When we got back to the inn we had a drink and waited for food to start (6pm)
After a nice starter (Garlic Mushrooms) and a main meal (Lasagne), I had a couple more ciders then retired to bed…
I woke up far to early this morning…although I was a year older (41 today) and the clocks had changed…cooked breakfast wasn't available until 8:30 and I was booked in for the second wave of Dartmoor Devil starters at 9am.
After milling around for an hour or two, we ventured downstairs at 8 and had cereal and toast…I decided to forego cooked breakfast as timings would be tight.
At 8:30 I removed the bike from the back of the car, fitted the RaceBlades and prepared myself for the challenge ahead - mainly by milling about and looking cool :-)
At 9 we were off, we left the Cromwell Arms, turning right out of the car park and up the first steep hill of the day.
(Me in the far distance with Orange and White top and cool shades on :-)
(Me in Orange and White top)
I started of with quite a good speed and found myself well ahead of the pack, until the first long grinding climb where I was passed by half a dozen people.
The first control point was very early on at 10 miles'ish, near the top of another long climb,I got my card stamped and had a nice piece of cake :-) I left the control before most of the people that passed me.
The ride across the top of the moor was great, the descent however was terrifying! The road was narrow, very narrow, it was green, it had leaves on it, it had water running down it…I was going down it breaking like a girl, as I came around a corner the back wheel skidded, the front wheel skidded, the back drifted round to the right, I unclipped my left foot and was travelling like a speedway rider, unfortunately I wasn't stopping! Thankfully the front wheel bogged down in the bank next to a wall, unfortunately my left knuckle grazed along the wall.
I approached all of the later descents with a bit more respect after this.
The half way point checkpoint was at a rather nice pub, and was full of cyclists, I had caught up with the main pack of 8am starters! I had my card stamped and set of on a really hard ride across the open moor with a killing headwind.
The penultimate checkpoint was at a rather nice cafe, were I took the opportunity to sugar load on Coke and a Mars bar. I started to hear stories at the Cafe about the sting in the tail of the Devil - Widacombe Hill. Again I set of from the cafe before anybody else.
The ride back across the moor was awesome, open road and a stonking tail wind, then another 20% climb that even the tailwind didn't ease. At the top I had another smile as it was another stonking descent, I thought that must have been Widacombe Hill, and as such it was plain sailing 8 mile descent to the finish…
I was wrong! I started to see signs for Widacombe…the hill was another 20% energy sapper, but I conquered it, then it really was plain sailing to the end.
The final checkpoint was a pub called, The Kestor Inn, where I had a well earned pint of cider and a plate of pasty and chips.
It was a fantastic day out, the toughest 70 miles I have ever done, but really enjoyable. Talking to some of the other riders at the end they say it was the toughest Dartmoor Devil route that they have done.
The Garmin had the ride as 69.97 miles in 5 hours 41 minutes (I could do 100 miles in that time!). It was a bloody tough ride but very enjoyable :-) The GPS track can be found here...
Ohhh just to show how tough it was here's the Elevation profile (Miles and feet)
1 comments:
Well done, sounds like it was tough like TOTP. Catch up soon.
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