This is the big "season opener" for the UK sportive scene and will involve 3,600 participants heading out of Crewe on Sunday on 100km or 100 mile routes - both of which take in the dreaded Mow Cop "killer mile" climb.
Here are some initial thoughts on preparing for this event:
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| Looks like return of the parcel taped cycling shoes this Sunday to cover up the ventilation holes - keep those tootsies toasty |
Weather forecast –
1 degree in early morning, rising to 2 degrees mid-day – so its going to be
really cold and you’ll need to be fully wrapped up. There will be some people who have so far avoided riding in really cold weather and they'll get caught out by just how cold its going to be.
Food – although there
are food stops it will be best to take at least some food you are familiar
with. Food stations can run out (especially if you are having a "bad one" and get there late).
Also, important not to try new things during
the ride - they may not agree with you
and half-way around isn’t the time to find that out!
Seat pack contents
– 2 x inner tubes plus puncture repair plus tools, plasters, money and wet
wipes (nothing worse than mending your bike successfully then spending the next
3 hours riding and eating with oily hands).
Consider packing a rescue blanket - I recently had a complete mechanical failure and needed to be rescued - and that meant standing around for an hour in the cold. What's going to happen on Sunday if you have to abandon, and you go from being really warm to freezing cold in 20 minutes?Bike – brakes, tyre pressure check plus visual inspection of tyre, lubrication - don't be the one who has to stop within sight of the start line because the bike isn't right.
Finally You - are you feeling good? Nervous? Tired? What about that ache or pain? If you've got a pain or an injury don't be brave-stupid, be prepared to not go even though you've been looking forward for months - no good starting with an injury as it's unlikely to get better and you could be entering a world of pain, and months of problems...
Next post Thursday - tapering towards the event