Springtime Classic 4 years older 9 mins slower

[Marek]

A good early season Sportive to blow away the cobwebs. Got to the HQ in Burgess Hill at about 8am to sign on and get our numbers. All very easy to sort and you get a dangly thing to wear around your neck which you have to punch in on furtherst part of the route. 3 distance rides on this one, I did the longest the Classic which is 71 miles. The course starts off gently rolling, before heading out into the hills around Ashdown Forest. I set off with one of my buddies but I was after a quick time, so dropped him in the first few km as I was hitting it hard due to the flattish terrrain. We had purposefully let about 100 or so riders go out ahead of us as this is a good way to keep motivated as you are always catching riders.

The first hills you get to are the ones around Danehill not too challenging but just longish drags more than anything else. Hit them quite hard before you get to an area where there is a ford that you ride through and then the road goes upwards very fast. This is a steep one to start with and quite tough at first as wet wheels from the ford. After the steep section it then levels off a bit but does keep on going up for some time. At top you turn right and you on the road towards Wych Cross and then you have a fantastic descent down to the Hatch pub in Ashdown Forest. Then you hit the big one, Kidds Hill. I was picking a few people off on here but was not going eyeballs out on the hills as it is quite a tough ride and there are some killers later on.

Got a passenger briefly along the top of the Forest but then lost him on the long descent down towards Groombridge Area and the old Ladies Mile race circuit, great fun descent, go down for ages. Then up the Groombridge Hill which starts off quite steep and then levels off a bit. It is then through the lanes around Penshurst and into Hever where you have a checkpoint. This is halfway and I had just caught up with the first rider to get to the checkpoint. I filled up a bottle but he went on ahead so I had someone to chase. Out of Hever and then you have a long climb, I could not see the other rider. Then we turned towards Hartfield and a good descent then rolling road into Hartfield. In Hartfield I could see I was gaining on the first rider on the road, we were now mixed back up with the shorter route riders but I had him in my sights. As we left Hartfield towards Forest Row there is a bit of a rise and the other guy started to fade a bit and I went past him quite quickly, I thought he may jump on but he must have been pretty tired as he was nowhere to be seen by the time i hit Forest Row.

Out of Forest Row there is a long climb up towards Sharpthorne, pretty long and quite tough. I took it pretty easy up here as this was the precursor to the horror of the ride. Through a long dodgy back lane after Sharpthorne and you hit Cob Lane, this is a 25%er and is a horror at around 60 miles into the ride. I was in my lowest gear, got out of the saddle on the steepest section and felt my right thigh start to cramp, sat straight back down and just eased myself over the climb, there were a lot of people walking.

Through Ardingly and then right and around the back towards the Ardingly reservoir. This road is a bitch, it is constant up and down and the ups are pretty steep in places. Again quite a few people walking as is pretty tough along here. Now into the final part, had one climb up from Staplefield and I was starting to get back into a better rhythm and I had my eye on the clock. I had set the fastest time on this course in 2009 and it has yet to be beaten and was keen to try and get close or under it. At 5km to go I hit my 2009 time, next target was to go under 4 hrs. Managed to get my head down and hammer the last section, got the the finish line and I was hurrying the timer guy to swipe my tag, got my timer thing swiped just in time, 3.59.29.

I did it, managed to get under 4hrs. Nice cuppa, tuna sandwich and a packet of crisps and started to feel a bit better. Had a bit of a coughing fit whilst queuing for the sandwich, the warm air in the hall having its impact, the girl behind the counter said I thought cycling was meant to be good for you.

Pretty pleased with the time, only rider to go under 4 hrs on the day, next best rider was almost 9 mins behind. I think the wind on the early section put paid to really fast times today.

Cheers

Marek.....
http://results.sportident.co.uk/home/ev ... bile=false

[Toks]

Hey Marek, thats a bloody excelllent result. If this is you in March with not much Road Race training then you gott keep it going and do some racing in the summer. I noticed some impressive result from forty somethings and fifty something blokes - well done the Oldie but Goodies