Easy over the Edge- Evans Ride It, Cotswolds

As sportives go, this was one of the easiest I have done, if not the easiest. But to paraphrase the idiots on MOTD, you have still got to ride the course. It was also great to hook up with five of the people I'm going to be riding with in September, on my charity ride down to Land's End. I don't know them well enough to ascribe sobriquet (does the plural have an "s"?) so I will call them N, S, S, V and R. N and one of the S are boyfriend and girlfriend, and N and the other S are clearly young and fit and allowed me to tag along for 25 miles or so till the road pitched upwards.

What tends to happen on these big charity events is that you end up riding with those about your speed. S and V decided to do the 60 mile ride today, while the rest of us entered for what proved to be just over 91 miles. S and N claimed to have finished only abut 5 minutes before me, but I don't believe them. They looked far too fast, and while N is the big, fast cyclist I have been dreaming of drafting, I really don't think I could keep up with him.

All of that said I wasn't too bad today, relative to my usual sportive performance. OK, only 4000 feet of climbing and light winds, but I rode at an overall average speed (moving) of bang on 17 mph, and completed the whole ride in 5 hours 34 mins (with stops). Don't feel too tired either, although the numbness in my fingers shows I need to adopt different riding positions for my hands.

It was a lovely day. Bright sunshine but not too hot, around the 20-degree mark, and as long as I kept moving I felt nice and cool. There were a couple of sharp climbs in the middle, and one long drag towards the end, up to the top of the Cotswolds escarpment at about 3-4% for around 12 miles, before plunging down to Wootton-under0Edge, a descent of about 650 feet in little more than a mile. Hairpins too, good practice eh?

I'm not very good at giving advice. The advice itself is generally sound, well thought-through and very helpful. It's my delivery that is usually poor. That and/or the timing. But here is some advice for anyone who regularly cycles and wears a helmet to do so. The day before a 90-mile ride, avoid walking, at speed, into the sawn off stump of a branch of a tree, with the impact on the line of your temple.

As injuries go, it's in the bottom category of minor, but combined with the need to put a close-fitting hard hat across the impact site, it's elevated to the very category of annoying. Oh, and stupid, yes I know, I worked that out pretty quickly.

Still it made me wear my new Kask helmet which I was planning to save, for I don't know what. The extra padding on it was most appreciated, and I have to say that it is a fantastic investment. Not that it was expensive, in the sale, of course.

So no more long rides before the Pyrenees, just a bit of commuting and ACG stuff, and the odd impromptu ride with Skip. I think I need to focus on doing as many hills as I can between now and then, and may commute via hills both ways. We'll see.

The Charlie stats are odd. To get the route, paste the first link. For the speed, climbing profile, cadence etc. paste the second. There are all sorts of wonderful stats in there if you are feeling bored or can't sleep. They should get me on an advert for Garmin.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/43666345

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43666345