This veterans’ event consists of 4 stages over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. I’d seen it each year on the LVRC calendar and hoped that at some time I’d manage to take part. But the prospect of racing over the hills of Worcestershire on 3 consecutive days meant entering was put off until I got a bit fitter. But you can’t put these things off for ever, and so in 2014 I took the plunge.

There are two races, the first for the 40-49 age groups and the second for those aged 50+. At 55 I was in the second race of nearly 50 riders including the oldest rider was in his 70s. He put in a fantastic performance, hanging in on all the climbs before the steepest section of stage 4, and even then he wasn’t the first to go out the back.

 

HQ is the village hall in Great Witley where there was food and hot drinks available each day. It’s a really good venue with lots of parking and enough toilets for 90 riders when you include the ladies! All the road race stages left from here which was very convenient for sorting out last minute issues.

The weather was very kind the whole weekend with sunny intervals, light winds and temperatures of 12 to 16C. Mandy and I stayed in the Travelodge at Hartlebury. The accommodation is cheap and basic but it’s only 10 miles from the HQ and there are a number of pubs in the vicinity for food in the evenings (although the quality us highly variable). There were other riders staying there and everyone was friendly. Uncertain of what pre-event food we might find in the area, we took our own for the first night. Not sure if using a camping stove in the bathroom is allowed, but it worked very well.

 

Stage 1

Stage 1 took place on Saturday morning and was an uphill prologue of 2.2 miles with a 300 foot height gain. There’s no chance to get into any sort of rhythm as the steepness is constantly changing, even going downhill for a short time, and I was forever trying to find the right gear. After suffering a migraine less than 48 hours earlier I was unwilling to push too hard in case of triggering another one, so finished up just over 1 minute down in 25th place after posting a time of 7:12.

 

Stage 2

Stage 2 was on Saturday afternoon, with 3 laps of the Astley circuit covering 42 miles with 3000 foot of climbing. This was the easiest circuit in terms of having no steep climbs, and it was possible to sit in the bunch fairly comfortably. I still had no intention of pushing myself and stayed well away from the front. A number of short-lived breaks went off the front, but it wasn’t until the start of the last lap when 2 riders got away and eventually finished 1:30 ahead of the bunch. After this stage I’d reached the giddy heights of 23rd place.

 

 

I’d wondered what would happen if a rider couldn’t finish a stage due to a mechanical or physical problem. Would their weekend be over? The organiser just asked if anyone minded riders taking part in the following stages and, as no one objected, they did. It was probably at the back of everyone’s mind that they could be in that situation after the next stage, and obviously they were out of contention for any prizes.

 

The decisive break of the weekend happened early in stage 3 on Sunday morning. This race was 5 laps of the 11 mile Hill Side circuit, going the opposite way over the hill used in the prologue, and climbed 4000 foot over 56 miles; a little bit more if you include the neutralised ride up the hill to the start/finish line. We had been warned about the possibility of meeting horses on one section of the circuit and, in a way, this turned into reality on the first lap.  A group of 9 riders had opened up a gap of 15 seconds allowing a car to pull out into the space between the break and the bunch.

 

This was not a problem until the car met a horse transporter coming the other way that it couldn’t fit past. Everything came to a standstill with the break unaware of what had happened behind them. It seemed to take forever to get past and it was pretty obvious that there was no chance of closing what eventually finished as a 5 minute gap to the stage winner. Still in 23rd place.

 

By the time it came to stage 4 on Monday morning my legs were heading into unknown territory, and a 3 mile warm up did not ease them out at all. But I considered myself to be completely over the migraine by now and was determined to try and move up a few places. Another neutralised ride up a different hill took us to the Clows Top circuit, then 2 and a bit laps of this 16 mile loop climbing 3000 feet over 37 miles.

 

 

This circuit also includes the steepest climbs of the weekend and my 39/23 bottom gear was put under some strain. There were no traffic problems on this circuit and most of the riders were still together on the final steep climb past the village of Abberley. It was near the top of this section that a handful of riders opened up a gap and slowly rode away from the rest of us. I told my legs to pedal faster but they’d gone deaf; or something like that.

 

The bunch was fracturing all over on the final 3 mile drag to the finish. I stayed near the front as we closed in on some riders in the break who were fading fast, then with only 2 riders left to catch I hit the front with 200m to go. It’s a shame that I only had 50m of sprint in me and came in 8th on the stage and climbed to 19th position overall.

 

Did I know how hilly it was before entering? Not exactly, but to be honest it’s probably best not knowing too much beforehand. In terms of climbing and distance it can be compared to the Newbald circuit. Fancy riding up Newbald for a 2.2 mile prologue on Saturday morning followed by 5 laps of the Newbald circuit in the afternoon, then 7 laps on Sunday morning and finally another 5 laps on Monday morning? Except for a couple of laps on Monday you need to swap Newbald for Spout Hill.

Many thanks go to Mike Amery, the event organiser, and to all those who marshalled and helped in many ways. Mike put an enormous amount of effort into putting this event on the calendar and always appeared relaxed, although I’m sure he wasn’t.

Now I know how hard it is, will I ever ride it again? Absolutely yes! It was a fantastic series of races in a very beautiful part of the country and I’m looking forward to 2015 already.

 

Neil Dean
Hull Thursday Racing Team