It is a rare treat to be able to ride two sportives in a weekend but with the early May bank holiday weekend offering two different events in Norfolk and my parents-in-law living in Norwich, I was given a free pass to ride the Norwich Cycle Swarm.
The luxury of having a sportive start less than a mile from their front door is quite something, meaning that I only had to get up at 7am for an 8am start at Carrow Road, the home of Norwich City.
Having ridden the Pedal Norfolk 100 mile sportive two days earlier, it was interesting to see the contrast in the type of riders and also the organisation of the two sportives. The Norwich Swarm was much more low key and the average rider seemed to be a good deal heavier than the ones I had encountered up in Holkham. They also seemed to be quite a bit happier and excited about riding the event and I think there were a good number riding a sportive for the first time.
Given my tiredness levels (I had flown back from Canada on the Thursday evening) I thought it was more sensible to ride the 70 mile route rather than the 100 miler (there was also a 35 miler on offer).
Arriving at the start line everything was slightly chaotic with lots of people registering, running off to the loo, eating last minute bananas and pumping up tyres. I had failed to receive my registration in the post but a new number was handed out without question and after the usual faff with safety pins - on my initial attempt I managed to pin my jersey to my base layer in two places - I was ready to go. I had thought the 70 miler was starting at 8am but there seemed to be a group going at 7.50am so I thought I would head off with them.
I quickly found a group from the Rock Estate Triathlon Club in Lowestoft and put myself on the back of it as we made our way out of Norwich. The outskirts of Norwich are not ideal for cyclists, even early on a Bank Holiday Monday, but we made decent progress and formed into a pace line going a good clip. There was one hairy moment when someone at the front of the group made a very late decision to stop at a pedestrian crossing and I found myself doing a back wheel skid while drinking while holding a water bottle in one hand. It could have been a disaster but I managed to hold it together and not knock down the triathletes like skittles. I am glad to report that several of them lived up to triathletes' reputations for bike handling, especially when going round roundabouts.
We kept up a good pace, heading east of out of Norwich to Little Plumstead before heading almost due north out of Norwich towards Scottow and then north east towards the coast. Unfortunately for me we were averaging about 35km/hour, which is just a bit too pacey for me and after about 40 minutes of riding I was dropped. Perhaps later in the season I'd have been fine but in early May without enough training under my belt it wasn't working. It at last gave me a chance to enjoy the beautiful countryside and I must say that the roads the Swarm organisers had chosen to use were very pretty and remarkably traffic free. The sun had also come out and the lack of companionship was not a problem.
About 80 minutes into the ride came the first feed station where I downed a banana, some jelly beans and used the facilities. A variety of other riders had caught up by them so I had a few people to ride with on the next part of the route until it split at the 70/100 mile course point. By the time I reached the Norfolk coast at Happisburgh I had caught three other riders and we joined up and rode up the coast to Mundesley. I seemed to be doing quite a lot of the work on the front, especially on the uphill sections. One of the other riders did a turn or two but there was one chap who decided that he would sit quietly on the uphill and then immediately disappear off the front as it became flat again and then find himself caught next time there was an uphill section. I decided not to lecture him on etiquette of small group riding but it was a bit irritating.
Just north of Mundesley we headed south back to Norwich and again we were on some very pretty roads, all relatively traffic free. Irritatingly I found that my right toes were starting to cramp and despite adjusting my shoe it didn't seem to make a difference. My riding companions stopped at a feed station but with the prospect of Sunday lunch back in Norwich I decided to crack on. The cramp however started to get very painful and my companions soon caught up and overtook. I decided that I had to stop, so I did and took off my sock, only to find that the cramp was being caused by the sock riding up and cutting off my circulation. A fruit bar and some water later the pain had all gone and I was happily riding the last 20km so back into Norwich.
Although the last little bit of the route was on my own I was happy enough as I was not in pain and I had the aim of completing the course in under four hours. I was on track to do so until I got to the outskirts of Norwich where a combination of ridiculously bad luck on traffic lights and the lack of consideration for cyclists by Norfolk drivers (do they ever think that someone might want to pass them on the inside?) made sure I missed my self imposed deadline.
I completed the course (111.59km) in 4:02:10 for an average speed of 27.6 km/h and a total elevation of 507 metres (1663 feet), which was respectable but no more. The two riding companions who I had ridden with along the coast had finished about 180 seconds ahead of me and I had a quick chat with them before they headed off to their cars.
A very small number of riders had completed at that stage and I could happily have partaken of a free massage or had a commemorative photo taken, although I chose to do neither. I could also have had a beer in Norwich City football club or a coffee or burger from a posh looking food van who had come for the occasion. Instead I decided to head home to my family, who seemed rather surprised I had finished so early.
The Norwich Swarm was a really good event, well organised and well signed. The organisers, Cycle Swarm, don't have timing chips or roadside photographers or showers at the finish but I don't think most riders need this. They do however have good mechanical support and motorcylists who go along the route to help out anyone who has a mechanical. I liked the fact it was quite low key and very friendly and they should be supported. Cycle Swarm have events in Ipswich, Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds as well as a ride from Norwich to Paris and, based on the Norwich version, I would definitely recommend them.
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