Anthony Maynard Sportive 2011

Another poor nights sleep and I really didn’t feel like driving to Theale and winching the fixie round a hilly 110k in the rain. Still I dragged myself away from my computer game and into the car and shoved Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the CD player to try and get in the mood.

Parked and got me bike out then went to collect my frame number and timing tag and say hello to fellow Vegetarian Cycling and Athletics Club rider Steve. Being an audax rider who just does this particular sportive I still find being surrounded by several hundred other riders a bit novel. A good look at all the carbon fibre and narrow tyres about revealed a couple of other riders had mudguards of sorts but I couldn’t see anyone else with just the one cog.

The riders doing the Anthony Maynard Sportive 190k option were mostly on their way and it was the turn of us on the 110k to have our chips dibbed then be sent off in groups. I’d have done well to have noted the time so I knew whether I was on target for the bronze standard 5hr 30m I was after but ended up having to work on the assumption that we were dibbed at 8:40. Steve hung back for the first few kilometres then passed a good few of us as he disappeared impressively up a hill.

Was it raining already? I can’t remember but suffice to say that the few dry bits were the exception rather than the rule. The first climb up onto the downs surprised me by it’s apparent absence, we somehow ended up on top by the Four Points Pub without me even having to get out of the saddle. We rolled along into the wind through the ups and downs of the road through Compton and the Ilsley’s. Some stitching broke on my saddle pack so I had to stop a couple of times to make sure all was secure and to do something about the infuriating knock of buckle against mudguard. I held my own till the long descent down Chain Hill into Wantage but then had the inevitable experience of many riders whizzing past as I feathered the brakes to keep my cadence at a bearable level.

I’m familiar with the steady climb up Hackpen to the first checkpoint and local knowledge assured me that we’d be downhill and out of the wind immediately after so I enjoyed the climb up in the rain past the photographer. In fact I seemed to be going pretty well and the disillusioned morning mood had swung out the other way into the dizzy ‘isn’t this rain great’ glad to be alive that can come with riding a favourite bike on a fine route.

I ate a banana and refilled my water then grabbed a packet of organic mashed lentil baby food for later after being reassured it wouldn’t do strange things to my stomach. Less than 5 minutes stopped and I was heading downhill for Lambourn. The rain was giving us a brief break and I thought I’d entertain myself by counting the discarded gel sachets that sportives are reputed to leave in their wake. In fact I saw only one during the next five miles – just wish the motorists were so conscientious with their empty cans and bottles.

The turn eastwards at the Lambourn ‘bifurcation’ was rewarded with a noticeable tailwind but also with a particularly wet period which left me wondering just why I was lugging a jacket round if I wasn’t going to put it on. I was quite warm enough with a base layer under my shirt though so couldn’t see the point. This stage was the easiest of the three but the combination of Newbury Downs flint and the wet had caused an epidemic of punctures and I must have passed dozens of riders changing tubes by the roadside, amongst them club mate Steve. I waited for the gentle bump of rim against deflated rubber but it never came.

I was making good progress and reckoned I could easily meet my target time even if I did have to fix a flat. Without problems finishing in 5 hours seemed a possibility though I knew not to under estimate the lumps in the last section. I tried to open the baby food with my teeth then realised I was on track for a messy experience and stopped for 30 secs to open and consume the cold lentil curry. Hmmm – odd but nicely savoury!

Less than 5 mins stopped at the next checkpoint then onwards over the series of bumps known locally as the Boxford Alps. I doubt any of the climbs exceeded 50m but there are at least 4, I felt near enough the finish to put my all in as I honked up them passing twiddling geared riders then watched the same riders pass as I had to use the brakes on a couple of the descents. The rain stopped and a sign saying ’10k to go’ inspired a couple of small groups to wind it up and pass me. I hung on to a group but they were doing 35kph and while I maybe had the energy my tired legs really didn’t like the cadence so I let them go.

One last hill, Red Shute, where I passed a couple then we popped out the end of a little lane and the finish was in sight. I dibbed my chip and went inside to hand it in where I was given a little printout slip saying 4:48:55 Bronze. I reckon I was about halfway down the field which is good enough for me particularly on fixed. Bike in the car and I headed home feeling as cheerful as I had miserable on the journey down.

Anthony Maynard Sportive

I’d ridden this sportive last July and what with a puncture and a bungled tube swap I’d finished in 5hrs 28m – more of an audax time than a sportive one. That was my 1st ever sportive – this was my 2nd. The plan was minimise breaks and push hard so as to get under 5hrs for the 110k ride giving me a bronze for my age group.

