This ever popular classic cycling event, promoted jointly by
Winchcombe CC and Cheltenham & County CC, starts from the picturesque
Cotswold Town of Winchcombe and 2015 is the 31st year of the event. The first event in 1984 was the brainchild of
the late Pat Smith and Tim Groom who had ridden the Paris-Roubaix sportif and
wanted to bring the flavour of that event to the Cotswolds. The event has taken
place in April each year except for two occasions. In 1986 it was abandoned due
to deep snow, making it impossible to travel and so it was postponed to
September. Also, in 2001, when we had the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, a
similar postponement also occurred. Last
year the event attracted over 1100 riders.
Sunny Cotswolds
The event is aimed at experienced
riders and there is a 100km route for the very experienced & fit
riders and a 50km route for those who know how just how tough the off-road
Cotswold Hills can be! Ollie and I
signed up for the 100km route (why ever not!?!) and managed to persuade Jon
Cranston to join us. We became a bit
worried about Jon completing the 100km option during a big carbo-loading pasta
meal the night before when he confessed that he had not had very much time to
train, but that we were not to worry as he had been out on his bike a couple of times to check that
everything worked! Respect to Cranners –
he completed the whole thing in under 10 hours with little more than a bit of
cramp in his back!
Half way treats!
The event was great fun. Ollie had a bit of sense of humour failure
coming back over Cleeve Hill in what were some pretty windy conditions, but otherwise he finished feeling good and no complaints from his ticker! I was happy – the conditions had been dry,
the Cotswold countryside was stunning (as always), the mid-point food station
was stocked with LOADS of REALLY TASTY snacks and I only had one annoying
puncture and a tiny bit of saddle sore.
I don’t think I’d want to do this event on a wet and muddy day, but we
were really lucky this year and I’d like to think I’ll be back to do this again in the future!
Finishing medals
