Cheshire cat 100 miles 2010

A good number of us from the North Cheshire Clarion resplendent in our distinctive garb graced the start line/queue on a cool but dry morning. The aim of today was to treat the ride as a glorified club run complete with club peloton, signaling, the full club run thing, we rode at a steady pace, we wanted to complete not compete...

Start time was 8.30 but by the time we crossed the timing mat it was 9.10 and we were itching to go.

A fast start with the majority of us all together set a good pace riding out of Crewe heading south and then east towards Mow Cop 16 miles in. The roads were fairly uneventful leading to Mow Cop, a few small hills to get everything warmed up and then we hit the level crossing of Mow Cop and with a quick stop for a gel and a wee (needless weight) it was on with the climb. I adopted my usual slow pace climbing for the first 3/4 of the climb and I've got to say I found it definitely not as difficult as previously, my breathing was fine and I wasn't panting like a dog, I passed a few slower riders and some that walked it (just like I did last year) and just kept on with the slow grind upwards. On the way up and directly behind me I heard a loud shout and a crash as two or more riders smacked the tarmac but I didn't look behind to see what had happened as I needed to concentrate on my own pathway as I navigated between slower riders and the walkers - the crash did sound nasty though...

My plan which I now regret was to not even attempt the 25% - I didn't think it was worth the risk of damaging my new bike in the event of a crash which was possible with the shear number of people on the climb and endorsed with seeing or hearing riders crashing or coming to a stop and falling over, so I coasted to a stop a yard up the 25% and walked. Now, right now I'm kicking myself, I had the strength and my breathing was fine in fact my highest heart rate reading anywhere on the ride was 180, nowhere near my max of 191, WHY DIDN'T I HAVE A GO!!!!

After Mow Cop came the long descent where I reached 42 mph, good going considering the numptyness of some riders who weave all over the place in front of you or those that zip passed you head down arse up barely missing your elbow. It was here some where on this descent I believe someone was hurt as reported on one of the bike forums I browse...

After the descent and approx 5 miles on came two more hills, Blacky Bank and The Bridestones and having ridden them on the Mow Cop recce ride we did a couple of weeks ago I knew what to expect so again a slow plodding got me up fairly easily...

After the hills and approx 24 miles in came the first feed stop with well stocked supplies of foodstuff - bananananas, Viennese whirls and pastry's and also about 20 portaloos which is a big improvement on zilch from last year. It's here awaiting the loo that we lost most of the NCC, they took off before us so myself and two others rode the next 25 miles until the next feed stop apart from the NCC peloton...

The next challenge that came quite soon after the food stop was the climbing of Barlow hill (called 'steep gradient' on the route profile) and Wincle. A downhill section and then you were immediately on the first climb as you navigated a tight left hand 90' bend - lots of crunching noises as panicked riders quickly crunched their way down through gears. I had previously ridden these two climbs on last years Cat so knew it was coming and as soon as I saw the hairpin I changed down in readiness. Again a nice steady pace got me to the top and I'm glad to say without too much effort, I went past a few riders who were out of the seat giving it loads but barely moving and panting oooh yes panting just like I was last year (what a difference a year makes) however I developed a slight problem; my seat decided to tilt backwards on Barlow hill and that pointy bit aint half painful when it's poking you in places it shouldn't, didn't help that as well as riding up hill I was slowly sliding backwards off the saddle!!!

After Barlow and a saddle fix came Wincle (again not too bad) and it's here at the top that we came across club member Willy Van Der Jon (is that his real name?) sat in his car taking photo's so we pulled over for a quick chat and a regroup. You can see Jons photo's here

After the hills came a headwind as we headed south west that punished us all but stoically we plodded on. Not much to remember on this stretch except approx 40 miles in I had shooting cramps in my thighs as I rose out of my seat to get past a slower rider on a hill - what was all that about!!! 40 miles and cramps? That's never happened before, 70 miles yes, 40 miles never... Needless to say my buttocks stayed firmly clamped to my saddle until the next food stop which was just a few miles down the road and it's here we caught up with our brethren. A quick water bottle fill, a bite to eat and off we set again into the headwind but this time travelling in a large group however it was still tough going, I remember at around the 60 mile mark I was feeling really tired and was suffering but that didn't last long as I seemed to get my 2nd wind and was now really enjoying myself except for a pain in the base of my neck that had slowly crept up on me.



