The Springtime 200

So far this year I've done the Poor Student (a 200 out of Oxford) but
not started the Willy Warmer (ill) and had the Old Squit cancelled due
to weather. When I accepted Ben Harris's pleasantly mad plan of doing
a 200 every weekend in March, I hoped to have got in more rides this
year already, so it was with some trepidation that I approached this
one.

As usual, I had about no sleep the night before, partly due to my
usual sleep cycle and partly due to a spot of bike-fixing. Up at 0550,
down to the station, train to Newport, and ride down to the
Shaftesbury CC bungalow (which is rather nice). We had a bit of time
before the start for tea and cakes. I didn't ride with Ben at the
start, but he joined me within 10k and rode with me after that.

This route's neatly divided by commercial controls at 50k and 150k and
the HQ at 100k. There was a reasonably strong headwind on both outward
legs, but our main difficulty on the way out was a couple of comedy
instructions on the routesheet one of which led to a roughly 6-8k
detour. In spite of this we arrived at the 50k control with the best
part of an hour to spare - but oddly didn't really make up time after
that on the remaining legs, even with tailwinds and no diversions.

I had plenty of food at the 50k control (a garden centre in
Coggeshall) and the run back to the HQ was quite easy - via Thaxted,
where practically every ride in the vicinity seems to go through,
albeit without the gigantic hill in the centre for once. We stopped
for a bit at the HQ, meeting other riders on the 100 or the 50 around
there or in the HQ, and had more food (treacle sandwich! coffee
madeira cake) but oddly I had a bad patch from there to about 120k.
This may have been nice for Ben because I stopped babbling, but I also
slowed down - and he was already faster than me.

At 130k the info was carefully hidden 400m on from where the
routesheet said it was, but as compensation we turned from headwind to
crosswind here and tailwind at 150k. I don't know how that worked, but
it may have explained the lack of any 85% distance blues - I was fine
all the way back from 120k. Around then it struck me we'd been being
overtaken repeatedly by a chap on a recumbent with a red tailbox, only
to pass him fixing front flats - at least four, so I infer some
serious problem. I hope he finished; he was behind us at the end, and
so we don't know if he did.

The 150k control was at a chippie restaurant, and it was dark after
that. We spent a bunch of the rest riding close to someone in a blue
jersey - by which I mean, when I was struggling on the hills, Ben
would be ahead with them, being a bit quicker than me. He had no way
to read the routesheet in the dark, though, so he didn't have much
choice from that point.

We pulled ahead of blue-jersey, but I got hungry about 20k from the
finish, and had to stop 10k out for me to eat fig newtons. We still
got back with about 1h20 to spare, with the organiser saying two
riders will still out there. After about ten minutes Jackie Popland
arrived, leaving me pondering how her, the bloke in the blue jersey,
and red-tailbox made two riders - of course, she was wearing the blue
jersey and my brain was scrambled as usual. I'd seen her in the
chippie, but failed to associate the bike on the road with the rider
in the cafe.

I declined tea and rushed off to catch the train back (hourly) - in
spite of Newport station being very well hidden in Newport (if there
is a single road sign to it, I didn't see it), I just made it. I was
unusually sore the day after, with sore sit bones, but had none of the
pain in the knees I get sometimes and no raw bottom...