Heady Heights - Gold at last

Sunday 13 May - this is the day I officially joined the Caravan Club of Great Britain. It was also the day of the SWRC May Flyer Sportive. The second sportive in two weeks and another training event for this summer's Etape Du Tour. This was a club (SWRC) organised event - and the number of Club jerseys present was notably higher than in previous sportives I have attended.

The pace from the outset was blistering as the Club riders pulled us through the first 34 miles to the feed station in less than one hour forty five minutes, hence my initiation to the Caravan Club. Shamelessly loitering at the back of the bunch - marvelling at the speed one can reach with such little effort when riding in a group.
 

For me - these are valuable lessons of the Sportive. It's hard to appreciate the full effect of group riding - and the skill and technique involved until it has been experienced first-hand. The Club riders had a signalling and communication method of their own, passed down through generations of riders and it wasn't long before the rest of us week-end warriors among started to adopt these methods, and contributing to the effort.
 

Soon - my own shameless loitering at the rear was repaid - in spades - as I moved to the front and pulled the bunch to join another group of riders. The feeling of a job well-done as we caught and then left the earlier group.
 

The hills and wind seemed to split the bunch and at the second feed station at 73 miles - some much needed chocolate cake was taken on board. Not much time to stop though - my objective was to make a gold time (less than 6 hours for my age group) and I did not want to be looking at a bronze or silver on Monday morning regretting the frittered seconds and minutes tucking in to the best chocolate brownies in the World and enjoying the banter.
 

My Garmin had been misplaced -and without my usual instrumentation - I felt nervous, unable to gauge just where I was in terms of objectives. Ewhurst (Cranleigh) at Seventy Miles and Coombe Lane at Eighty Miles loomed large in my mind - but these are excellent challenges for tired legs - especially for the Etape. The climbs were tough - and made for a good deviation from the usual Barhatch Lane/Leith Hill combo that Sportives in this area tend to favour.
Loose gravel at Shere made the road rash on my legs from last weeks Sportive tingle nervously - and the last five miles seemed to drag. I put my head down and gave the remaining miles everything. The effort was not in vain - as the published results show a time of 05:35:29, a gold time for an old boy.

A week of wet commuting, a birthday and the Wiggle Ups and Downs awaits.