Burgess Hill Spring Classic Cyclosportive

I was up at 6:00am for porridge and the short drive to Wimbledon to get Ed. We were off again by 7:20 and drove the 45 miles to Burgess Hill. We got there with plenty of time, got our race number and had a free cup of coffee. We met up with friends SimonO and Bob who were also doing the Classic 71 mile route.

We set off after a small delay and were quickly flying down the roads. My plan was to try and stay with the fast people for as long as possible. Simon and Bob are quick and Ed is in great form and faster then me. The first 10 miles were crazy. I was behind SimonO and then Ed and then I took a turn on the front. But I knew it wouldn't last. At a small hill, Ed jump round two other riders and I didn't go. Within seconds, Simon and Bob were round me and they were gone. On the long hill called The Wall, I saw them nearly at the top (you can't miss Ed's Frosties jersey) and I wondered how big the gap would be at the end.

The Wall came after 25 miles and I was familiar with it. I had climbed it during the Hell of the Ashdown when it seemed quite hard but in the sunny conditions it wasn't too bad and I was up it without much trouble.

At mile 40 I arrived at the first food stop. I had only used one SiS bottle and I had a full water bottle left and a Clif Bar so I just had my chip scanned and continued. I wanted to try and keep the gap between myself and the others down to a minimum. I didn't want them beating me a 30 minutes or more.

I continued on my own as there were no groups around. No chance of drafting off anyone. It was at this point that I found myself passing people. To my surprise, I caught up with a steady stream of riders and went passed them. I got passed by a few riders by I was passing many more.

The second half of the ride had some really nasty hills. One was particularly steep at over 20%. I did hear that Ed had nearly fallen off here. I didn't do too much better as about half way up I realised I was in a much higher gear than I had thought and I couldn't change down fast enough and came to a grinding halt. When I tried to start again I very nearly fell off. I had to either walk or ride down to the bottom and do it again. I rode down and did it again.

I got to the second feed stop at mile 50 where I grabbed some cake, got my bottle filled with SiS and scanned my chip without getting off my bike. It was then a short ride with some nasty little hills before the 3rd and last stop at mile 60. It was literally stop, get scanned and get off again.

The last 11 miles were really good. I was feeling strong and had kept a pretty constant speed since being left by the boys. I made it with a ride time of 4:22 and waited in line for my official result. As I got my official time of 4:25:00 (3 stops and a wee in 3 minutes) I heard someone calling my name. I looked round and there was Ed. And further back Simon and Bob. Somehow, I had finished in front of them all. I was staggered and so were they. It turned out that they had stopped at the first food stop for a couple of minutes and I had gone past them. And for the rest of the 32 miles we had cycled at pretty much the same pace so I was 90 seconds ahead of Ed and 3 minutes ahead of the other two. I know its not a race but given than I'm usually in Ed's wake, it was nice to be in front for a change.