Climb On Bikes held their annual “Spring Challenge” reliability ride, but this time with a change of venue, starting from Holme Lacy Village Hall. After signing on, I quickly (and sensibly) changed from knee warmers to leg warmers as the temp gauge was reading just 3 degrees!
Several additional layers later we started the ride just after 9am, myself and 4 other Climb On Bikes riders (incl. Taylor Senior) headed towards Woolhope via Fownhope, at a steady pace but managing to overtake earlier starters. A hard hilly start was followed by some nice twisty decents, just before Much Marcle we overtook the Mason family (good to see Luke back in action) and had the option to take the short route or continue with the long route.
From Much Marcle we headed along undulating roads towards Kempley, passing other riders all the time the 5 of us kept together and worked as a team, we were unfortunate to hit the lights at Lea. At this point we came into contact with another rider in a short sleeve jersey and shorts too, crazy! But who was he? None other than Couriers’ own Dave “Turbo” Williams! A long gruelling climb followed towards Upton Bishop, Dave tried to keep with our group but was unable too, we had problems of own as our group had fractured, Dad stormed away on the hills (I still can’t beat him at anything!) with another rider, I found myself in no mans land, having dropped the other two just before Upton Bishop and had built a reasonable gap before descending into How Caple. Still overtaking riders, as the short route re joined with the long route, we followed the River along from Hoarwithy and eventually turned towards Wormelow and Kingsthorne from there. With a few miles left I was overtaken by a group of Ludlow Riders who we had previously passed earlier en route while they were repairing a puncture.
2584 calouries burnt (which is the same amount Kevin Barnes has for breakfast), the 48 mile route had taken 2hrs 51mins, only 4 mins slower than Dad, and also like Kev, I headed straight for the cakes. Cakes eaten, coffees drank, stories spoken, clothes changed, bikes away and ready to leave…Dave Williams finishes the route. 148 riders turned out for the event and a big well done to Turbo on what was a tough course!
My attention now turns towards the Hereford Duathlon.
The Figures:
Distance – 48miles
Elevation Gained – 3092 ft
Average Speed – 16.8mph
Average Cadence – 85rpm
Average Heart Rate – 150bpm (that’s zone 4.1 and 81% of my max HR)
Eliot #
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