Review: Highclere Castle Sportive...

Great day. Good ride. Great Result. This is a great part of the country and the organisers had picked out a scenic route through some pretty quiet country lanes.

Here are my stats:

Dist: 187.8 km.
Elapsed Time: 6:42:08 = 28.0 kph.
Ride Time: 6:27:55 = 29.0 kph.
Max Speed: 63.9 kph.
Av HR: 145. Max HR: 168.
Av Cad: 91. Max Cad: 127.
Ascent: 2,528m.
Energy: 5,215 KCals.

And how this compares with the previous sportives…
Highclere = 187.8km with 2528m ascent (13.5m/km). Speed = 29.0.
Chiltern = 156.9km with 2625m ascent (16.7m/km). Speed = 27.3.
SWRC = 139.1km with 1783m ascent (12.8m/km). Speed = 26.4.

Leg1: Highclere Castle to Sparsholt
69km, 2:13:12, 31.1 kph, rank 132.

There were 400 riders were entered for the longer 117mile (188k) route so it was buzzing at the start. We were set off at twenty-or-so every couple of minutes and were able to immediately form a group. The pace from the outset was really fast, however, I was feeling good and enjoying being part of a large bunch moving along at speed. And pretty soon we arrived at the first feed station. I eat cake, grabbed a banana for my jersey pocket and filled two bottles with High5. And we were off…

Leg2: Sparsholt to Petersfield
54km, 2:08:01, 25.3 kph, rank 148.

Leaving the feed station it became apparent that feed station had broken up the group that we had been working in. This left a dilemma; wait for a group, or head up the road and wee what happens. The problem with waiting is that it is (i) lost time and (ii) you don’t know when there will be a decent group. So we pushed on. This second section was hillier, tougher & much slower. There seemed to be very few groups so spent much of our time in very small groups or working by ourselves. In the latter stages of the section a group of four guys riding together came through and we stuck with them until the feed station.

Leg3: Petersfield to Highclere Castle
64km, 2:20:53, 27.1kph, rank 62.

I don’t remember much about the third section. I think it was a little flatter, but by now my legs had gone and I was in a dark place... Fortunately we were able to find a group that contained a few stronger riders, and I dug deep to hold their wheel for as long as possible. Shameless – maybe. Necessary – certainly. Finally, we pulled into the Highclere estate and the finish was at last in sight.

Result:
We came home in 6:42:06 which is 6 minutes under the time for the gold standard. Absolutely delighted. My first sportive gold !!



In terms of performance I am really chuffed with this result. Not just achieving the gold standard (remember only managed Bronze at SWRC in May and Silver at The Chiltern 100 a week ago), but also the pace that we achieved. To achieve 28kph and come in 95th out of 379 finishers in very pleasing.

However, I’m disappointed with fading over the last third. I am putting it down to two things: (i) Saturday’s three hour ride. I should have rested and will be making sure that I have proper rest before the Dragon ride & Etape. And (ii) Bonking. In retrospect I think I got the hunger knock after my fuelling strategy went by the wayside. I can’t afford this to happen again.