Our speed at this point travelling into the headwind was only averaging 15 mph but my heart rate was down from 150-160 to 130-140 bpm travelling within the NCC peloton. Soon we were heading south towards Malpas and the last feed stop at 75 miles. A bite to eat, a bottle refill and a couple of paracetamol's that took the edge off the pain and we were off again for the last leg and it's here as we swung north east that our speed rose seeing 20+ mph on the flat on numerous occasions, there was even a few shouts of' 'PACE' to be heard from the back!!!

90 miles in and our spirits visibly rose realising that it was nearly done, those last few miles again saw our speed rise and I'm sure there was a few spurts going on with the finish line in our minds - we all wanted to come in first but seeing as we rode as a group, we came in over the mats as a group. So that was that all over and time to go home, I didn't get my medal but I did ride all the hills bar that 50 yards of Mow Cop so I am mostly pleased with myself, in hindsight I should have done all of Mow Cop but there's no point in whining about it now.... maybe next year....

(Photo by Andy W)

What I liked

• Great route
• Well organised
• Good stocks of food and drink
• Plenty of Portaloos
• Good start/end location, easy to travel to off the M6
• Plenty of parking in and around the stadium
• Great company

What I didn't like

• Lots of pushing towards the starting mats, didn't help having three queues merging down to one - queueing could have been better organised.
• Far too many riders converging on Mow Cop at any one time.

My Stats
103.27 miles, 7 hrs 10 min, Av speed 14.4 mph, 4403 ft climbing (Bikehike)

I'm a cheeky Boy

I did something cheeky & sneaky yesterday, wasn't intentional but it happened. I was looking at the Kilotogo website and noticed the Cheshire Cat 2010 page was up with all the rides listed with profiles, GPX's etc and an entry button - this was on Friday, two days before entries are to be opened officially. So clicked the button, paid my money and I was in for the 100 mile version starting from Crew this time rather than last years Knutsford. Got my email confirmations, went back onto the Kilotogo website to see my name on the entered page but I was the only one - strange, I thought there would be at least a dozen or so. Went back a few minutes later to find all those pages had been pulled off the net, I'm a little worried now so check my emails and notice that I had an email from the Kilotogo organiser saying;

Hi Mark - That was slick! We're just doing a few tweaks to the website getting ready for entries opening on Sunday and you crept in and only went and entered the Cheshire Cat. We opened entries for a few moments. Don't worry, you are in OK but hold the unique accolade of entering before entries actually open.

Lol, at the very least I can say that I came first in the Cat, certainly not on the ride itself but definitely in something.

Looking at the routes and profiles for both the 67 and 100 mile rides, the hills start 16 miles in with Mow Cop being the first and Wincle the last but no Macclesfied Forest this time. Last year the 100 miler had nearly 60 miles of Cheshire flat before hitting the hills, 2010's version will be reversed with a 16 mile run in to the hills with the the flats coming last.

Although I've signed up for the 100 miler my plan is if I'm not up for the full fat version after the hills it's easy to bail out onto the 67 mile semi-skimmed and miss the final 27 miles of flat.

Here's a video preview of the 'legendary' Mow Cop. It doesn't do the gradients justice - you will notice by how much when you actually do ride the hill.

The Cheshire Cat revisited Aug 7 2009

With the acquisition of a Garmin 205 the much awaited re-run of the Cheshire Cat was on the cards. Now the Garmin is a simple device - it does not come with any maps nor can you buy or load any. What you do get besides the usual normal bike computer info - speed, distance, laps etc is a gps device that partnered with a route planner such as Bikehike is great for giving you enough basic info in order for you to navigate your route. You get an icon that represents you in the middle of the screen and a black line that represents your route, put your icon on the black line, follow the line and you are on course. Simple.

