British Cyclosportive – Sunday 1st July

Greenwich to Canterbury 117 miles 

I have ridden three Etape du Tours in France so when it was announced that a similar ride was to take place on British roads using the same route as stage one of this year’s Tour I was keen to have a go. The online booking was a hectic affair as demand was very high and all of the five thousand entry places were taken in twenty-four hours. By the end seventeen North Roaders had signed up. 

Saturday 30th June was registration day where all riders had to go to Greenwich Park to pick up their timing chip, number, T-shirt and information pack.

I took the train to Greenwich. Leaving the station I chatted to a fellow bikie on his way to the Park. He mentioned his friend Marcus who he was meeting later. I thought, I know someone in the North Road called Marcus. He then said he was in the North Road Wheelers! It turned out that we had a mutual acquaintance in Marcus Machel. It’s a small world. 

Registration could have been quicker especially as rain was threatening and the queues extended out of the marquee. Luckily my queue was quite short and I was registered and gone in about twenty minutes.

The organisers had set the start order for the event based on club riders first, everyone else second. Basically if you put down a club or team on your entry form then you got an early start time. I presume this was done with the assumption that if you are in a club then you are fast and therefore you should start early to avoid excessive overtaking (this is done for the French Etape but only for the Elite riders). This meant that the North Road had a start time between 6.00 and 6.15 early Sunday morning (last riders were off at 8.30) 

My wife Sarah and I woke up Sunday at 4.00 and we drove to Shaun Nikiel’s house to pick him up. The rain on the way down to Greenwich was absolutely torrential and not a good omen for the day ahead. However by the time we parked at Greenwich at 5.30 it had reduced to a drizzle. Sarah dropped us off and she drove home, back to bed. 

We rode the short distance to the start and I found the other club members.  

Riders were sent off in groups of 40 and most of us left at ten past six, some others had managed to sneak off in an earlier group. Over the timing ramp and it was onto the roads of Greenwich. By now the rain had stopped but the roads were greasy so care was needed. 

As with all of these sort of events a natural selection is soon established. This is based not just on ability but also on pace judgement. Some riders are fit enough to ride at a good pace but hold back for fear of struggling towards the end. Others are slower but go too fast at the start. I was aiming for a combination of the two: a high pace but leaving enough in the tank for a blast at the end. As it turned out I nearly got it right.

I didn’t spot Tony May and Ian Turner ride off the front of our group and I wouldn’t find out that they were ahead of us until the end of the ride. I rode with Tony Bradford, George Olive, Mark Lawrence, Allan Mendelsohn, Mike Bridge and Glyn Teare through the suburbs of South East London. At that time of the morning the traffic was thankfully very light so we were able to make good progress along normally busy roads. As our group was near the front and relatively fast we were soon riding in small groups of five or six riders.  

The route was well signposted with marshals at the busier junctions. We reached Rochester and the first short sharp climb which was a bit of a shock to the system after flat roads (I think I managed to drop Tony at this point so must have been going well). We stopped for water and food at the next checkpoint and waited for some of the other club riders to catch us up.

We set off into a nagging headwind towards Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. The longest climb of the day and one of three cat 4 climbs of the day was at Goudhurst but it wasn’t a long climb compared to many of the other climbs to be found in this part of Kent (this is a sprinters stage after all). There were actually people cheering us on at the top! 

With thirty miles to go I was riding with George and Tony when a faster group caught us. At this point George’s cape fell out of his jersey pocket, so Tony and I waited for him whilst he stopped to collect it. Once George had rejoined Tony then decided to put his head down and catch the group that had passed us. The next thirty minutes were then the hardest part of the ride for me as I tried to hold Tony’s wheel. He asked me to come through to share the pace but I just shook my head. We caught Alan (who had overtaken us when we stopped at the feed station) and we caught the group and the pace eased off slightly. We skipped the last feed station and then two miles later, bang, I blew. I then stayed with Alan as George and Tony rode away from with the group. 

I was now in survival mode; where before it was big ring and a heartbeat of 170 I now had to ride in the small ring at 140. I quickly ate what was left of my food but it didn’t make any difference. Alan stopped for a natural break and I carried on fully expecting him to catch me. There was a small hill (Farthing Common) and it was here that I almost got off and walked. It was horrible. I crested the hill in bottom to be greeted by a long downhill run to Canterbury and a tailwind. The food I had eaten earlier now kicked in and I suddenly felt better. I tagged along with a group from Pearson cycles and we caned it the finish. The final few miles into Canterbury were coned off so we were not impeded by the heavy traffic and could give it a good blast. A sweeping left and then over the finishing line cheered by the many spectators. Tony and George had finished five minutes in front of me. Tony May and Ian Turner had arrived about half an hour before me (amazing ride by these two). Alan finished just behind me followed over the next two hours by the other North Roaders.

It was a fantastic event, well organised and signposted. I was happy with my position overall though like all competitive cyclists I thought I could have done a bit better (maybe eat more next time). The traffic was surprisingly benign. I think perhaps that some of the public thought that this was the actual Tour de France so gave us more respect than usual. And we were lucky with the weather, by the end the sun was out. The course was also fairly flat as is the custom for the early stages of the Tour de France so average speeds were high. I wonder if they’ll be a similar event next year? 

(For those interested my average heartbeat was 150 and I burnt 4400 calories) 

MORE PHOTOS BELOW

Results are here 

There were 3743 finishers 

Route Greenwich - Woolwich - Dartford - Gravesend - Rochester - Aylsford - Tonbridge - Royal Tunbridge Wells - Horsmonden - Sissinghurst - Tenterden – Stubb’s Cross - Port Lympne - Farthing Common - Canterbury