Andfield BC are one of the oldest bike clubs in the World and their 100 mile TT is one of the oldest races in the World and a classic event. The start booklet arrived and showed just what a special event they put on, and also the history of it. Inside was a list of previous winners...going back to 1889! I knew it was renowned as a bit of a sporting course and sure enough the startsheet said it was a SPOCO counting event
.George was a gent and offered to drive us up in his van, setting off earlier than expected on Sunday morning. We were helping out at an ECCA 25 on Sunday before going on to Shropshire for an overnight stay near the Anfield 100 HQ, for some reason we'd thought the ECCA was an afternoon event so was a bit of a shock to have such an early start. Poured with rain throughout that race so glad ours was the next day.
On arriving at Shawbury we drove a lap of the course to suss it out. It didn't look too bad, albeit a bit rolling and draggy, but you can't really tell a course from a vehicle compared to riding it as I found out on Monday. Travelodge, pub dinner, and an early night.
The day of the race and thankfully dry, a bit chilly early doors and a bit blowy - northerly. The course is all single carriageway and very quiet, hardly saw a car all day. It heads north for a bit then north west on a rolling section to a turn at Prees Heath, back and then a little out and back before heading south on the A53 to Shawbury. You reach here at 31.6 miles to start a 17.5 mile circuit which you do just under four times. It was a sort or triangle shape on B road and quiet A road (A442) back to Epsley and then left back to complete the loop. The circuit had a couple of small kicks and some drags and rolls but the tough bit was on the A442, a 6.2 mile stretch in to a headwind. Four times bashing in to this wind was tough going.
I'd set a target of 4h30m for a PB and had some times stuck on my stem to monitor progress. I set off 5 minutes behind Paul with George 7 minutes behind me. I started quite well and got up to and was holding my schedule. The rolls to Prees Heath meant using a number of the gears with the headwind to the turn but not too bad and once heading south to the start of the circuit I was rolling along quite nicely, although I needed a pee
. George caught me at about 18 miles and was flying along, I caught Paul at about 25 miles and once I'd turned on to the circuit realised I'd have to stop as I couldn't hold off going to the loo, not for another 65 miles anyway! I've never needed to stop in the two 100s I've done before, and you shouldn't need to, but I'd been concentrating on drinking steadily from the start to get the carbs in. Problem was that with it being a bit cool I wasn't sweating out the liquid. A quick "hedge" lost me a couple of minutes but was necessary.On the circuit I wasn't enjoying seeing a big (6ft+) dog as this was a statue by a kennels which signalled the start of a nasty little out the saddle kick up which then dragged around the corner. Not long but got harder as the race went on. The toughest bit by a long way was the 6+ mile slog in to the headwind which got harder and harder. I'd seen my time slipping and going further and further from the 4h30m target but tried to keep it above my 4h39m PB. My legs felt okay but I was having a few back problems and having to stretch it out now and again from about 70 miles on. Never had this before so must have lost some core strength.
Hitting the last circuit I switched my computer to distance and calculated the time I needed to get round in and tried to keep the speed up as much as possible. I managed this well until the turn on to the A442 but the headwind was pulling the speed down. Final turn and the fast run for the finish, I was hammering it along here ignoring the backache and just hammering round a big gear. I flew past a couple of people really suffering and saw 100 miles click over on the computer...where's the bloody finish!
Kept going and eventually it came in to sight and I crossed the line in 4h40 so missed the PB. My computer had nearly 101 miles on it and George's garmin had about 100.6 I think so a slightly long course. To be fair this is sometimes needed to have the start and finish in safe places and is only annoying when you just miss a PB. Shame I needed a pee really
.Back to the van and George was enjoying a big piece of cake and grinning having enjoyed his race, he'd done a 4h08 which is 13m off his PB so I'm pleased with my ride as George is in amazing form and got 9th place and only 5 riders under 4 hours on this tough course - I think it's similar in toughness to the SCCU 100, the circuit is less lumpy than the SCCU but you don't hit that until 65 miles whereas this course you hit it at 32 miles. Add in the headwind and it made for a tough race, so I'm happy. 100s are absolute killers anyway, trying to maintain as high as possible race pace for that long and keeping the drink/gel/food intake. I got through 3 600ml bottles, 5 gels and an energy bar. New skinsuit with pockets makes it a lot easier even if you have to sit bolt upright and grope about to get to the pockets.
Paul is out of form and hasn't been doing much riding of late, and he's only done a couple of shorter races so George and I were grateful that he rode the distance to give us a complete team, particularly as he'd forgotten he'd agreed to do it and only remembered last week
.A big thanks to George for all that driving and to both him and Paul for joining me in this trip to ride a classic. It is a great event and every turn didn't have a marshal, it had a group of 5 or 6 all offering support and encouragement. They also set up a feed station for unsupported riders which was a very slick operation. Although we all rode unsupported I just attached the extra bottles behind the saddle, George and Paul left a bottle there for an emergency but didn't need it. I expect it was very welcome by some though. There were also various supporters and helpers around the circuit who gave a shout / clap.
1 Richard Handley Rapha Condor Sharp 03:46:08
2 Andy Bason Team Pedal Revolution 03:50:35
3 Jonathan Shubert High Wycombe CC 03:51:54
4 Tony Greenhalgh Wheelbase/MGD 03:59:38
5 Nigel Haigh Sportscover-Altura RT 03:59:58
6 Roy Sumner Port Sunlight Whlrs 04:06:29
7 Neil Skellern Team Swift 04:06:29
8 Daniel Mathers Seamons CC 04:06:51
9 George Brent Addiscombe CC 04:08:24
10 Dave Fearon Weaver Valley CC 04:08:40
41 Andrew Green Addiscombe CC 04:40:27
72 Paul Tunnell Addiscombe CC 05:21:31
84 finishers so I'm happy to be in the top half which is about where I'd expect to be in a 100, I've only done 3 now and all on sporting courses. I'm continually amazed by the times top riders do for this distance, a quick 10 is impressive but being able to maintain such high speeds for 100 miles I find simply staggering.
Some pictures here from Paul of bombproofdog.com:
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[url=http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy73/pantspaddler/anfield100/?action=view¤t=anfield100057.jpg]George[/url]
[url=http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy73/pantspaddler/anfield100/?action=view¤t=anfield100125.jpg]George[/url]
[url=http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy73/pantspaddler/anfield100/?action=view¤t=anfield100079.jpg]Me[/url]
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