My own ride was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that (Dr) Jeff Jones (Chippenham & Dist) managed to fluke the competition record by three miles 305.51miles so my own five mile breaking of club record (my own) with 281.63 (23.46mph Av.) was lost in the excitement. This was the event that was cancelled at 200 miles last year when I was leading and the rider that pushed me that day Nick English (AW Cycles) was again present so with BBAR contender Jeff Jones and Steve Berry (San Fairy Ann) and local favourite Dave Green (RAF) we had quality in the 31 man (and one woman) field. We had to compete with the National Championship taking on the other side of the country (Shropshire/Cheshire) the winner of that race (and champion) with 302.75 miles Andy Bason (Pedal Rev) would have made claim to the record had he not finished half an hour later than Dr Jones at 6.30 in the evening because he had also broken the old record which stood to Andy Wilkinson at 302.46 miles.
There is nothing that can prepare you for getting up before light, scooping up a meal of prepared meal of fruit and cereal and trying to get your body active enough to start a race just as the day is starting, you just have to be as prepared as possible so a little light sleep is possible in a hot hotel room (with helpers) and little bonuses like securing the room at the back of the building come a long way down the list of worries that begin with miles and miles of preparation and racing, and praying for the right conditions. Last year I felt those conditions were pretty perfect on East Anglian roads that are notorious as a graveyard for sporting performance and yet here I was again willing to risk a second dose of pain against judgement of the gods for a second chance at that elusive target I had set myself, the 280 mile 12 hour. Just over 30 riders have achieved this feat, mostly young men in their prime not riders entering their fifth decade
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| Going with the flow |
Brother Alan rode up from South London to be chief helper the week before his own marathon ride and a last chance to make sure man and machine were ready for the Paris-Brest-Paris which he plans to complete in 80 hours with fellow club man Paul ("Show me the mileage") Alderson who plans to do the ride in 20 hours less! We had a picnic on the same spot, re enacting our preparation last year in the hope that it would be lucky or at least reveal to us some notion of justice that had been denied last year. When the preparation is done all that is left is faith and belief and where that fails in the twilight hours we pray, pray for good luck and good weather, selfish as it may seem I become the centre of my world, athletes are at the best of times egocentric but here at the alter of an important event we are stuck in purgatory between the unknown and the possible, sleep is impossible and so we hope
Fiona and I drive to the start in the dark, Alan has to ride, no room in the car (2 x bikes, 5 x wheels, tools, food, drink, more food, more drink, everything for every eventually for a day camped at the side of the A14 between Thetford and Norwich. The Eccles road interchange at Attleborough is common to the two main DC loops of the ride one ten miles up and one ten miles down so the helpers are gathered here for 9 hours of the ride and it becomes an impromptu cycling festival with chairs and tables of food and drink to keep everybody (riders & helpers) going for the day
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| Nick English (AW Cycles) |
There is a mad dash to get ready for the off, more than a normal race and with a car full of stuff to wade through (and then repack) but I'm on my way at 6.20 so all I have to do is go as far as I can on these roads before 18.20 that evening. The roads are damp from the dew, the air is fresh and clean out here in the Suffolk lanes only the fields of early cropped wheat because of the good weather at the start of the year. But what would today bring? There was a bit headwind from the West and after the first 25 miles (59:51) and I have caught half a dozen riders. Next we had a 20 mile pull into the stiffening breeze the full length of the course from Browick interchange to the Croxted (Jct) big flags billow and little flags flap maddenly fast but it feels good to be going now everything else I can put behind me, it has not got tough yet but there is plenty of time. This second 25 takes me 1:03:27 and by the time I saw my helpers for the first time at 50m I was over 3 minutes down on last years schedhule, not a good start but I take my first food of the day, a banana. I rallied over the next 75m (1:00:49) (1:00:49) and (1:01:49) bringing me almost level, then we had the payback for the early hard section and as we swapped circuits we had a 20m wind assisted section which saw my fastest split of the day (58:28) this was a great fillip and put me up for the first time. Jeff Jones meanwhile had caught me for 10 min at 75m going very strong but only just behind him (on time) was Steve Berry one of the early starters going away from me. Nick English my 5 minute man caught me on the downwind section at 120m we exchanged a nod and a smile, this is what we had come to do, grim as it may seem the draw of competition with others and the elements but more importantly ourselves makes the half day race the ultimate racing puzzle, to pitch your ride with all the conditions to space it over those twelve hours, everybody has bad patches, doubts themselves and then with determination and sheer willpower you come across the plains of self doubt the wilderness of suffering over the middle stages and a dim light appears in the distance , and your moral begins to rise and you can see the end and when you can see a personnel goal achieved it is the feeling of pure nectar itself
Here in the race we are coming to half way 150m (6:05:54) over 4m up on what I thought last year was an amazing ride so by the time I got to 180m with 4:36 remaining I felt sure I could relax a bit and here it nearly went wrong, I decided to stop, mainly to have a p*** as I had been needing one for the last four hours, in fact since I had a p*** on the move at 30m when I should have gone at the start but in all the rush I forgot and then as soon as I was on the road I got that 'full' feeling down there which to be honest stayed with me for the whole day, not a pleasant feeling. The toes on my right foot had been gradually going to sleep, something I have had in the past, this year I even started with no overshoes so I could adjust my (Velcro) straps but nothing seemed to make it better
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| New Record Holder - Jeff Jones |
So 200 mile a good place to stop (1:03:57) and 8:14 when i stopped I got my shoe off and sprayed my toes with 'freeze' spray. My helpers knew I was going to stop and had things prepared but its the things that had been annoying the noisy chain ("Alan give that chain a spray with silicone") load up the bottle and gels and ("Fiona give that visor a clean") and in all the industry and activity I FORGOT TO HAVE A B****** P*** so I was on my way and before I could think about it I had that 'full' feeling again. Never mind do another lap, no panic, at this stage I would do 285 with only 22mph I calculated and I was at just under 24mph for the race so all seemed fine so long as I did not puncture or get lost on route to the finishing circuit (we never got there last year remember so still a few unknowns to conquer, for the twelve hour what you need is repetition and certainty, take all the variables out of the equation, when you are on the limit, your brain does not function properly and the anxiety of the night before can come back to haunt you.
