Luke de Quay writes…
At 7.30 am, in the morning fog, I entered an eerily deserted cattle shed, complete with rusty milking machinery, to sign on and collect my number.
Arriving at the start line, after a short but steep warm up, I performed a quick under-layer removal with a minute to go, as I was already too warm. Someone pointed out Pete Tadros (the course record holder) to me, saying I could expect him to pass me at the base of the hill, and sure enough, within 5 miles, the man wearing a backwards facing cloth cap on his head, who started two minutes behind me, and must have descended like a bobsled, came past.
The middle of the course was LUMPY, and keeping up a good pace was difficult, but, spurred on by the idea that the sooner I finished, the sooner I could treat myself to a full English (I hadn’t considered café opening hours on a bank holiday, but that’s another story), I arrived back at Devils Dyke. Jettisoning my bottle near the HQ halfway up, I attacked the final climb and tried my best to smile as I passed Mike with his camera. Lots of room for improvement at 1.14.36 and 30th place, but at least the course was fun!
Some ramblers told me they were glad cyclists only took over their car park for this race once a year. Once a year is probably enough for the cyclists too…
Christian Yates rode an impressive 01:03:00 for 6th place overall, and 1st in his age group.
Pete Tadros (In-Gear Quickvit Trainsharp) set the fastest time with 00:57:30.
