Sunday 18th March 2012 saw the Wiggle "No Excuses" Sportive come around and six Nomads rising early to take on the challenge of one of the UK's most popular Sportives.
Nicky Ollier and Tim Wallis taking on the non-trivial "Standard" 45 mile route and Simon Doyle, James Gomm, James Spence and Andrew Stevenson tackling the "Epic" 80 mile route.
The tone of the day was nicely set in the event car park as we all had a quiet chuckle at the two chaps who decided to ride the SPORTIVE on their time trial bikes; complete with 100mm deep section rims and aero helmets! All the gear, no idea.
There were tens of people fighting punctures on the route too - fortunately (or because of good riding and kit selection?) the Nomads were unafflicted - some may say that is a subjective opinion.
If anything a sportive is worth riding for the amount of carbon laced eye candy on display, with bikes ranging from rusty garden shed ornanments and tandems to a £12k Team Sky Pinarello Dogma complete with Di2.
Having negotiated the collection of bike numbers, timing chips and a free cups of tea, we were ushered to the starting gate in a group of around 20 riders. We were given a concise safety talk (stop at junctions, don't take up the whole road, try not to run anyone over etc) and then unleashed on the roads of Cambridgeshire.
The weather conditions were far from ideal, with an air temperature of about 5 degress centigrade and rain in the air. There was quite a bit of standing water in some parts of the courses, however this did nothing to dampen the spirits as the "epic" crew settled into a good rhythm in the first of the three legs.
For the first stretch (from the start to the first feeding station roughly 25 miles in) the tempo was only briefly disrupted once - by the sound of James G's pump hitting the ground on a fast descent. This was followed by a raft of mumbled swearing and the squelching of brake pads on rims. Once reunited with said object the group worked well together, eating up the miles to the first feeding station.
A point to note for the organising committee for the up and coming Nomads' Sportive on 17th June (
Details), lessons were learnt:
- A 7ft white flag is not conspicuous enough for the great unwashed to indicate the turning for the feed station is
- Home made flapjack = great
- Jelly beans = very good
- Neon Orange Maxi fuel drink = not so good - the drink was a brighter Orange than Simon's Euskatel bike
- Maxifuel gels (well at least the "Citrus" flavour) = truly awful
- The Finish line is where it says "Finish" and not "Disabled Car Park" (some fool missed the line and added a few minutes to his time by being a divot)
At the next fuel stop the the lessons from the first fuel stop were applied and after a quick natural break we embarked on the final leg. Old men's bladders and all that...
The hammer was well and truly put down as Mr Doyle suggested that we "made the most of the tailwind" with the first 10 miles being eaten up in no time. A few steeper hills were thrown into the mix as we approached Grafham Water. The legs began to ache (more) at this stage.
Eventually we hit the A1 bridge before upping the pace for the final mile home. We finished as a group and achieved a gold time, averaging just under 18 mph (once you factor out the rest stops of around 20 minutes in total).
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| Andrew Stevenson - just say no. |
The ultimate recovery food of sausage rolls was consumed by all (I'm fairly certain that's what the pro's use) as a reward for finishing. The offer of a free use of the jet wash was declined in preference to a few more minutes of sausage rolls and staring in to space and reflection on the endeavours of the day.
Andrew Stevenson has been given a forfeit for wearing fur line Croc shoes as Apres-Sportive. If you see him wearing said items again, please inform a committee member.