Several hundred of us gathered at Theale and we were sent off in smallish groups, the 190k riders and the 110k mixed in together as you are allowed to swap route partway through if you want. I said hello to a couple of people from the Vegan Fitness forum and then set off with one of the earlier groups, swiping my time card on the way out. We soon picked up speed and my heart rate went with it, this was much too fast for me so dropped off the back of the bunch and found my own pace for what I knew to be quite a hilly first stage rolling up over the downs to Farnborough.

I climbed half familiar roads waiting for the next bunch to pass me but appreciating a slight but consistent tail wind. After a while I passed a couple who I guessed had hung on to the tow too long and seemed to be paying the price, then another rider and a couple more. This was rather heartening and I’d reeled in at least 10 people before the frontrunner of the next group flew past me at what must have been 20mph uphill and reminded me of my place.

Somewhere near East Ilsey a Red Kite drifted on motionless wings just feet above the field on my right, magpie corpse dangling from her talons. One look at my Vegetarian Cycling & Athletics Club shirt and she had an attack of conscience dropping her breakfast and drifting off empty clawed. (Or maybe she just realised that bit of roadkill was not at it’s best.)

I hit 62kph on the descent over the Ridgeway and down Chain Hill into Wantage without quite needing a change of shorts. The wind seemed to shift and become part headwind during the couple of miles heading West before the climb up Hackpen Hill to the first checkpoint, this was fine by me as the checkpoint was the most Westerly point on the 110k route.

A banana, squash and some dried fruit for my pocket, a visit to the hedge, I was in and out of the checkpoint in less than the 10 mins I was allowing for.  Downhill most of the way to Lambourn with the wind against me then the 2 routes split with the 110k heading East and the 190k West. A fastish run down the pleasant valley to Welford where we swung south again for a bit of a struggle through some lovely lanes, past the site of last years deflation, down to the 2nd checkpoint at Ball Hill. Banana and ready quartered orange went down a
treat and I was off on the last leg with the wind behind me but sufficient route knowledge to know of lumps to come.

Sure enough we turned into the quiet lanes paralleling the M4 and climbed the first of the notorious (notorious amongst a few knackered locals anyway) Boxford Alps. I misremembered this series of short climbs and was caught out by there being a 4th, still I was well on schedule for my 5hrs and the main thing now was to keep the aching legs turning rather than let that ‘it’s in the bag’ feeling be an excuse to relax.

We skirted Thatcham then more tailwind to assist most of the way back to Theale. Over Red Shute Hill, a last short climb just a couple of miles from the finish then an annoying 30 second wait to cross a busy road, we’d seen so little traffic all day this came as a bit of a shock. Into the finish to swipe my chip and collect a certificate saying 4:38:28 Bronze.
I felt more like I’d just ridden a hilly 200k audax than just half the distance for the rest of Sunday but all in all a great day out and one of the very few sportives that gives ALL the profit to charity.

Anthony Maynard Sportive

Well my first cylosportive didn’t quite go to plan. I was going well for the first stage despite rolling roads over the downs into a headwind. I had a good feed of banana, Nakd bar, nuts and squash at the 42k Hackpen checkpoint but decided to swap to the shorter 105k route as I was going to have to slow down a good bit if I was to complete the 190k. I reckoned I could finish the shorter route in the 5 hours required for a Bronze standard.

We swung east at Lambourn swapping the headwind for a mix of cross and tail and I was sailing along quite nicely splashing through the puddles feeling smug I’d put my mudguards back on. Several riders were fixing punctures and somewhere after Welford I felt my rim bumping and realised it was my turn. So there went my Bronze but never mind. I checked the cause of the puncture was no longer present and fitted my pare only to find a lot of pumping was getting me nowhere. I had punctured my only spare and was not feeling at all smug now.

Lucky for me well equipped AUK Jeff Ellingham appeared and lent me one of the two spares he was carrying and eventually I got going again. It took a good while to get back up to speed though and I eventually got to the finish in 5hr 28m which was not over impressive though I was pleased with my average rolling speed of 14.6mph.

I got an email in the evening from a friend who had packed on the 190k. ‘We were impressed with your certificate’ he said (I’d not bothered picking it up at the finish). ‘190k in 5:28 – if that’s what being veggie does for you I’m all for it!’ No one who knows me well will ever believe that that though so I thought I best confess 😉