Stratford CC Reliability Ride, 6th February 2011
Headquarters – FISSC, Tiddington, Stratford upon Avon
Route – 54 miles around a hilly loop through the Cotswold's
Conditions – Extremely windy but dry, 12 degrees
January, February and march are 3 months that sit quite oddly in the cycling calendar, riders are still deep in winter training in the earlier part yet the racing season is pretty much in full swing by the later part and many riders are unsure what they should be doing, whether they should be going hard or whether they should be keeping a lid on it. It’s also that time of year when many riders have been pushing themselves to keep up the training trough the cold months and motivation is now becoming harder to sustain knowing there could still be a few months of poor weather ahead. Thankfully, cycling came up with the answer to this a long time ago, Reliability Rides. When and where they started……I have no idea but what I do know is that they are an integral part of many riders’ annual plans and will be for a long time.
The concept of the reliability ride is simple; a club organises there ride by planning a route, usually around 60 miles, promote via word of mouth and online forums and rent out a HQ. Simple. Riders turn up choose a group to go in depending on how fast they think they can do the route, grab a map and set off with the aim of completing the ride within there chosen time band. As these rides attract a whole variety of riders from complete novices all the way up to elite road riders, the groups always split and most participants do the ride a lot faster than originally intended and the faster groups pretty much become an informal road race, this can make them great pre-season events for racers to test their legs and perform some unstructured yet very specific training.
RPC’s local club, Stratford CC, have been running there February reliability ride for as long as the club has been going and is always run over the same route. Every year it seems to achieve a bigger turn out which is great seeing as how all profits go to the Warwickshire Air Ambulance Service and this year was no exception with an estimated 150 riders turning out to tackle the 54 mile loop. This was also great for us as this was a great chance to hand out some of our new leaflets and promote RPC at some local events.
The route itself is a great mix of short punchy climbs, long drags and fast descents while taking in some stunning Cotswold's scenery. The first half is the toughest as it climbs from Stratford all the way to the half-way point which is situated at the highest village in the Cotswold's, Stow on the Wold. After this point the ride becomes more undulating as it meanders its way back to Stratford through quaint villages and smaller roads. The route contains around 3000ft of climbing most of which is in the first 20 miles and can be considered a pretty ride on any day, but today is was made an awful lot harder due to the Gail force winds that have been sweeping across the county in the past few days but it looked as if the rain might just hold off.
Personally, I have completed this route on my own in just over 2.5 hrs.’, however having been feeling pretty ill and very fatigued lately, I opted to go in the second to last group which was aiming for 3.5 hrs. The last group was 3 hrs.’ and the first 2 groups were 4.5 and 4 hrs.’, the 3.5 was a nice compromise as the chances are it would split in to a few faster groups and we would complete the ride a lot faster anyway but it meant that if I felt bad I could sit at the back and chill. Jamie also came in this group as did my dad, his 2 friends and a few mates of my own along with about 50 other riders, this was most likely the biggest group of the day.
The group set out at what for me would usually be a pretty comfortable pace but today it felt pretty brisk, my legs were like led and I felt tired and generally fatigued, mixed in with the cross winds that were blowing across the group at storm force 10, I seriously began to doubt whether I would be able to complete today's ride. All the way through Long Marston the group was lined out in the curb with riders battling for shelter, this was like a road race not a social reliability ride!
After about 12 miles there is a nasty surprise in waiting, the first 2 hard climbs which take riders up towards Broad way tower, I decided to use the old age trick of getting towards the front of the group before the climbs so as to allow myself some slipping room back through the group if I was feeling bad. As it was, we hit the climb and the pace didn’t feel too bad yet around me other riders were really struggling; maybe I was beginning to feel better. The second climb felt the same and I was up towards the front of the group and happy that I was feeling good; my legs were starting work, the first time in about 3 weeks. My confidence in my own ability today began to increase and I was soon taking longs pulls on the front through the lavender field which sit on the top of Broadway, at this point the wind was savage but the pace of our group was high and riders began popping off the back. Jamie found himself off the back after the second climb but it turns out his rear wheel had become badly buckled and was rubbing on his frame so he had his excuse set for the day J
Soon the bunch had whittled down in to a more select group and we continued to work together to keep the pace up. For me this was a nice group as it contained to riders I knew very well, one of which was Mark Heath who I used to race on the same team with and train a lot with on our clubs Tuesday night bash. We ride well together as we can sense when to take a turn and can ride with confidence behind one another. As we began the final series of climbs toward Stow, I was feeling great and soon found that I was riding my group off of my wheel on every climb, although this filled me with glee as it’s something I haven’t felt for a while, I decided to wait each time as I didn’t see the point of riding solo in what I intended to be a social ride.
Once we hit Stow and turned back in the direction of Stratford, the head wind became a tail wind and the fun really began; Fast, fluid riding with no real effort, love it.
Once me and mark had rode off the front of our group in order to get a gap so we could stop for a nature break, we had passed pretty much all of the other groups out on the road and not too far from the village of Halford, me and mark put the hammer down again, this time with the purpose of starting some race like antics. We took one other rider with us and the 3 of us worked together to get away and soon we were long gone. Turning off of the Banbury road towards Loxley, one last hill was up ahead and with a nice tail wind I hit it with some pace and continued over the top, I saw that I had gapped the other 2 with mark in the middle. I began to wait but then decided to put my head down and make him chase for the last few miles, good training and good fun if nothing else. Initially it looked as if mark was closing but soon I began to extend the gap and I rode back in to the HQ on my own but not before extending my ride accidentally by a mile due to taking a wrong turn!
Sitting in the HQ, sipping the dregs out of my bottle, the room began to fill as other riders finished there rides. Cakes and coffee were being shovelled down by exhausted and ecstatic riders as they sat around sharing their own little tales and experiences of there ride. I completed the ride in 2 hrs.’ 54 minutes, a lot slower than I have done it but then I know that I could have gone faster but still 35 minutes than the set pace for our group. Jamie came home in just under 3.5 hrs.’ which is mighty impressive considering the state of his rear wheel by the time he finished and he still had to ride 10 miles back home!!! I stayed and waited for my dad and his friends who came back happy with their rides.
Overall, Stratford CC once again failed to disappoint with another fantastic event which saw a huge turn out and some great rides, well done Stratford. Of course there were most likely a had full of clubs doing exactly the same thing today elsewhere and enjoying the same sort of success and a lot of riders will continue doing reliability rides every weekend until there are no more being run and why not, there a great day out; cheap, fun and unpredictable. All in all a reliably good experience J
Here are my stats for the day, nothing spectacular but something to look at:
Time – 02:54:21
Distance – 55.34 miles
Ave Speed – 19.1 mph
Ave Power – 192 watts
Norm Power – 221 watts
Ave HR – 142 bpm
Ave cadence – 78 rpm
Energy – 1991 kl
TSS – 185 (IF -0.805)
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