Anyway with the Garmin loaded with the 66mile route we (me & Phil) set off from Knutsford heading south. Nothing to report for the first 20 miles just flat roads all the way. Stopped for a banana and a photo a couple of miles away from 'Mount Doom' then with some trepidation we set off to do some hill conquering. Approaching the level crossings that marks the start of the so called 'killer mile' we were psyched up for the climb only to be stopped in our tracks by the barriers being down. A couple of minutes later we set off again. The road starts to ramp up fairly quickly after the level crossing then its nearly three quarters of a mile with gradients of around 10 to 15% with no letup.

The last time I rode Mow Cop I walked but this time I was determined to beat it, and beat it I did. A steady climbing pace got me to the really hard bit. On the 25% gradient by the pub there was a bin wagon coming down. One of the bin men saw me coming. By the time I reached him half way up the 25% I was panting like a dog barely staying upright and he said laughing as I went past "you must be #@%^#ing mad", panting like Meg Ryan in When Harry met Sally all I could splutter was "yes.... yes.... yes........... definitely". After the 25% the climb continues for a couple hundred yards at around 8-10% which does feel like it's flat after the 25% but obviously it's not - but that's it... done...finished...Mow Cop conquered. Give me my medal...

Moving on past Mow Cop the only hill that caused me any real problems was Macclesfield Forest. This time there was no ice unlike the previous time we attempted it but the final 50 yards had me beat, my legs could handle it but my heart felt like it was about to explode - I was starting to see venus, jupiter, mars, pluto and every other star and planet in the universe so I caved in before I fell off. I did manage all the other hills though so well chuffed.

A great ride albeit a slow one, the weather was good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to next years official Cheshire Cat in March.

Stats

Time 5:08, Av Speed 12.9, 5490ft climbing

2009 Sportives Sportive No1 March - The Cheshire Cat

In 2008 when I first took up cycling, sportives were not on any agenda of mine. Sportives are for the good cyclists not newbies such as myself - it took me absolutely ages to build up my mileage to any sort of level I would call half decent, but you know what they say about tiny acorns and all that. From a few laps around the block to my first ever 10 miles then 20 eventually hitting 50 miles!!. I have a picture somewhere where I am sat on a bench in Walton Gardens half way around my first 25 miler where I have a wry happy smile on my face because these gardens had been a goal for a long time and you know how happy you are when you do eventually reach a target (and then get home).

In December 2008 on a whim I signed up for the Cheshire Cat medium length 66 miler and persuaded riding pal and hill climbing beast in the making Phil to sign up also, so over the next few months we put in a lot of miles and sought out the hills in our area in preparation.

Come the end of March this is what I wrote on the Bike Radar forums after we had completed the Cheshire Cat :

Did the 66 miller, at some points, many points if I was to be honest, all I was thinking was NEVER AGAIN!!!, I was disappointed with myself - walked up Mow Cop and Macclesfield Forest and a couple of other places ..... My ride time was 4:40 according to my bike computer but overall was 6:17 - an hour and 40 min stoppage time, something to improve on the next time - even though I vowed I would never ever put myself through that torture again....

The best part for me was the 20 mile run in home after Swiss Hill, 20 miles in a small group with speeds between 20-25 mph. The route signs were mostly OK except for the first right hand turn off the first main road we came to - didn't see it... No water at the first feed station but apart from that it was well organised. Disappointed there was no certificate of completion at the end...

All in all it was an enjoyable event, the weather was great, the descents were scary at times especially the one at Lamaload (sp) where I was on the brakes all the way down (NapoleonD's broken leg was constantly on my mind).

What have I learned from my first sportive? I'm not as fit as I need to be for an event such as this and I took far too much food with me, my pockets were bulging with the stuff.

