Pedal Norfolk is a three day cycling event on the first May bank holiday weekend, hosted at Holkham Hall on the north Norfolk coast. Over the three days there are eight different sportive routes. I had signed up for the 100 miler on the Saturday, which promised a good run along the Norfolk coastline before heading inland and back to Holkham.
To say that my preparation for the ride had been imperfect is an understatement. I had flown back from a four day business trip to Toronto overnight on the Thursday, arriving at Heathrow at 6.30am and managing about two hours sleep. After taking the children to school, I managed a couple more hours of kip before doing a bit of work and then picking up the kids and driving them up to Norwich, a journey I probably should have realised was going to take three and a half hours on the Friday night of a bank holiday weekend. By Saturday morning I was fairly exhausted and a 6.15am alarm call was not particularly welcome. As the rain started falling as I drove up towards the north Norfolk coast, I did slightly question my sanity.
Arriving at Holkham, I found there were plenty of other sportive riders busily trying to work out how many layers they would need for the ride. The forecast had not promised rain and I was not alone in trying to work out whether I needed a rain jacket and tights. With the temperature hovering at a chilly four degrees I decided to go for the extra protection. Registration was pretty speed in the marquee that that also doubled as Pooley's Bar, for evening refreshments.
Emma Pooley is local to the area and supports the event heavily by riding 250 miles over the weekend, being the subject of a Q&A session on the Saturday night (where I had been invited to interview her but sadly had to turn down because of a prior engagement) and generally hanging around talking to riders and their families.
We were given a quick briefing on the ride by the organisers and then Emma Pooley said a few words before we were sent off into the Norfolk mist (although it was starting to clear up a bit by now). I guess there were about 100 riders doing the 100 miles, although possibly there were more who set off later and were still asleep in their tents (there was a decent sized campsite with a lot of tents up for those who wanted to make an uncomfortable weekend of it).
Filled with enthusiasm, I went off at a pace and was making my way past groups of riders as we rode out through the grounds of Holkham Hall. For those who don't know it, Holkham is the home of the Earl of Leicester and is an 18th century Palladian country house which is really magnificent. You couldn't get much grander a place to start a sportive from. Sadly, the 7th Earl of Leicester had only just died and had been buried the day before Pedal Norfolk began, meaning that those working on the estate were definitely slightly downbeat at the death of their employer.
About a mile in I found myself being overtaken by a peloton of riders so I jumped on the back and held on for dear life. They were going fairly speedily and several times I glanced down to find that we were going a steady 41km/h, which is quite a lot faster than I am used to, jetlagged or not. I also found that I was very definitely over-dressed for that pace and after about 40 minutes was starting to boil alive. Still, the option was either to tuck in at the back and allow stronger riders at the front to suffer in the headwind (of which one I am pretty sure was Emma Pooley) or to ease up and find myself suffering alone from the sea breeze.
I managed to survive as part of the group for 80 minutes before the elastic finally snapped and I couldn't keep the pace up. As the peloton disappeared into the distance I wondered how long I would be riding on my own with over 65 miles still to complete.
Fortunately there was a feed station shortly after that point and after a banana and a top quality flapjack (I was tempted by a pot of prawns from the fish stall next door on the sea front but it was a little early in the morning and I didn't really want to deal with the effects of a dodgy prawn in the middle of the Norfolk countryside) I felt revived enough to keep up with another group of cyclists who had stopped to feed. They were good club cyclists and the pace was strong enough to challenge me. This time I managed to stay on with them (and even take the very occasional turn on the front) for about another 12 miles before the elastic snapped again. When I realised that I definitely wasn't going to keep up with them I stopped, took off my rain jacket (which was far, far too heavy for the conditions which had warmed up considerably), had a banana and decided to wait and see if anyone would come past that I could ride with. After about three minutes it appeared there was no one so I set off again.
About 8 miles further along the road I caught up another rider, a London-based fund manager called Benjy. It was his first ever sportive and he'd set off with the front group and smashed the first two hours of riding. We cycled together for a while and after chatting for a bit it was clear that he was really suffering. Turns out that not only had he not brought any food to keep himself going but he also had no water because his bike didn't have any bottle cages. He'd done pretty well to get that far, I thought, but it was probably a good thing that I offered him a Torq fruit bar otherwise I fear he'd never have got to the second feed stop.
We cycled together to the feed stop next to the River Bure by the Rising Sun pub in Coltishall, 65 miles into the ride. It was an excellent and pretty riverside location for a stop and extremely well equipped, including plenty of jelly babies, Haribo and even salt and vinegar crisps. There was also mechanical support from Fatbirds, the local bike shop from Hunstanton, Norfolk that organises the entire event. Emma Pooley used to be on Team Fatbirds slightly more than a decade ago, hence their ability to call on her for the weekend. With that and their specialism in hand-built titanium frames, they definitely have a point of differentiation from the average local bike shop.
My new friend Benjy and I set off from the feed stop and clearly the energy intake had given him a new lease of life. At one point I had to suggest that he rode 'tempo' to be sure that he would actually last the 100 miles home but I suspect that was partly because I was already feeling pretty knackered myself! We picked up another straggler and then suddenly found that we had somehow gone off route. The ride had been incredibly well marked up until then and it was something of a surprise to find that we were in the wrong place, at a junction with no signs. Some frantic peering at mobile phone maps, followed by three more riders joining us at the junction, meant we worked out where we had gone wrong and we set off to try and get back on course.
Fortunately it turned out that we had only gone about three miles in the wrong direction and we were able to rejoin the correct route shortly after Reepham. We rode together for a while and then Benjy and one of the other riders pulled clear and I was left to ride the last 15 miles back to Holkham on my own. With about 10 miles to go I could see in the distance that another rider was closing on me so I had the incentive to keep up the pace and ensure I was not passed.
The ride finishes going down the main drive from the south gate of Holkham Hall and the view as you come towards the house is spectacular and very beautiful. It was a fitting way to end the ride, although better was to come when straight after the finishing line I (and all other finishers) were handed a bottle of reviving Adnams beer.
Total ride time came in at 6:22 and thanks to the slight diversion I covered 168 km (104.5 miles) and total ascent was 919 metres (3,015), showing that Norfolk is not quite as flat as its reputation would have you believe. Not an especially fast effort (26.4km/hour average) but I was happy enough for an early season ride and given my energy levels.
I'd definitely come back and ride Pedal Norfolk again. It was very well organised, well signed throughout (I am sure someone removed a sign rather than it was badly put up or blown off) and reasonably good value at £37.50 (if you rode the full three day 250 mile challenge the total cost came in at £90). The weather was not perfect for camping (spaces were £20 per night for up to a five person tent or £25 for a camper van) but on a warm weekend it would be a fantastic place to stay, especially if you went for the glamping options. For those who didn't want to ride the long sportives there were 50 and 20 mile routes and there were plenty of events to keep children occupied too, including a giant deckchair, ramps to ride on and plenty of food trucks. A really good East Anglian cycling event.
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