Academy Captain on the Struggle

It is rare for this blog to feature individual efforts, Heyddie and the climb of a small volcano in Hawaii being a notable exception. But, another feat of superhuman endurance needs to be recognised. And so it is that Carlos, our esteemed and enthusiastic Academy Captain, has been granted his own special edition entry.
This is for his continued patronage of the Club HQ, the famed Golden Rule pub in Ambleside, and for the first ascent by a Club member of 'The Struggle,' a gnarly and precipitous climb out of Ambleside straight up to the Kirkstone Pass.
Although we await the stats from Strava in order to critique his times and energy output, here we publish exciting pictures of this meritorious act. 
We will, of course, seek verification that he did actually stay on the bike during the climb, and that no mechanical doping was involved.
Until then, Chapeau Carlos!

About half way up 'The Struggle'....clearly at least one stop for our man ;-)

View back to Ambleside from the top of 'The Struggle'

Carlos carrying his bike to the summit?

The red face says it all...

Carlos following Club rules to the letter. Rehydration with beer only, no nambie pambie mineral water or Skinny Cappuccino. Setting a good example to our Junior Team indeed. And a good, healthy pork pie with lashings of Colman's. Happy days :-)

Arrow Sportive, Lincolnshire - May 2016

From our Nottinghamshire base camp, five team members enjoyed a long ride around north and east Lincolnshire on the so-called 'Arrow' Sportive, named due to the long straight stretches across the fenlands east of Lincoln City.

Following a 35km warm-up the day before, and a very enjoyable carbo loading session (or two), an early start saw us setting off at 0830 from Market Rasen Racecourse along very quiet lanes taking us towards Lincoln itself. We only saw two vehicles in the first hour of riding!

With the prominent cathedral spires looming ever closer, the roads got much busier as we approached the city, and this continued for the section south east towards Metheringham, with the usual idiotically close overtaking manoeuvres of some drivers making life a little interesting at times.

Straight roads across the fens took us to the little town of Woodhall Spa, home of England Golf, and after a second food stop in Bucknall we headed up into the southern end of the Lincolnshire Wolds, nice riding with extensive views back to Lincoln and a few hills to test tired legs.

A strong peloton finished the ride in bright sunshine, crossing the finishing line in just under 6 hours (riding time 5h 17m), having completed 130.5km and 900m of ascent.

This was a sportive arranged by Cycling Weekly, and was one of the best organised sportives we have experienced. 

Note: this ride would have been a nightmare in windy, wet conditions, due to the exposed nature of the roads crossing the fens. The cycling gods were on our side for once!

The usual pre-ride carbo loading session

We opted for the 'standard route,' a mere 130km (81 miles) and 900m of ascent

The wide arable landscapes of north Lincolnshire

Happy chappies at the finish. Thank goodness for fine weather and no wind!

The evidence! Courtesy of Strava.

Acorn Sportive, North Yorkshire - May 2016

A small turn out for this charity sportive on familiar turf for the chaps. 100km, the furthest distance ever for Ade, aka Adrian, and indeed only his third outing on the bike. Chapeau!

The Elite team who rode this sportive: Carlos, Jan, Alberto and new member Ade

Tour de Yorkshire Sportive - May 2016

It is significant that the principal pictures taken on this adventure were those related to carbo loading before the event and rehydration after it.

A good turn out from the Club - Jan, Carlos, Joaquin, Stewie, Mario, Alansandro and Fabian all riding, sumptuously hosted by Mr and Mrs Johntador in Sheriff Hutton. Apologies for absence were accepted, amidst hoots of derision, from Heyddie, who had engaged in a Tough Mudder event just to avoid climbing a few small Yorkshire hills. We await photographic proof of this folly.

The day before the main event, we had a quick canter around the lanes north of York, a modest 35km leg-stretch before sampling some local Yorkshire ale and enjoying a fine dinner at Chateau Johntador. The volume of red wine consumed was an impressive effort by all concerned, further reserves called up when some splendid cheese carefully selected by Mrs Ulrichard was presented ahead of some wonderful bread & butter pudding.

An early start the following morning was a pleasure for all, especially Stewie, and we made our way to the Open Air Theatre in Scarborough for the start, finally getting away at about 0720. A cold wind propelled us northwards, with some early tests on hills which split our little team into two groups just after the first feed station near Staindale Lake on Dalby Forest Drive. We enjoyed customary Tour de Yorkshire hospitality here...cold potatoes dipped in salt being especially welcome...
Following the excessive consumption of potatoes, some members of the squad found subsequent hills rather trying, so the group again split into two, with one breakaway rider deciding he needed to move even faster just to keep warm. You start to feel the cold more with age some say...
The only action pictures from the day came from the organisers, who compared all the rider's efforts on the Harwood Dale Climb (1.3km, average gradient 7.4%) with professional David Millar's time (Ed: Modesty precludes publication of individual times).

Fabian

Jan

Carlos

Mario

Alansandro

The Pratt clan generously helped Mario after bonking just before the second feed stop. This was in a particularly impressive setting, a muddy farm entrance covered in mud and cow shit, but the compensation came from another generous helping of stone cold potatoes (although the salt was particularly good) and surprise, surprise, some mini Yorkshire puddings, somewhat mangled and chilled to match the potatoes. Impressive.
Anyway, enough of potatoes, easy riding after this indulgence, although riding into strong winds after Filey was a low point.
But Scarborough was quickly reached, with the final climb to Oliver's Mount particularly enjoyed by all.
The day finished with rehydration (for the seniors) in the newly refurbished Highwayman Inn in Sheriff Hutton, followed by further forced feeding back at Chateau Johntador. Roast lamb with all the trimmings rounded the weekend off splendidly.
Well done all!

Stats: according to one Strava recording: 119km and 1373m of ascent, average 20.4km/h. and another, including the return ride, uphill, to the rider's car park: 121.3km, 1878m of ascent, average speed 22.3km/h. Who knows, but a 500m climb back to the car park seems a little excessive?!