in France, the only negative being the 40 minute wait in a field to sign the manifest before the start.
Sarah Kelman
PS Then I decided to cycle home to Cambridge from Folkestone via the Tilbury Ferry but that’s another story…