Looking forward to next year

In hindsight it's obvious that I came over prepared - I had 4 Go-bars, 6 gels, a packet of jelly babies, 3 sachets of electrolyte powder as well as also being very overdressed. Phil & I drove to Knutsford nice and early hoping for an early quick start, we figured we would be spat out of the back of every group we latched onto and didn’t want be amongst the stragglers that come in really late hence the desire for an early kick off.

We did manage to be on the start line nice and early, the only downer for being so was nearly freezing to death waiting the 20 minutes for the off in the coldness of an early spring morning with the sun beaming. We were amongst the second group to start and set off within a nice big group. Inevitably we all splintered into smaller groups after a few miles but we were able to keep up with one group or another for much of the ride with some great speeds of between 18 to 25 mph all the way for the first 20 miles until the first food station - those miles flew by so quickly it was actually a shock to have to screech to a halt for food and water!!

After food n stuff - bannana's, sausage rolls and jam doughnuts, we set off for Mow Cop. It didn’t take long to arrive but what a shocker Mow Cop is if you haven't seen it before. After the level crossing on Station Rd before you hit the 25% bit, the road quickly ramps up and varies from around 10% to 15% for the first three quarters of a mile, however it didn't take long for me to click click out of my pedals and walk - what I beheld so early into the ride really disheartened me - to see the steepness of Mow Cop and realise there was another 4 or 5 big hills to come after it - Biddulph Moor, Barlow Hill, Macc Forest and Lamaload Reservoir - I lost all my willpower and determination, I was Samson and my hair had just been chopped. If there had been a broomwagon handy to take me home I would have jumped on it right there and then.

So I walked and walked - yes that's me in the shot walking up Mow Cop - and rounding that last bend - yikes, that 25% bit near the Pub looked like a giant chalkboard protruding out of the road!!! I walked it with calves screaming in pain. Mow Cop cost me £20 – the price for a new pair of cleats!!!









This photo taken by Phil (who was also walking at this point) does not do Mow Cop justice, the run up to the 25% bit looks pretty flat in this shot but it isn't believe me. You can see the 25%er in the distance by the pub on the left - looks like a jump jet take off ramp on HMS Invincible!!!

So was the completion of Mow Cop the end of the suffering? Was it buggery!!! More hills just around the corner than a little bit of a reprieve then hills hills and more hills and I had the pleasure of walking most of them. Even though there were obviously more hills besides Mow Cop on this ride you would have thought that Mow Cop was THE hill - after all it’s the hill the organisers choose to constantly highlight but NO the real killer hill came in Macclesfield Forest. Just like Mow Cop there is a gradual rise that kept on getting steeper to around 17% and then half way up to make matters harder than they need be there was a narrow band of ice across the road that caught some people out including me (who at point had been walking for a few hundred yards), I slipped on it as did others, then after the ice came the finishing blow - the road ramped up for about 50 yards to somewhere near 25%, it did near kill me pushing my bike up never mind riding it….

After Macc Forest came more hills whose names I have forgotten, some I managed, most I walked. The last hill of the day is a short but technically challenging hill called Swiss Hill in Alderley Edge, steepish and cobbled that would have called for a lot of bike handling skill if I had ridden it but I didn't - it was optional and I had had enough of walking that day. After Swiss hill it was the flat run in home and now I actually started to enjoy myself realising the suffering was over and all I had to do is see out the remaining miles. I finally finished tired, calves and cleat battered but had gotten myself a personal best of 66 miles and 5490 ft climbing for the bargain.

How did I feel after? Tired - very tired and drained but also filled with the elation that comes with the sense of achievement that comes after an event like this - sure, I didn't manage the hills but I had completed the distance and participated in my first ever proper Sportive and we each got an official Kilotogo pink Buff for our efforts. No medal though, that's for 2010 when I do manage to ride Mow Cop... (ps I love taking on hills now)

More on Mow Cop in a newer post....