June 7th - Norwich 100

Ouch. This was tough. Not because of the course, that was great. Really well signposted (didn't need to look at my map once!)with good surfaces and no major climbs this should have been a lovely ride along the Norfolk coast, but unfortunately the elements combined to make it a whole bunch harder.

I travelled up with Christophe and Cherry in Christophe's car on Saturday and we stayed at my sister's in Lowestoft where we had a top barbeque thanks to my nephew Graham. At this point the weather was cool and overcast, but dry. Earlier in the week Christophe had seen a forecast for heavy rain and had needed some persuasion (coupled with some improved forecasts) to come so it was encouraging that it was still dry as we loaded the bikes up the following morning to head to the start. It was still dry as we parked up in the carpark, but then the heavens opened. However, it was only a shower and as we made our way to the start I decided it wasn't even worth putting waterproofs on for. I'd been given a start time of 7.20 but it was already gone that and as the other 2 still had to register we ended up setting off at 8am. It was still spitting with rain so I decided to take it easy for the first couple of miles until my legs had warmed up and the pack of riders had thinned a little. For the first 24 miles or so the route was shared with people doing the 50 mile route so the pace of riders was quite varied. About 2 miles into the ride I'd stopped at a set of lights and as I was at the front of the group that were stopped there, I decided that I'd take advantage of the clear road ahead to get up to speed. That was the last I saw of Christophe and Cherry until the finish. The rain was alternating between drizzle and slightly heavier showers interspersed with the odd break where it would stop. My bare arms were feeling the cold but otherwise I felt fine and although I saw quite a few riders stop to put on jackets I kept mine rolled up in the rear pocket of my jersey.

The first refreshment stop was after about 13 miles at Reepham but I decided to continue as I felt that I had a good rhythm going and 1 hour in saw me pass the 20 mile point. The rain was pretty consistent now and to keep my mind off of it I was working out target distances like 31.25 miles which would be 50km and I hit that in 1h33, and then 33.3 miles which would be one third distance.

At 28 miles I had gone straight past the refreshment stop at Hindringham and, although I didn't spot him, Ray from LSST saw me as he was leaving the stop. It then took him about 10 miles to catch me and we exchanged pleasantries before I again pulled ahead to reach the "half-time" stop at Sheringham at 10.28, with 44.6 miles completed. Here we had to make a 20 minute compulsory stop with timecards needing to be signed in and out. There was a big queue for food so I just had a Powerbar and a bottle of Lucozade sport. I was quite anxious to get going again to avoid stiffening up so did a bit of stretching as by hamstrings felt quite tight and I tried to dry my feet a bit as they were feeling the cold. Just as I was about to leave there was a quite heavy downpour so I waited an extra 10 minutes to let that clear and for the first time I put my jacket on. I sent Christophe a text to say I was going on with a view to stopping at Cromer.

By now the rain had eased quite a bit but the wind was head-on and although there were no huge climbs, the coast road was quite undulating and I was unable to find a group riding at a similar pace, so the going was pretty tough. I decided not to stop at Cromer and instead went back to setting intermediate targets with the next being 62.5miles (100km). Shorthly after Cromer I became fed up with the way my loose jacket was flapping in the wind so stopped briefly to remove it, preferring to get wet rather than suffer the additional wind resistance. 100km occured just past Walcott and my time of 3h48 showed how much the headwind had slowed me. I had some more lucozade and a couple of energy jelly blocks and carried on.

Despite the roads appearing to me to be in great condition, there did seem to be a large number of people mending punctures or mechanicals on the road and I always try to offer assistance if they appear not to have the situation under control. Somewhere near Waxham I came across such a rider whose seat/seatpost had come loose so I stopped to lend him an allen key. While he was fixing this, Ray and his friend John caught me up and we rode together to Horsey Mill where we stopped to get a coffee and some cakes. I called Phil to check on the progress of the Turkish GP as well.

Leaving Horsey Mill, the rain again got harder and the three of us joined with another group of five and I got was was to be pretty much my only pack riding of the day. Unfortunately it only lasted for about 5 miles before one of the five punctured and we were back to 3.We were heading back inland now and the loss of the headwind meant that we were cruising at over 20mph. John did about 5 miles at the front and then I did the same. Just as I was hoping for Ray to take over the lead he punctured and we stopped. It was the rear and it took us about 10-15 minutes to fix before heading off again. John lead but immediately Ray noticed that his front was also flat. John didn't hear our cries so the two of us remained and another 10 minutes passed as we mended the front. Setting off again we took turns at the front, forcing the pace to repass all those that had caught us thanks to the flats. I dropped Ray with about 10 miles to go as he got caught at lights over a narrow bridge and I finished at 3:05 for an elapsed time of 7hr5mins and a riding time of 5hr33mins which gave an average speed of 17.89mph - very pleasing. Christophe finished about 1hr 10mins later and Cherry about a further 10-15 minutes after that. We all agreed that it had been a tough ride but there was a great feeling of satisfaction at completing it.