Flat out in the Fens 2009

One word to describe the Fens Race – long!

Non of my friends had entered this ride so I found myself in the unusual position of being alone at the start. I waited for a group to head to the start and tagged along. Luckily the group, team Peugeot, rode at a pace that suited me and we started eating the miles away. They were doing the long route too so everything seemed perfect, we even got joined by a few other riders – more to share the work.

Unfortunately, not long after leaving the first food stop and in high spirits, I got my first ever puncture on the race bike. My heart fell as I saw the group disappear as I knew I was going to have to face up to a 100 miles of straight roads and headwind alone. It took me way to long to fix the puncture as I was nervous of getting a pinch puncture. Note to self: for the Etape take patches encase I run out of tubes, been lucky so far but that may not hold.

The 50 or so miles to the second food stop we tough. It was windy, I was alone and I got low on liquids in the sun.At the route split, 112 or 153, I didn’t contemplate it and just went for the long option. A few miles later I wondered what the hell I was doing as I’d consigned myself to several more hours of riding and most likely alone.

To counter the mind games I opted to turn off all milage. To help navigation I switched the Garmin to map view where I took my mind off the long straights my rewarding myself with food at the end of sections.

At the second food stop I gulped down water, relished the flap jack and found a track pump to fully inflate my dismal effort at pumping up my tyre. Laying on the grass we a couple of guys who’d dropped off the group I started out with. Based on the second leg I didn’t fancy riding alone and asked them if they’d like to team up and share the work. They agreed – I felt a weight lift.

Setting off it was a joy to be back on someones wheel. Within minutes we caught another group and for the rest of the ride we stayed together. The remaining miles passed much easier by chatting and sharing the work. Working the front into the wind was hard but not so bad when you knew you could drop to the back and rest. We overtook several individuals who looked broken as they found the wind and miles alone.

We picked up another guy after the third stop, evening the numbers up. We all agreed to stick it out to the finish and when people hit the wall we slowed as a group. There was a real air of sportsmanship within the group, all intending to get everyone round. If any of you read this post I thank you as if I’d been alone it would have taken me much longer than 9 hours 25 minutes to complete.

In the end we covered 157 miles as there was an added diversion. Not a distance I’ll be eager to do again, especially in the Fens. Overall the legs felt good, 70-80 miles being the main period of pain. At one point it felt like I’d just started a ride and not done 100 miles already. Psycoligically I’m not set for the endurance of the Etape. Just the hills to consider now!

Around 70 miles in my legs felt the worse of the

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