The Reigate Rouleur is an event I had my heart set on for a while. I had sufficiently recovered from the trauma of the Stelvio to the extent where the sight of an upward-facing stretch of tarmac no longer caused me to curl up in a quivering heap. The week leading up to the sportive had delivered lots of lovely warm weather and the Tour de France was in full swing - the ITV4 highlights providing me with all the evening stimulation that I could hope for to emulate the heroics of Nibali and get over the pain of Froome and Contador. It was definitely on: Sunday was the day, the Rouleur was the event.
The Reigate Rouleur offered three routes this year, the most ambitious of which was a 136K foray in to the Sevenoaks Weald - home to the dreaded Ide Hill. Due to a prior arrangement (convenient) and previous experience of those Kentish Hills (painful), I opted for the more sedentary 100K route - which would have left me enough time and energy to get out to my friends BBQ and enough of an excuse to stock up on semi cooked protein without feeling guilty.
First the good news - parking and facilities were excellent. There was excellent signage to the car park, where I found ample spaces and slick sign-on. Due to my love of Sunday morning lie-ins I was one of the last riders to leave and there was a distinct lack of pre ride briefing. This mattered not, and neither could the menacingly dark clouds detract from the performance enhancing effect of Paul Sherwen and Phil Ligget that was still coursing around my veins.
The course started with a 10k ride through the urban heartland of Reigate, with the familiar sights - Sunday morning dog walkers, paper lads and the odd walk of shame - before the nitty gritty started. A lovely scenic route then ensued, taking riders past Nutfield Priory round to Lingfield and on to Hever Castle, where we were treated to a first-class view of a highly competitive triathlon taking place. No, we weren't the only warriors out on the roads this morning. The Crawley Wheelers were also out on a charity ride and offered some encouragement as the mid route took on a taster of what the Kent/Surrey borderlands have to offer.
There may not be any vicious cobbles set among the rich agricultural lands of the Home Counties but this year's edition of the Tour clearly had some influence on the organisers of the Reigate Rouleur. The Southern Sportive route planners felt inspired to include one last final kick. Where the people of Sheffield have world famous steel and Jenkin Road, the citizens of Reigate can point to E-Sure and Coniston Way as a proving ground for aspiring hill climbers. In fact, there is no hand rail on the side to help pedestrians ascend this nasty brutish climb - just pure, grin-and-bear-it southern grit. It has been rumoured that the girls from Sheila's Wheels regularly test themselves against this hill - so beat that Sheffield.
And so it was over the finish line and a surprising Gold for me - 100k and a tad over 1000m ascent completed in a BBQ-busting time of 3:30. I was just in time to get showered and race over to rehydrate and fulfil my nutritional requirements. The Rouleur was well signed, with an excellent route and great feed stations. I will definitely be returning for next year's edition.
0 Comments