Icknield RC 12 hour - Sun 4th July 2009 - Report by Ashley Glass

My Novice 12 Hour, - The Icknield 12 Hour TT, 5th July 2009

 

By Ashley Glass

 

Twenty years ago I was talked into and completed The Mersey Roads 24 Hour TT. Previous to that ride I horrified my Mother and Grandmother at the age of 16 by leaving home at 3.30am and arriving 186 miles away later that afternoon at my Grandmother’s house in Derby. I have had a fascination with slightly extreme endeavours and mileages on a bike for most of my cycling career, but unfortunately my involvement has been somewhat limited due to the modern pressures of work and family commitments, so my longest events over more recent years haven’t been any more than occasional 50 mile time trials and some longer sportive rides, oh, except my little 200 mile jaunt up to Yorkshire in a day back in 2002.

 

It is the epic rides that have always stood out in my mind, and no matter how much pain and suffering encountered during these endeavours, I only have fond memories of finishing and the joy of retelling of my experiences to those interested. Having reminisced for the last twenty years of how great it was to ride and finish ‘The 24’, I was itching to have a go at another marathon time trial of some kind. And The Icknield 12 Hour wasn’t too far away!

 

My training this year had been more extensive than previous years, with a training week in Majorca at the end of April, regular long Saturday rides throughout the year and several sportive events ridden. My confidence for ‘The 12’ was sealed after completing ‘The Dragon Ride’, as I found the event easier than I had imagined, and rode quicker than I’d expected. I also felt that having spent so much time, and monetary investment in myself, (Majorca), that it would be great to have another long distance event stamped in my personal history.

 

So my entry to The Icknield 12 Hour was duly posted.

 

The Icknield attracted 40 entrants, with two North Roaders, myself and Allan Mendlesohn. However, studying the start sheet gave me some concern. Allan was starting two minutes behind me, and I could have done without the distraction of worrying if he’d catch me. Knowing Allan to be a great long distance rider, having covered 214 miles in his previous 12 hour in 2007, I hoped he wouldn’t as I didn’t feel it would be the greatest motivation for me! Apart from this, all looked good. The weather forecast was a little cooler than the recent days heat-wave and I had been offered some excellent backup for the afternoon by Helen Shulver of the Stevenage CC, which meant I only had to survive the first seven hours or so on my own.

 

Arriving at HQ near Biggleswade at 4.40am, with bike, kit and an enormous bowl of porridge with treacle, my final preparations began. I had 38 minutes before my start time at 05.17. My stomach wasn’t expecting food at such an early hour, let alone the quantity I was forcing down, but was determined to get every ounce of possible energy into my ‘engine’. Pockets were filled to breaking point with gels, bars and flap jack. Given that we spend so much trying to reduce the weight of our bikes, how about some light weight food, - my jersey felt like a sack of potatoes! I took care to lather up with sun screen, so to avoid stopping and wasting time for this later, should the sun come out. Off I rolled to the start line, where Allan was already waiting, and looking keen with an extra squash bottle ingeniously taped between his tri-bars complete with straw aimed at his face!

 

My time had come, and off I went. Only twelve hours to go. I rode at a comfortably brisk speed, just to warm up without increasing my breathing too much. However, I past all seven riders in front of me within the first twenty five minutes of my ride and  wondered if I had set off too quickly, but didn’t feel uncomfortable with the pace I was maintaining. I had a vague schedule I wanted to ride to, to ensure I could beat 200 miles which I thought was a fair target. I intended to ride the first hundred miles in 5 hours, leaving 7 hours for the second hundred, and hopefully a little more.

 

Cruising up and down the A1 during this first ‘episode’ of the event allowed me to spot Allan going the other way at the turns, and calculate his progress. Fortunately for me, I was pulling away from him and was able to concentrate on my own ride without the threat of the distraction of Allan roaring up behind me. It became quite a lonely place, no more riders to chase as I had passed all in front of me and nobody appeared to be catching me either. As time went on the wind slowly gathered strength making southbound legs harder, but I was able to stay focused and maximised the benefits when going northbound by rolling a big gear and never easing off.

