In 1997 Tony Blair laid out his priorities for government as "education, education, education". Fast forward 18 years to Sunday 20th September 2015 and the former PM was nowhere to seen at the Jole Rider Cotswold Sportive, but he would have been proud of the educational theme that ran throughout the day.

The most striking example was the base for the event at Westonbirt School, a handful of miles outside of Tetbury. The school appears to be a classic stately home complete with ornate gates on the main road and a driveway longer than the high street in my home village. There was plenty of parking for your Bentley in the grounds, while registration was under canvas outside the front of the building. Inside the school it was cleats off, of course, to protect the floor from cyclists wishing to use the toilets. Either side of the main entrance interior was a roll of honour of all the past pupils who had made it to Oxford and Cambridge after kicking off their private education here.

Westonbirt School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Boarding fees start at £8605 per term.
Westonbirt School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Boarding fees start at £8605 per term.

The 250 odd members of the proletariat who had entered this inaugural event were advised that registration opened from 7am with the first riders out of the traps from 8am. There were three routes to choose from, 100, 70 and 30 miles. The first two cost £25 in advance whilst the shortest route was £15. Sign up on the day was an extra £10 for all routes. The money was destined for great things through the organising charity, Jole Rider (pronounced Jolly Rider), whose mission statement is "changing lives through education". One of the charity's flagship programmes is refurbishing secondhand bikes and sending them to Africa so that children can cycle to school. In lots of cases those schools are a long way from home, and so far 13,000 bikes have been delivered.

Just like back at school, I rolled up halfway through the morning registration but this time I had done my homework. The comprehensive rider briefing pack had been emailed out earlier in the week and there was also an opportunity to place a food order in the school canteen. However, this wasn't the cold custard classic school dinner as professional caterers were in residence. A breakfast of muesli, jams, fruit, fruit juices and hot drinks was available for £4 between 7-10am. You could also pay on the day, but I'd already eaten at home so I opted for the after ride meal served between 1-6pm. A hot meal gives you something to aim for - in this case shepherd's pie, fish pie or vegetarian lasagne, with bread and "additional accoutrements" for £7, and chocolate or treacle pudding on offer for an extra £3. More of that later...

Back to the ride and the sign-up process was a bit convoluted. Despite all the usual contact details having been given in advance, you had to queue for a form to fill out emergency contact number again and then get back in another queue to hand that form in and get your rider number and two cable ties for the handlebars. Good job it was a dry day, and there was some slight confusion over the various queues. However, all the event staff were very friendly and helpful which dissipated any pre-ride grumbles.

There were plenty of bike racks and an extensive stand selling cycling related merchandise. 100 milers were due to start between 8-9am, 70 milers had an extra hour's grace until 10am whilst 30 milers could lie in as their start was between 8.30-11am.

The briefing was fairly short and to the point but it didn't need to be any longer. There was mention of a small deviation in the route from the GPS route link that had been emailed out. This was around Alderley, but when one of the riders questioned how far into the course that was the person briefing wasn't sure. Must try harder, as the school report could have said. Anyway, that's a churlish detail to try and get another education reference into this report.

I set off with a group of about ten others. It was pretty fresh and mist hung over everything for the first couple of hours of the ride, gradually lifting and warming up as the day progressed. The 100 mile route was a combination of the 70 mile course followed by the 30 miler. The sportive headed west and then south through small South Gloucestershire villages such as Hillesley, Alderley and Hawkesbury Upton on the edge of the Cotswolds. We went through some country roads that I was familiar with from other sportives earlier in the year, but also some new routes.

There wasn't too much in the way of climbing as we turned north towards Gloucestershire until just after Wotten-under-Edge. The first climb touched 12% at its worst. The next major climb came before the first feed station at Frocester. It featured an ascent of Crawley Hill and then a descent of Frocester Hill, which was an exact reverse of a sportive the previous month. The climb was more about getting into a rhythm although it got up to 13% at one point.

Feeding time at the Frocester George. Head chef Mark Sandell makes his own mayonnaise and tartare sauce.
Feeding time at the Frocester George. Head chef Mark Sandell makes his own mayonnaise and tartare sauce.

The first feed station at the 35 miles marker was in the beer garden of the Frocester George pub. Two of the event volunteers were working overtime to try and keep the food and water stocked up. The lady said that as fast as they could nip up to Sainsburys to buy more provisions they were being hoovered up the riders. They had a selection of fruit, chocolate biscuits, salted peanuts, and buttered crackers amongst other items. There was water but no energy drinks that I saw. I think this was another learning point for a first time event, where it was difficult to assess how much food was required. There was enough for everyone but they seemed to be busting a gut to ensure that was the case.

A requirement of the event was that each rider had to sign in at every feed station, so after complying and eating my fill I was off again. The signs for the events were black arrows inside a circle on a yellow background. They were numerous and well positioned on the course, but from a distance the arrow seemed to point in the opposite direction. It was only as you got closer that it became clearer. I thought this was just an optical illusion for me but another rider I spoke to had the same experience. I went wrong for about a mile at one point and he did an extra six miles due to a wrong turn. I think if the circle was discarded then it would be clearer.

The optical illusion arrows. Don't judge me you weren't there.
The optical illusion arrows. Don't judge me you weren't there.

The route turned east and then south again as we headed back towards the start at Westonbirt. It followed mainly country lanes, with any main road sections just a short link to other country roads. The profile had looked fairly manageable in my mind, but I'd obviously missed something as there were two or three hard climbs and one brute especially that went up to 17% and remained steep for a sustained period. This was no end-of-season jaunt on the flat.

There was an "unofficial" feed station at the 61 mile point. I think "unofficial" meant you didn't have to sign in. It appeared to be a permanent café called Jolly Nice on one of the main roads that we crossed. I didn't stop as it was so close to the 70 mile feed station back at Westonbirt School, and the last section of this part of the course was relatively flat.

There was an element of psychological torment on the arrival back at Westonbirt. Those who had completed the 70 mile course were relaxing and winding down and the temptation to join them was great. However, after replenishing at the well-stocked feed station I set out again on the 30 mile section of the route.

This was virtually flat the whole way and served as quite a good extended warm down. It took in villages to the south and east of Westonbirt but north of the M4, including some with bags of character such as Badminton, Sherston and Shipton Moyne. There were two feed stations on this section of the course, both outside pubs. One was at the Old Ship, Luckington and the other at The Vine Tree, Norton. These came at 81 and 92 miles. By the time I went through provisions were fairly low, especially at Luckington where it was mainly bruised bananas. I cracked on and soon found myself back at base once more after 100 miles and a total of around 1900 metres climbing.

Instead of medals and certificates every finisher had their photo taken with their bike, and these were due to be sent out post event. A goodie bag with some cycling leaflets and a flapjack type bar were also given out. Another nice touch is that all finishers were entered into a prize draw to win a holiday for two in Mallorca. There were opportunities to get a massage, a shower, wash your bike and look around an HGV fitted with movement sensors and cameras to aid in detecting bikes. I bypassed these and went straight for my meal in the school canteen. Great views of the grounds, and the fish pie followed by chocolate pudding tasted really good. No need to scratch around in the kitchen on my return home.

There was a lot to like about the Jole Rider Cotswold Sportive: it had friendly organisers, a great venue and a challenging course. As with any new event there were some minor teething problems, but I'm sure lessons will be learned and the second event will graduate with honours.

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