2013 Stoke Pro Tour of Britain Sportif

I have not competed that much this year. This is mostly due to injury; but also because I wanted to just ease back into racing after 2012 and focus on 2014. Well I had not envisaged easing into the racing quite so much! It feels like the season has gone before it ever started! I entered this event as it is local for me. I had completed the same event in 2010 with Jase Walkley and enjoyed it. The route skirts very close to my house and takes you into the lovely Derbyshire Peaks. Needless to say, the route gets very lumpy! Although I was looking forward to it, I had not completed any long training rides. Hence I was slightly apprehensive. Pete Norris was taking part also; he would be my ride buddy. Now Pete had been clocking some major bike miles and had recently clocked a very decent bike split at IMUK. We met at the start and were quite chilled. Pete's girlfriend, Emily, was riding the Challenge distance of 50 mile. Still a very lumpy route and she would certainly feel the climbs. Me and Pete drifted to the start and were slightly bemused by the fact that we were the only riders rolling up to the start line! Groups of 50 were being released at 5 minute intervals. It turned out that everyone had departed already! We wern't late; just the last! So our peleton of 2 set off in pursuit!

We twisted round the barriers (as you can see) with me ahead of Pete. This would be one of the last times I actually headed Pete. He was an absolute monster and eased up many times on the climbs to allow me back to him. I felt ok as we cruised along the first 30 miles towards Utoxetter. There were no real climbs of note but my idea of hiding in a big group and saving myself for the bigger climbs was never going to happen now! We started to see riders ahead and we generally rode straight through. Some jumped on our wheels but when the road went up, they disappeared! There was an RTA near Rocester that held us up a while. It looked bad but it was not cyclists. Once we goot going again we missed a turn to the feed zone and had to back-track. We only stopped for water and were soon on the roller coaster road towards Okemoor - the first real climb of the day. We had a mean headwind too and the average speed of 20mph + was falling fast. But we were eating up riders and spitting them out very rapidly.

Once into the Peaks proper, the hills just kept coming. The routine fell into place - Pete drifted off the front, as I tried to pace myself, scared that I would not manage the distance. At 70 miles, I hit a bad patch and thought that I may totally blow. However, I perked up and began to feel better. At 90 miles, the mental boost of knowing that I could get to the finish no matter what seemed to give me revitalised energy. Maybe I should log that mental feeling for the entire ride next time?

Towards the finish and Pete kicked in some real pace through Longton to Trentham. We picked up a rider who managed to hang on to Pete's wheel and the finish was ours in 5:35. Gold Standard was 6:00 for me and 5:45 for Pete. So we were comfortably within those times. There were a few Pros riding and they were around 5:19. No doubt Pete could have been up there if he was not weighed down by me! A great day out. Thanks to Pete for making it so enjoyable. It would have been a lonely ride without him. I think he could have just kept riding all day! Emily really enjoyed the Challenge Ride, despite some saddle mechanical issues!