First sportive in ages – until recently didn’t have many free Sundays.
Not really sure what’s Insane about it – my son regularly rides much longer than that and I was riding 150 miles occasionally in 2021 in training for the 12 hour TT that never happened. That year I had felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t disgrace myself at more than that distance – but with the cancellation of the event, my training lacked motivation and I felt I had nowhere near enough miles on the saddle for this event.
But Pedal Revolution events are well organised and with proper food at food stops (not just snacks, other sportive organisers take note) – sandwich, crisps, flapjack, fruit – and pasta at the second food stop. Had been dreaming about the latter as I approached the 120 mile stop – for me, food becomes more difficult as the miles mount up. Flapjack/granola/cereal bars work ok to start with but most energy foods/drinks are sweet (or very sweet) and they just get too much after a bit so I really appreciate something savoury. Riding without enough food is a certain recipe for a very hard ride or even abandoning it.
While I knew many of the roads, it was often a delightful surprise to come onto a familiar road from a different direction. Most of the roads were small/very small and pretty empty of any vehicles apart from our bikes – well it was a Sunday, which obviously helped. Even crossing some bigger roads was comparatively easy.
Some riding in company but I’m also quite happy on my own – though when my bike computer and the event sign posts seemed to disagree, it was reassuring when others came by.
Weather crisp but sunny to start with mostly sunny intervals but very pleasant the rest of the day – but with enough wind to make riding a little harder at times. Many cyclists insist that tailwinds are just a myth – certainly with twisty roads in Norfolk that can seem very true.
The event covered 100, 125 and 150 miles – and the choice can sometimes be a bit difficult when coming up for a route split. When the 100 mile route split off, it was no big deal but I knew that the choice between taking the shorter 125 mile route and the longer 150 mile would be a challenge, but I had signed up for the full 150 and my granddaughter had given me a handlebar stem cap:
Well, I saw this every time I looked down at my handlebars and, in the end, there was never really a question when I got to the route split – on I went for the full 150 miles – an extra 2.5 hours, knowing there were a couple of quite steep hills to look forward to.
If I include the two miles each way to the start and back home, this makes my second longest ride ever – though some way behind my 232 mile TT 51 years ago. Having done it once, I’m not thinking of repeating it in the near future – the bike was faultless, but the legs showed their age at the end!