06:30: - A great start; I arrived at the pickup point at Taupont on time (unlike last year) – hooray!
It was an ominously dark and overcast morning. The weather forecast was not promising and I was really not looking forward to my second Cyclosportive of the year. Despite all the races I’ve done so far, I felt decidedly underprepared for the event. I nearly pulled out, but I’d already paid the entry fee and I am mean. So, there I was in the back seat of the car together with club-mates Ian, Daniel and Vincent, in the false-dawn light on the way to Plouay.
We arrived in plenty of time for start-time of 08:45, but when we signed in we were told that the start of our race was 08:15! A mad dash back to the car followed to don race kit, no time to check tyre pressures; then a mad sprint back to the start line in time to join on the back of the 300-odd starters. A couple of minutes waiting and we were off.
We were so far back that it took us an age to finally move past the start line. It was a bit like the beginning of the London Marathon, but I guess it was our fault for taking our time to get to the start.
0-80 kms: We hit a long hill almost immediately and Ian pulled away from me and was soon lost from sight. I managed to join with a large group of my peers and we motored through the Brittany countryside at a relatively brisk pace (around 33kph) for the next 80kms.
We got lucky with the weather apart from the heavy mist that cloaked us for the first hour. Visibility became so bad at one stage that I had to remove my sunglasses; they had become opaque with beads of moisture.
The 61kms riders split off from us at about the 40kms mark and our group carried on without incident. I struggled a little on the climbs, but moved to the front on the descents and stayed at the front on the flats. Hill after hill passed by and I managed to stay with the group (of about 40) will little alarm. I felt stronger, and more confident as the race progressed.
I can’t remember when the 90kms riders split off, but my group was still going strong. We had about 40kms to go and were clipping along at around 32.5kph when we were joined by a slip of a woman who attached herself to us.
Much to my surprise, it was the Jersey lass (Carole Knight), who I’d crossed the finishing line with in 2010. Wow, she must have had a great winter’s training. I felt that I was flying along and we’d only just caught her at about 75kms. We chatted pleasantly for a couple of kilometres until we came to a fast descent and I dropped her quite quickly before she caught me again on the next climb. She is a tiny woman and can’t have pushed the scales much beyond 50kgs, great for climbing, but not for descents. We carried on like this for a few more kilometres before my minor disaster struck!
80-117kms: We were about half-way up a minor climb and I had my head down concentrating on the wheel in front when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a yellow-jacketed marshal pointing right. So I turned right. It was only during the turn that I noticed the 161kms bifurcation sign - I had turned onto the route of the long course – Damn!
I made an emergency stop and u-turn but by the time I returned to the 117kms route I’d lost my group. I could see them cresting the top of the rise about 100 metres away – my heart sank. Just then I heard the unmistakeable sound of cyclists crashing to the deck. I reflexively looked back in time to see a couple of riders regaining their seats and off I went in an angry, but steady chase for my fast disappearing group.
I was soon joined by the two crashed riders, one of them a woman (Valerie Sapena), and we began working together in a steady, but ultimately hopeless for the group ahead. We soon swept up a group of riders in yellow and hoped they’d help us with the chase but they just sucked our wheels for the next 10kms or so much to my disgust. It was only later that I noticed the guys in yellow were all over sixty; their venerability meant that they were due a bit of respect and a rest at my expense.
I began feeling more and more leg-weary by this stage because, in all honesty, I’d done most of the work during our forlorn chase.
With 10kms to go we’d just about given up the cause when we were caught by a large group of guys who whipped past us at pace. With relief Valerie and I took our turn to grab a free ride. Breathing hard, I managed to say “Rescue” to her. She nodded and smiled at me before digging in as the next climb hit us. I managed to stay attached but was dropped on the next long hill; my legs were cooked after all the work I’d done on the chase.
Gutted, I more or less limped the final 5kms to the finish and could only manage a half-hearted sprint across the line which took me past a few riders, most of whom were probably in the other, shorter races.
I was bitterly disappointed to note that my average speed was actually slower than last year – my first real failure of the year. What do I have to do to improve? No, don’t bother to answer that one, I know.
The group we were chasing finished about 5 minutes ahead and contained Carole from Jersey, who finished as 3rd female rider – and bloody good for her too.
| Race distance – 117 kms | Total number of competitors – 288 | |||
| Name | Time/Average Speed | Race Position | Percentile | Comments |
| Ian | 3:33:04 32.95 kph (20.6 mph) | 142nd | 49% | No cramp this year, but like me, he started at the back of the group so lost a couple of minutes on the leaders. Came 59th in is age group (67%) |
| Me | 3:49:12 30.6 kph (19.1 mph) | 198st | 69% | I finished 34 in my age group out of 49 (69%). Not as good as last year, but then again, I didn’t take the wrong turn last year did I? |
| Daniel | - | - | - | His name does not appear on the results list, must be a cock-up on the time recording front. |
| Vincent | - | - | - | He completed the 90kms race on his heavyweight ‘tank’ of a bike – no results are available. |
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