A number of us took part in the first Etape Du heath, a sportive organised by SiS. Myself and some of the others were wary of tackling this as it was a hilly route of 77 miles. The weather was lovely and sunny but very cold, we were all shaking and shivering at the start at HaywardsHeath. After a crowded electronic start and fighting our way through indecisive car drivers, myself and Derek had become separated from the rest. This was a shame as before long we were fighting our way up 'The wall' and it would have been good fun to see everyone suffering! After gaining altitude on the wall we lost it all in a fabulous decent parallel to the wall, in the distance I caught sight of Steve D but he pulled away again and was out of sight. Derek and I regrouped with the others at the first feeding stop, I was a bit disappointed to see only a few squares of flapjack and some jelly babies. Paul B and Steve D were not hanging around and set off before myself and Derek barely had time to throw a few jelly babies down our throats. We naturally split up into ability groups with Ant, Paul B, Paul K and Dave HH going off at the front with me riding on my own and Derek some way behind me. The next 30 miles of the ride were the hardest with almost no flat sections at all, it was an excellent route with narrow country roads, some of the descents were quite hairy as there was barely enough room for a bike to pass a car coming up. Much to my surprise I caught up with Paul b and we rode together for a while until we got to 'Cob Hill'. This hill has a similar gradient to 'Chick Hill' so its a real killer . There was a familiar figure at the side of the road struggling with a wheel, it was Dave HH. His chain had gone over the largest sprocket when he shifted down too quickly and got stuck between the sprocket and the hub, despite our efforts we could not shift it and Dave had no choice except to call for the sweep wagon. I pressed on, now on my own for the next 20 miles or so before meeting up with the others at the main feeding station just 15 miles from the end. Here the timing was halted, there were limitless cups of tea and we all overdosed on jelly babies. Nowthe riding was much flatter and our average speed started to pick up . Derek noticed that Paul K's wheel wasn't lined up properly, by the time we had fixed it everyone else was gone. We eventually caught back up and went past Ant and Derek , Paul k overtook me and shot off up the road , unfortunately he missed the turn and ended up going the wrong way. After ringing his mobile several times I managed to tell Paul his mistake and he came back to the junction where he had gone wrong. For the last 10 miles were worked together as a pair but were unable to catch up with the others. At the front there was a competition between Paul B and Steve D who were both wishing to achieve gold standard. Paul came in first but Steve had the fastest time overall, they both got silver, the rest of us got bronze.
A very well organised event with an excellent well marked route. Our only criticism was the poor food on offer, but we will be back next year !
77.5 miles Av speed 15.1
S.C
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