Well this one felt really tough. A 5am start from home didn't help - neither did the Shipping forecast that cheerily announced gale force winds in virtually all of those funny sounding sea areas. Given that the start point at Poole wasn't exactly far inland - things were not looking good. Nor did the torrential rain on the M3 do much to help my resolve! Fortunately - that had all cleared by the time we reached Dorset - just leaving lots of wind.
As ever - the event was well organised - no muddy fieds and Porta Loos this lot - it was full on school hall, lots of parking, mechanics on hand, full catering and the works (showers and massages afterwards as well).
Total turnout was circa 400 with a fair few having a stab at the Epic course (160 km - brave souls).
The pre-race blurb mentions "quality climbs" - actually they were a bit of a beast (given somewhat tired legs from 90km on the Saturday G2. Even though there was actually only 4,000 feet of climb, Martin, The organiser (aka smiling Death) managed to arrange lots of flat sections into wind, and plenty of "climbing walls"...
Not without a sense of humour, there were liberal scatterings of motivational signage: "Pain is temporary; Glory lasts forever", "Cheer Up: the worst is yet to come...". Fortunately they refrained from deploying the ultimate humiliations : "It's only gravity" & "... The walk of shame..."
Having suffered the forces of nature all day, I was interested exactly how strong a "gale" force wind was. Trusty wikipedia referred me to the Beaufort Scale which happily informed me that even the tamest "Gale" comes in at about 55kph (34mph) - which probably explains why I felt like I was decending Alpe D'Huez on the coat-tails of Cancellara, when in fact I was actually peddling squares at 15mph ...
Having started late in the day - I was definitely missing a Peleton to hide in...
So - after the first of the larger climbs (Ashmore Hill) that effectively lasted for 11kms and breathing a sigh of relief in expectation of some nice downhill, the course turned sharp left directly into into the teeth of - you guessed it - those gales. It's the first time in my short cycling career that I have had to peddle really hard to make any headway ... down a 5% slope!
And so the sage continued - only one total soaking, before the sun re-emerged. Small saving graces were the well stocked feed stations and a handful of straights with the wind behind.
As ever, the Epic route rejoined nearing the end of the course and the racing snakes went whistling by, looking as fresh as the proverbial daisies.
I guess my one high point, other than merely completing the course, was when I, this time, had the satisfaction of powering past (that's maybe bigging it up a little), some fellow with jolly smart deep sections carbon rims who was looking thoroughly knackered! (In reality, he's probably done the Epic, had several mechanicals and done a similar ride the day before...)
Hot tea, the last slice of lemon cake and massages - were of course a blessing at the end of and "interesting" and challenging day ... which I can recommend to all!
Happy Riding.
My rather feeble efforts can be seen at :
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87329590