Locatiom - Holkham Hall, Norfolk
Date - 21 July 2024
Much to my disappointment, this is my first gravel event of 2024, it's been a rubbish year for riding with all the rain, which is a shame as my fitness is probably at a all time high
I entered this a couple of months ago, seemed like a good idea at the time, but got doubt into my head as it meant getting up early and driving to the coast for a 8am start, not a big deal I hear you say, but early starts and cars really feed my agoraphobia. VC Norwch had posted that a few were doing the event, but I didn't commit as wasn't 100% sure that I would do the event
Early Start
I was awake early, and my initial thoughts were, just go for a group ride, thankfully that didn't last long, and I had got all my stuff ready the night before, so didn't have to organise myself to much, of course I had to leave by 6:30am, but didn't manage to get away until 6:45, it didn't make a lot of difference in the end Got to the lovely Holcham Hall in north norfolk around 7:50am, a little "anxious" but all good, got myself ready and headed to the start line, thankfully the race number and arm band had been sent through in advance, did have to sign in, but that was a farly quick process and the number was already on the bike
Walked into the others from VC Norwch and we all ready to ride at about the same time (after I had removed the anxiety from the drive up from my body ;-) )
The Ride
A fairly casual start, well it couldn't have been to fast from the road block caused by the ducks, well I suppose it was their home and we were just passing through
Started in rain jackets, wasn't raining hard but enough that you didn't want to get wet for the entire day, but these started to come off shortly
The first 7 or 8 miles were fairly casual, chatting and just riding steady, I was fairly happy with this as I'd had a tough week training and done a Zwift race the day before
This was my first real ride with the new saddle (SLR boost gravel ti316 superflow) seemed to work fine and didn't suffer from the same numb nuts that I get with the road version, and the Zipp Service Course SL70 XPLR handlebars (seems I like products with long names) in 40, both seeme to work well , I was running a very norfolk 46T chainring with the XPLR, had no issues but don't think this will be one for scotland Anway, back to the ride, I think it was just best for everybody, but I decided to just settle into my own pace, although part of the package was the stops, I just didn't want to stop and although not a race, treat it like a race, can't say my pace was great, but I just kept going an my heart rate was fully in the Zone2/3
It felt pretty much like a solo ride, I didn't find a group and every time I caught somebody it was straight passed
Most of the route was fairly normal, felt a little underwelming to be honest, some of the mud around the half way mark was just scary, there was no purchase, no grip and a lot of slidding, although thats part of the journey, it didn't fill me joy
After Thoughts
Felt good to have ridden straight through, but finished with back ache and a lot of water left over, think a better strategy would be to put less water in the camel back, more weight on the bike and stop very briefly at the food stations to check my fluid and take a little insulin and eat some more food on the bike The course was OK, I can't say it left me feeling that I wanted more of that, flattered grass and deep rutted farmers tracks don't make for the most interesting of days in the saddle
Comments