The East Midlands Meander was quite a toughie - 3OOK/1AAA. Started in Nottingham then went up through the Peak District to Glossop, then back south through the Peaks to somewhere I don't recall the name of (a village a little south and about 40 miles east of Nottingham), then around to the south of Nottingham before heading back. The first 25 miles was fine - a nice fast flattish bash, but then, in mid- conversation, I suddenly found myself gasping - we'd hit a 1 in 5 without my noticing it coming up. Thereafter it was a really hard slog - very lumpy, and a long long grind over Snake Pass, before a whizzo descent into Glossop. I was knackered, but pleased with my time of four and a half hours for the 99K, especially in view of the terrain - about 1500m of climbing. At Glossop I didn't fancy queueing for food and the service was slow anyway (I later found out that the staff were in a really bad mood because they'd just had 60 consecutive orders for beans on toast and a pot of tea :-), so I hung about in the sunshine for twenty minutes for a couple of fags and half a malt loaf.
The ride so far had been pretty gruelling, but I wasn't too concerned as it was only 44K to the next control where I intended to have a proper stop. Then someone remarked as they set off: "Now for the hard bit". Oh dear. The climb out of Glossop was granny gear all the way for several miles - I had to stop twice for a rest! Then more up and down, up and down - it was quite relentless. Needless to say the scenery was quite spectacular, but I was suffering. I did manage to keep going though, and only one or two riders passed me en route which helped to keep my spirits from flagging totally. I caught a rider who was pleased to be able to do "three or four", Audax rides a year, and was blown away by this being my twelveth ride this year. That chuffed me no end of course!
The next control was in a picturesque village square where I had my promised proper stop and some real food. I was a bit gonzo when I arrived, but I had a couple of hours in hand and the knowledge that after 147K and 2500m of climbing I was half way around with most of the climbing done. True, I did still have 150K to do, and another 1000m of climbing, but I felt refreshed if a bit stiff as I left. At this point my route sheet was unusable due to poor printing (!) so I set off with another rider whose name turned out to be John. He was good company which helped keep my spirits up, and we were going at about the same pace although held forgotten to change his chainrings for the ride and having only a 38xl5 smallest gear, had to honk up all the hills leaving me behind. John waited for me though and kept me supplied with wine gums to keep my spirits up :-)
The next control at 220K was wonderful - run by a team of experienced AUK controllers. It was at the house of the lady who makes the AUK jerseys (Margaret Hopper). Food was very promptly delivered and at amazing prices: 15p for all the tea and coffee you wanted, homemade cakes 10p each, beans or eggs or cheese on toast 20p. a packet of home made buscuits to take away for 25p. Ironically, in my case the quick service was a bit pointless: as soon as a cup of tea had been thrust into my hand I just crashed out flat on my back on the lawn for 10 minutes before moving again. After some proper food I set off for the last 80K - no real climbing left and still with plenty of time in hand - perhaps an hour and a half.
Unfortunately I missed a turning and got off course which had me worried for a while, but after 20 minutes of dawdling and asking directions, I noticed two flo yellow jerseys coming up behind me much to my relief! It turned out to be a rider - a non-stop chatterbox - who'd befriended me on the Elenith (I think) and a local rider. on previous rides I'd deliberately avoided this guy, but fortunately he was a bit subdued on this occasion and his mate was pleasant enough too. Later however his mate turned out to be an incredible bore telling us all sorts of boring details about where we were riding: "this bit of road is nice and flat", "that house is where we stop on our club rides" .... Please! I really wanted to ride on my own, but there were plenty of twists and turns in the route and my route sheet was still unusable so I carried on with the local man.By the last control at 250K I was very tired and it was now dark enough to warrant lights. We had an 8-mile drag to an information control, but we burned this off quite well. The last 10 miles into Nottingham was very hard for me though. Weld decided to take the "quick" rather than "quiet", route which meant the Nottingham ring road. We thought this would be quiet enough at midnight. Bzzt! It was very busy with Saturday night revellers speeding by, and we had to make dangerous lane changes every mile or so - I felt like this was the kind of thing that would end up on police video as an illustration of the stupid things people do.
I bonked with one mile to go! The guys were kind enough to wait with me while I had a 5 minute rest flat out on the pavement - I was especially glad of this since the finish was in the middle of a labyrinthine housing estate, and didn't I didn't fancy trying to find it on my own.
In at 12.50am. We'd started at 7am (not 6am as usual), so a creditable 17 hours 50 minutes for a 300 with 3500m climbing. I was very pleased to finish at all though - I'm not sure I'd choose to do it again! (Famous last words?)
© Kilgore's Enterprises February 1997