 

I hit the 50 mile marker in 2hrs 13mins, up on schedule and very happy. Before 100 miles were completed, we were directed off the A1 at Biggleswade south roundabout and headed into the lanes with now an almost gale strength wind, thankfully following. The route followed the B1042 through Dunton, Eyeworth and Tadlow onto Wimpole roundabout. Somewhere along this stretch I went through 100 miles in 4hrs 38mins, well up on schedule and still feeling good. I also managed to grab a banana and drink that were being offered up by the official feeders. I was trying to conserve my drink, as it was only about 10am and I wasn’t expecting to see Helen, my helper until after 12.30.

 

At Wimpole roundabout I started on the first ‘circuit’ of the course. A nasty drag southbound into a fierce headwind down the A1198 to the A505, where my spirits lifted as Graham and Annabel encouraged me through. Once turned onto the A505 and then the A10, I was again able to reap the rewards of a tail wind to minimise any losses when grovelling into the headwind. Also by now, any incline came as a relief as I always took the opportunity to get out the saddle and relieve certain pressure points. It was becoming a quest to minimise the pain as time went on.

 

At 11.30, my bottles were depleted, the sun was out and the temperature rising, so I sensibly stopped to fill them at the feed on this first circuit, realising I couldn’t last another hour in these conditions without more fluids. Thankfully the helper was very efficient and I was probably stationary for less than half a minute. Amazingly, this was the only time I stopped during the whole event. Soon after this, I started to suffer from cramp in both legs, so geared down and ensured I kept drinking. Thankfully after a ‘bad’ patch lasting for about half an hour I seemed to ride through it. My legs were cured, but my feet were really starting to hurt. It became an ongoing ordeal to try and ignore the various parts of my body that were starting to distract me with increasing levels of pain. I knew I was so far ahead of my original schedule, I was determined that this was really going to be a very good ride, - no matter what.

 

At last 12.30 came and so I was expecting to see Helen very soon. Fifteen minutes later she appeared, strategically positioned on a slower part of the course and exchanged my now empty bottles again, with energy drink whilst continuing to move. She then kept me fed and watered at regular intervals through to the end with additional help from her club mate Parris Cripps, also of Stevenage CC who joined to help out.

 

After four laps of this circuit, I was directed to the next loop which basically consisted of the North Road’s Guilden Morden time trial course. It was on this loop that I finally caught sight of Allan again, after not seeing him for hours, since we left the A1. There he was, a little way ahead, like a target! Knowing that when I caught him, I would be a lap ahead, or approximately twelve and a half miles ahead of him brought a smile. Naturally, I gave words of encouragement to Allan as I glided past, whilst secretly savouring the moment! Another couple of laps ensued and then back towards the finishing circuit near Biggleswade via Eyeworth, Dunton, and Edworth and then over the A1 to Langford. This leg was absolutely horrendous, into an ever increasing headwind, and an ever weakening cyclist.

 

The finishing circuit became a countdown for survival, but my mind was still trying to compute what I may achieve as my finishing mileage. After many miles studying the mileage on my computer and the grey matter trying to estimate final distance, I realised with some certainty that I was definitely heading for high two hundred and thirty something, and if I got my arse back into gear, (or what was left of it), it may be possible to break the two hundred and forty mile post. If I didn’t give it my all, and missed two hundred and forty miles by a whisker, I would not forgive myself. I was dying all over, but now had one solitary goal, not to just finish, but wring every last mph out of my legs for the last 30mins or so.

 

Finally, time up and I rolled back to HQ to be caught by Helen and Parris who managed to prevent me from total collapse. Allan had finished too, and looked a lot better than I felt, although he had shared similar pains to his feet. Helen supplied food and water and Allan and I slowly rejoined the human race once more and waited final mileages.

 

The event was won by Sean Childs of Royal Navy & RM CA with an astonishing 277.42 miles. I had cracked the two-forty mark with 240.43 miles in 11th place and Allan set a new PB with 218.56 miles in 23rd place. There were five non starters from entry field of forty-one, and only three non finishers on the day. A total of thirty-four finishers (which is 92% of starters). A fantastic result and I’m still smiling despite the sores!

 

Special thanks to Helen and Parris for their superb support, to my wife Jo for living with my obsession and fabulous carbo loading strategy in the days preceding the race (and nursing my wounds since), and thanks to Gordon Hart for organising such a well run and successful event.

 

Full results from CTT website here