Cycling Weekly: Guildford Sportive

Had a great ride today, courtesy of promoting club Charlotteville CC. There were three rides on offer and I, along with 200 or so, signed up for the longest, at about 85 miles with 2300m of climbing. Most of the other riders were Surrey clubmen and seemed to take great pleasure in describing the forthcoming delights...

The route was well thought out and exceptionally well marked, with four feed stations, and seemed to my jaded legs to pick out every single hill in Surrey. There were a few real nasties, with some 20% sections, plus the more laidback Box Hill and the second half was definitely loaded with climbing compared to a more relaxed outward leg. Leith Hill was particularly unpleasant. Although we were pretty lucky with the weather, the previous days' rain had washed mountains of mud, flint and thorns out of the verges and it seemed like at least half of the field suffered a puncture. I was lucky enough not too and limped round in 4h45'

All in all a great day out, with a medal and smart t-shirt as partial recompense for my travails. A big thanks to all involved.

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