Puncheur Challenge

[Marek]

Got up nice and early this morning and cycled the 20 miles from East Grinstead down to Ditchling Village to do the 65 mile draggy course. Met up with Keith at the start and after signing on and getting our timing chips and bag of dried fruits, including some nice chewy mango, we set off at a nice gentle pace. The gentle pace must have lasted I would say at least 800 metres and impatient old Keith decided to come to the front and wind things up to race pace. Here we go I thought, a couple of other guys tagged on and Keith and I were doing turns at a good swift pace.

After a few km the other two riders that were with us let us go on one of the longer drags, I was now left with Keith on my own, yikes nowhere to hide. The route takes in some of the more scenic roads around the South East with some great views of the Ardingly and Weirwood Reservoirs and also had a fantastic view of a viaduct which I could just about see through my sweat stained sunglasses. Thankfully most of the climbs on the route are at a relatively low gradient with the exception of the hill that comes back up from Weirwood Reservoir back over towards East Grinstead. This is quite a steep little climb, but the halfway feedstation is not far from here so keeps the motivation up. I managed to keep doing my pulls until we reached Ashdown Forest where my legs decided that they needed a bit of a break. I managed to stick with Keith until the steep climb at Weirwood where he found someone else to play with and they soon disappeared out of sight. It was not far to the feed from here and again I hooked back up with Keith. At the feed we had also caught up with Huw and Paul on a Pearson.

The feed station was stocked with good quality stuff, SIS drink, bananas and plenty of bars of different descriptions. I grabbed a few bits and got going straight away with a good little group including Keith, Huw and Paul. The first climb from here is the long climb up to Turners Hill which we took at a nice steady pace being set by Huw. But yes, you guessed it who should come whizzing past just towards the top is Keith and his strong buddy. These two went off the front and Huw went with them, so I decided to hop over and try to stay with them for a bit longer.

Keith was doing some great turns on the front, his buddy was coming through now and then but was not much help as he kept of sprinting off the front, very annoying. After taking some nice lanes in around Ardingly we reached a long draggy climb with a beautiful viaduct on the left. This is where Huw and Keith left me struggling on my own. I took it easy for a while and then within a few miles I got caught up by a nice little group which had Paul on the Pearson in it. I latched on and started to feel a bit better, took a couple of gels and soon was feeling a bit better. It was not long before we got caught by a bunch of fast looking guys on some nice machinery so I tucked in behind and thought I may as well try to stick with them. Thankfully I had enough in the tank and got a great swift tow all the way to the bottom of Ditchling Beacon. I then even managed to get up the final hill before two of the guys that were in this group, not bad for a flatlander like me.

The signposting on the route was very good, lots of clear arrows and also once you had gone past an arrow there was normally a orange streamer in the tree to let you know you had taken the correct turn. On the tricky descents you had signs warning you of upcoming tight turns and the car drivers even had signs on the Beacon thanking them for their patience when having to sit behind slow cyclists.

Got my time check at the finish line, great to be given a receipt with your time on it straight away, 3 hours 42 mins. Then a descent down to the HQ for a bit of refreshment. Now, how many Sportives have you been to where you are offered a round of applause as you enter the canteen. You are then seated and a young chap came over asked if I would like a bowl of pasta. I was then offered a cup of coffee which was milk and sugared for me. I was then offered a bag of cashews and a chocolate brownie. I aint kidding when I say that this was better service than you would get in some of the finest restaurants in London. Everyone was very friendly and I left with a big smile on my face. Great event, well done to the organisers.

Cheers

Marek....