After last week's sportive Billy and I decided on Tuesday to enter the Velo29 Daffodil Sportive. We chose the long route, it only had about a thousand feet more elevation and was 11 miles longer than the middle route. The short route was only 35 miles.
The long route is 88 miles long with 5 1/2 thousand ft of elevation taking in Blakey Bank , now I am not a great climber but thought I'd give it a go.
Saturday soon came round and I was anxious that I wouldn't ge round in the 9 hours allowed, that would mean I would need to cycle at an average of 11 miles an hour. Sounds ok but is a hilly route.
Billy said we would do it together. I knew I would hold him back but he said it was ok.
We arrived at the Auction Centre in Thirsk registered and prepped our bikes. We saw Victoria, she was riding with her friend Mick, Paul, and old friend Hayley who we did Ironman UK 2015 ( she was doing the short route).
The start was. 8 am to 9 am and everyone had to be back by 5 pm, we were going at 8 am to give us as long as possible. We lined up in front of the gantry, we couldn't hear the briefing, hope there was no major changes or issues. The crowd of riders moved forward slowly as we had our helmet timing chips zapped. We looked over and saw Rob and Dave, they would be doing the medium.
We crossed the start line and set off, the route was well sign posted and we were soon leaving thirsk and headed for the A19. There were motorcycle officials to monitor our crossing of this busy road. We crossed and were on route for Kilburn. The route was best described as rolling, quiet country roads. I was getting up the hills slowly and constantly being passed by a steady stream of faster riders. I kept in Billy's slipstream where possible on the flatter ground, but could not keep up o the hills, he would wait at the top. In Kildale a left turn sent us up a short steeper hill, I got my gears wrong, people were stopping ahead and getting off to walk, there was no way past as the faster riders rode easily past. i struggled on, got my gears right and slowly climbed to where Billy waited. The following downhill was not very nice, it was rough track so I didn't dare go too quick, but soon we were rolling along together again. The weather was cool but bright and it was lovely exploring new countryside.
I rode hard trying not to hold Billy up too much, I slowly climbed the hills and tried not to be bothered as others passed. There was a point when we were riding in a small group for a while that was nice.
around 30 miles in we started to climb bigger steeper hills and there were some steep descents too. The weather changed and it started to sleet. shorts didn't seem like such a good idea now. Fortunately the shower did not last long and we descended into Church Houses and the first feed station. We stopped because I need the loo, so we had a bite to eat, the flapjack and sausage rolls were amazing.
After a couple of mouthfuls of coffee we set off again. The feed station was at the bottom of the biggest climb of the day, No 148 of the big cycling climbs in the UK, Blakey Bank.
Now I had been dreading this from the start but was also eager to get it over and done with. No lies it was steep, a couple of 20% sections, one lasting about 200m. I slowly and steadily set off, and I mean slowly, but when I stood the back wheel had little purchase so seated was the way forward. I was passed by Stephen from Bedale Cycling Club, he made it look so easy and I looked up to see Billy almost at the top. I was almost at the top of the longest steepest section when I lost concentration and ended up on the rough verge, I unclipped, put my foot down and ant put the bike back on the road, It was too steep for me to set off here so I got off and walked a few steps, berating myself for my stupidity cos now I had failed to cycle it all, as the road levelled a bit I got back on and continued riding to the top.
We then headed for lower ground, crossing the main Scarborough road and heading towards Malton. There were lots of Yorkshire flags and blue and yellow bunting as the Tour de Yorkshire would be passing through the area next weekend. The land was rolling and the going fast, we stopping in Hovingham for the last feed station, Mmm! Flapjack and a Sausage Roll, before heading for home.
The hills were not as severe now but I was tiring, Billy and I took turns to draft each other and the miles rolled by. We were soon back on familiar ground, the White Horse dominated the horizon now and i knew we were nearly back in Thirsk.
The A19 crossing was unusually clear and we were into the last 5 miles, slowed by the recently chipped road, but not for long, we joined some other cyclists for the final ride into the Auction Centre. I was very relieved to get off the bike.
I had thought i would need every minute of the available 9 hours, but team work with billy had meant we had completed the 88 miles in 6:38:20.
We got a sausage sandwich, our medal and buffs, for finishing and sat with Rob, Victoria, Mick Dave and Trogg, for a catch up before heading home.