I stop the next lap and taking a p***, It takes ages to get going when your bladder has been treated like its had a massage from Joe Pecci, it's all manner of sports drink (SIS, coffee, cola) but its always Gatoraid coming out. "Do you think the people there know that and think it's a problem"? I have only had two bananas two hot cross buns to date with chocolate (and yes banana) so the inside of my skin suit looks like a dirty protest has taken place but what else do you do with the wrappers? The rest has all been gels, I save up the first caffeine one for over 100 miles and its what taking mainline heroin and speedball crack at the same time must feel like (Why would I know?) It smooths out all the edges off your riding style, my RPM to this point has been 90 a bit down on what it would be for shorter distances but I cannot allow myself to 'plough' along in a big gear as cramp creeps up on the ununwary and then it's difficult to shake off. From 120m Steve Berry's wonder ride began to slide, but it was he going slower not me speeding up, he was slowing at a greater rate and that is where the danger lies, the steeper the decline, the harder to arrest and the further away the finish seems, he was having problems with cramp, Nick English was closing in on him after a modest start, his power meter was telling him he could take second spot, Jeff Jones out in front just seemed so strong for only his second outing in the event he was putting a canny ride to go with the extra speed he has found this year.
225 miles (1:04:25) comes with better posture but these past few hours in the heat of the day on concrete roads leave one half baked to go with the exhaustion but there is still a way to go, we leave the A14 at 236 miles and ride the four miles to join the 12 mile finish circuit, I had almost exactly two hours to ride. I had no knowledge of how long I had stopped for, making two stops had complicated matters but I only have to keep above 20mph all the way to the finish to attain my target, it would be close but surely I ride my bike to work faster than that and regularly do intervals well above on hilly roads, but that is not to take the ten hours of punishment metered out to the body already, the first hurdle is to 'manage' the change from DC roads to the undulating B roads that punish with their variety in effort and tempo, it takes a lap before I am comfortable but I have to take on more food (another bun) that goes down greedily where the others had to be forced down as I find I am hungry. I take extra drink from a friend (thanks Peter!) who whips a bottle out of his van as I wave an empty at him.
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| Steve Berry (San Fairy Ann) |
250 miles (1:09:05) and the slowdown had been dramatic, I still had a few minutes over the 1 1/2 hours in hand (I thought) but it was that close I could not afford to ease up, I usually 'come around' a bit and have a final flourish but today I seem to have left it all my efforts on the DC, no matter what I do there is no style in my riding, it is rough, urgent and ugly, the timekeepers every mile come and go and I even catch a few riders but when the next 25 miles comes up (1:12:09) its a bit of a shock 275 and only just over 15 minutes to make my play. I have done the up wind side of the course through the HQ at Scoulton and thankfully the heat has gone and we are among trees. I complete my third lap and go on to Hingham Green where Alan and Fiona are waiting, my time has come and gone, I'm sure I'm there and its good to get a provisional result a good half mile over. With Jeff Jones breaking Competition record with 305.691 the course will be re measured and officials will go over the data with a fine tooth comb, they may make some adjustments which will not affect the record but I could loose my 280 but for now its a Club Record and a PB, a good effort, quite an achievement and payback for last year. Nick English has moved on to 2nd with 290.095 and Steve Berry held on to beat me for third 284.604, I did not even win the Vets prize that went to Stan Maciac (Didcot Phoenix) 260.609 at 65 years (+74.219) Not wanting to overstate my case I'd put this as my best ride ever, I've won more prestigious races and performed better but today I achieved a dream and while I could have gone further I think I'm satisfied.
This ride puts Jeff Jones in the box seat for the BBAR and moves me up to 12th but I will need to improve my '100' to stay in position and Jeff could do with improving his as it all looks tight at the top with some very fast times done already.
Photos - Stephen Penney
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| Happy man - "What do yo mean I did'nt win the Vets prize" |
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Result Here
Read Jeff Jones account here
BBAR standing
