Completed this nasty piece of work yesterday and I must say it was a fantastic ride!
Organised by Ride it events and Evans cycles, it was planned and run to perfection.
Brilliantly signposted, good facilities, 3 food stops, goodie bags, gels and stuff on sign up, plenty of water stops. Pasta on finish and helmet tag timing. Best of all 2 of the best climbs in Britain (I think), one of the best descents in Britain, and scenery and views that were mind blowingly awesome.
The day was predicted to be absolutely horrendous with rain from 8am-4pm.
However on arrival for registration the sun was peeping through the yorkshire clouds.
Registration was simple, you were handed a map (one or two depending on whether you were doing the long - 101 mile - or the short - 56 mile - route), a wee thing of isotonic water tablets for sweat loss replacement, two gels and a chewy bar thing.
You also got a free breakfast and tea/coffee/juice which was a really nice touch.
People were setting off in groups every 5 minutes from 7:30. We put our bikes together, visited the toilets, which had plenty of paper, and set off around 8:20.
the route map is here: Google map
The route profile is here: First half
Second half
I was riding with a guy training to be a ironman triathlete, Bruce, and an old buddy Nick, who ride with a road club in Newbury. It quickly became apparent over the first 30-50 miles that my training over the past weeks has actually paid off as I stormed up the hills fairly easily, myself and bruce sometimes chatting most of the way up until it became too steep to speak. Not saying it was easy but at no point was I totally scuppered. Could have done with a slightly bigger ring on the back though - the 12-29 wasn't cutting it!
First food stop at 35 miles was great. Flapjack, banana, carbo drink, water, nuts, sweets, gels, energy bars. Plus a mechanic and pump in case of issues.
All went well with a storming ride into the 63 mile food stop just as the rain started... and continued. The next climb was a category 3 followed by a cat 4 and MY WORD was it tough. My knee had started hurting at about mile 55 so I was a bit worried about climbing however it seemed to hold out. That climb though - we just seemed to go forever. Somewhere around here me and Bruce dropped Nick and didn't see him again till the end but by this point everyone has to ride their own pace. He understood - there are not many big hills down south.
A few more hills and some hair raising descents followed - I got up to 49mph at one point and on several you had to break so hard going around a 20% hairpin that your arms and shoulders were screaming.
By mile 90 my knee was absolutely stabbing with pain, but I rode on because I'm not going to quit at mile 90! We stormed into the finish and despite a 5 minute puncture stop from bruce, we managed the whole thing in 6:40 riding time, 7:10 with stops.
Was a brilliant ride. Well organised, great climbs and descents and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a challenging 100 miles (there are plenty of racers who are VERY fast), or an introduction to 100 mile riding. Atmosphere was GREAT and some good camaraderie.
I was fairly pleased that frankly apart from a little bit of cramp in my left calf and my right knee being very sore, I wasn't that tired. Certainly the hills by mile 80 were getting tough but the flats and up/downs we were still covering at 18-20mph plus. Need to figure out what caused the knee, think it was the insole I put in my CF racing shoes from my CX shoes. Didn't work somehow.
Anyway - apologies for length.
TL:DR Pennines, sun, hills, rain, descents, food, good, try it.
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