I've challenged myself to cycle through the winter for the first time this year and I'm looking for all the motivation I can muster. Stumbling across the Performance Cycles Winter Mini-Sportive Series turned out to be a happy accident.
Performance Cycles are based in Cirencester and are the self-styled "Cotswolds' number one cycling shop". The Winter Series consists of one mini-sportive running every month from October to March. Each event is only £8.50 to enter and includes parking, showers/changing facilities, route signage, mechanical support and free hot food and drink at the end. To keep the costs so competitive there are no food stations on the route and no electronic timing.
I entered the second event in the series on Sunday 16 November. There were two routes of 45 miles and 65 miles. The course is subject to change up to the day of the ride due to the weather, but I received a GPS MapMyRide download as an email a couple of days before. You can decide on the day which route to take, or even once out on the course depending how you feel.
Despite rain building up to the event and overnight, the day itself was dry. All of the sportives in the series start at the Cotswold Water Park in Cirencester. This appeared to be a series of lakes used for water activities, but there was only one brave soul in a wetsuit when I arrived at 8:15am. Registration started from 8:30am, with the ride due to go at 9:00am. The untarmaced drive to the parking had some potholes so deep they could have passed for another lake in the park. There were stewards on hand to direct the parking in an adjacent field. Traversing the potholes with my bike wasn't the easiest, but registration was straightforward as there were no numbers to attach to bike or helmet. A map containing an emergency number was available to each rider along with a free energy gel. Changing facilities were basic but did the job. The men's block had a small changing area and three showers.
Numbers for each ride are apparently limited to 150 but people were signing up on the day, and there were plenty of places to secure your bike whilst grabbing a hot drink prior to the off. One short, verbal briefing to all riders took place just after 9:00am and then it was a mass start along the quiet country lanes with no changes to the planned course. The initial big group soon split into smaller pockets of riders. The route for the first 40 miles turned out to be mainly flat with the odd shallow slope up and down, nothing that could really be described as a hill or a descent of any severity. The scenery was typical for the edge for the Cotswolds, with country lanes occasionally broken by small villages and hamlets such as Shipton Moyne and Sherston.
I found myself in a group of about ten riders and felt so good that I took the lead and brought the group up to another two riders who had been a couple of hundred metres ahead. This group then ebbed and swelled until it reached about 30 at one time. I was carried along with it but felt that I was going faster then I normally would, although I wasn't out of breath.
I'd made sure I packed plenty of food but I only had my two water bottles to last me the distance. There were opportunities to stop and buy more drinks in village shops but I rejected those as I was having fun riding in the ad hoc peloton.
Around the 40-mile mark the routes split and I took the longer course. There was a sudden sharp and steep descent near a viaduct. Although the weather was dry the roads were wet and mucky so at one point I wasn't sure that my brakes were going to do the business. Barely surviving that crisis, the main hill of the day then came into view. At this point I realised that my earlier speed on the flat had left me ill-prepared for the ascent, and it was a struggle to get up. The group disintegrated almost immediately and I only saw a couple of riders for the next few miles once I had reached the top. The rest of the course was generally flat as before and I arrived back at base just after 1:00pm.
At the end there was a variety of cakes along with tea, coffee and bacon baps which were all included in the entry fee. Les Slinn Personal Training from Swindon were also on hand with a Wattbike for anyone who wanted to give it a go. They were running a competition to find the rider who could generate the most power in six seconds, with the prize of a free power test and analysis session. I watched a couple of guys burn off their energy reserves but didn't partake myself.
I really enjoyed the mini-sportive. The atmosphere was relaxed and the price was definitely right. I hope to be back for the majority of the rest of the series which are on 14 December; 11 January; 8 February and 8 March. The web address is www.performancecycles.co.uk, and the same team are also behind the Santini Cotswold Spring Classic which will take place next Easter Monday, 6 April 2015.
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