Campaign for the abolishment of hills.

A cold Sunday in Watlington (Oxfordshire) was the scene of my latest long ride at the Evans Ride-It event. It was a very cold but sunny start to the day. Scraping the ice of the car windows wasn't the ideal start to the day but at least it wasn't looking like raining during the ride. I arrived in Watlington and registered, got my packs of freebies for signing up early (worth the cost of the event alone!)

Lining up with the second wave of riders I set off. I'm going to have to re-assess my tactics for these events as the pack of riders set off at a pace much quicker than mine and I was soon left in a sort of nomansland riding on my own. The course was advertised as being reasonably tough with a lot of climbs some of which I had ridden before but never on such a long ride.

The first drinks station was a welcome sight after a long gradual climb that seemed to go on for ever. I catch a lot of riders on hills only for them to race off into the distance on the descents or flat. The week leading into this event had been my biggest week mileage wise and I could feel it in my legs that's for sure.

Nevertheless I decided to stick to the original plan and went for the long route of 87 miles. The long route consisted of an additional 28 miles mostly flat but into a headwind coming back which made it hard work. The sting in the tail though was Kingston Hill which was not what you wanted to see at the 80 mile mark. It was tough! 18% in places (that's 1 in 6) some people were walking at this point and I swear one guy was crying. I managed to get up it ok but at one point I did wonder if my heart was trying to make a bid for freedom. Everyone was talking about it afterwards.

All in all a good event I have another in 2 weeks time in Hatfield, we'll see how that goes, its a much flatter course.

Now impatiently awaiting news of my new bike......photos when it arrives

To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page.