The Cheshire Cat 2008

The eagerly awaited start of British Summer Time marked the first major sportive of 2008 for Kelly's Heroes - the Kilotogo Cheshire Cat. It was time to see if those hard fought winter miles (for some of us anyway) had paid off.

It looked like Kelly's heroes were going to put in a strong turn out for the sportive - everybody was up for either the 100 mile or 60 mile option. Phil, Jon, Tim and myself headed up the M6 the night before, in miserable weather (which didn't bode well for Sunday's ride), in order to stay near the start in Knutsford. And so we sampled the delights of the Middlewich Travelodge - a modest establishment with a particular smell - a cross between stale pipe-smoke and a wet dog.

Sunday morning saw our first 'casualty' - Paul was apparently confounded by the time change to BST and woke up late. He then admitted defeat and went back to bed to dream of expansive fairways, manicured greens and smart sports casual attire. The rest of us continued on to registration, where we were eventually joined by Alex and Rob, and after some considerable faffing, and with surprisingly bright, clear conditions considering the miserable weather the night before, we lined up at the start and set off on the first sportive of 2008.

 

 

We started off with a fairly brisk pace, riding as a pack, but it didn't take long for things to change, and for me to fully appreciate just how much of a difference pack-riding makes. Rob, Tim and Phil were in front of me, with Jon and Alex bringing up the rear. Over the first few miles I let my self drop of the back of the pack too easily, I was left working on my own well behind Phil, Rob and Tim, and in front of Alex and Jon who were further behind.

Phil eventually dropped back to join me (and probably regretted it!). There was a reasonable head-wind, and without the cover of the pack, we both really struggled to keep them in sight, and eventually lost them altogether. We soon joined another smaller pack, and agreed to take mile-long turns up front - this turned out to be particularly effective, and we were soon knocking off the miles, until we hit a series of short climbs, during which our makeshift team seemed to fall apart. Much to my surprise, Phil's and my hill climbing abilities were way ahead of the rest of the group and we soon left them behind - it must be all those attacks on Edge Hill (our local 14% 'bump')

After some balls-out descending from Phil, (with some slightly more 'cautious' descending from myself - nervously wondering how the hell you take corners that quickly) we worked together, taking turns up front for half mile stretches. We stayed disciplined on this and it seemed to work really well, before, and after the feed stop (at which we managed to waste an incredible 20 mins queuing for the toilet - another lesson learned). We continued to build the speed and managed stretches of flat road at 28mph, through the Cheshire countryside, in the bright sunshine - it was superb. During a 10 mile stretch we averaged over 21mph at a very comfortable pace.

It's worth mentioning at this stage that despite harbouring some desire to do the 100 mile route, I took the easy option and followed the 60 mile route. Despite having  knocked out a few century rides in the past, I wasn't feeling to confident due to a lack of training and bout of illness, But I was also working well with Phil over the short route and was really enjoying the ride, so was reluctant to go my own way.

We managed to keep it together until about 10 miles to the end, when Phil started to drop the pace a little due to cramp. At about 7 miles I was feeling a little guilty about taking the easy option, so Phil gave me the nod and I took off on my own and laid it down to try and inflict some self-punishment - I didn't want to finish the ride feeling too fresh! I reached the finish in a time of 3:37, with satisfyingly sore quads.

 

The results:

Short Route

Overall Position	Name	Time
9	Tim Newman	03:20:36
53	Mark Kelly	03:37:51
64	Phil Morton	03:41:26
84	Jon Sharratt	03:47:16
85	Alex McCormick	03:47:26
GOLF	Paul Taylor	Shot a 75.

 

Long Route

Overall Position	Name	Time
	Rob Ford	06:12:47

 

Rob was the only one from our group who took on the 100-mile route, and by all accounts, it was the long stretch that really contained the teeth of the ride, including Mow Cop. Conquering this 25% climb would earn you a special medal, if you managed it without putting a foot down (something Rob managed). you can read all about his exploits here - http://blog.rajf.co.uk/?p=100

Overall, it was another excellent event from Kilotogo. While I was disappointed that I wasn't able to take in the 100 miler (a distance I'd hoped to be able to cope with, less than 100 days from the Etape). I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and am looking forward to my next sportive, which isn't until May (as I have the small diversion of an Arctic Expedition for the duration of April).

The rest of Kelly's heroes will be training hard for the next Kilotogo event - the North Cornwall Tor on 20th April.