San Fairy Ann Cycle Club

I have entered the above this evening. Looks like a good challenge. 190km, 2900m of climbing.

http://readingcyclingclub.com/anthonyma ... /?q=node/1

This is organised by my brother's club, Reading CC. Last summer one of their young members (Anthony Maynard) was killed by a car when it ploughed into a group of riders on a club run. This sportive has be organised in his memory.

Any other fairies fancy it?

I can also recommend the Chiltern 100 (entries go live on 31st Jan for that one). The toughest sportive I did last year. Phill Cloke also rode it and will verify the challenge.

I can also recommend the Chiltern 100 [/quote]



Yes agree with you there mate ,good Pub!

Competition for John Bosley......................

I have entered the Anthony Maynard event. I am riding it with my son who lives in Reading. Not sure about the longer distance though!

Apple Pie hill, I am thinking about entering, partly just to see what hill deserves to be named after my personal eating downfall the apple pie, and partly to see if there would be a kindly member of the public handing out apple pies along the route.

If i go for it, would probably be the shorter route.

I've entered the 190k route, hopefully be a very nice ride.

Go on Joe. Join us for the 190km. If you're going to drive all that way, you might as well make the most of it...

Thanks Steve for digging me out of a very dark and deep hole today! Pretty sure I wouldn't have made it through the rough patch in the middle without your encouragement. Might still be laying in a verge on Salisbury Common! I think the rain and wind today has cured me of wanting to do any further sportives.

No worries Damian.

Well the ride was a wet and windy ride, the sun made brief appearances in the last 20 miles to warm us up a bit.

The pace at the beginning was fairly hot, perhaps slightly too hot considering the ride was a 120 mile ride. Had a great ride with Damian, his brother Martin, and some other Reading CC guys.

The first 50 to 60 miles was into a strong headwind, with some really hard rain in places, not easy to see in front of you (I thought I got as wet as I could on the Castle 100 ride, obviously I was wrong), and was soaked to skin in seconds. Luckily these downpours were quite brief, , and it wasn't long before the top half would dry off a bit, before the next downpour.

Once we got to Swindon, the route went South, so we had a side wind for a while until we eventually got to Pewsey, it was here the Damian didn't feel great, so we had a stop on Salisbury Plain for him to get some food inside him. Once we got going again Damian had a second burst of wind, and the final 40 miles with a tailwind was nice. The sun also came out a little on the run into the finish, so the run in was quite fast and pleasant.

Damian was also the unlucky one with 2 punctures, though they were quickly fixed. The food stops were pretty good, with free Nakd and Trek fruit bars, and sandwiches, drink, bananas, it was quite different to see wholesome foods on offer rather than the usual sugary cakes and the like.

I think it was a well run sportive, for a very good cause, and although a hilly ride, it doesn't have many big hills, alot of them seem long and draggy, apart from the one up past one of the white horses. Well recommended.

Well done Stephen and Damian - you did really well. My son Stuart and his mate Steve Blake, who he met at the SFACC Sportive, also did the big route.
They saw you both go past them and they tried to catch you but all in vain! However, they got round in one piece- one puncture, one wrong turning where they lost about 20 mins and they must have gone up different hills to you as Stuart said they were massive. It was their first 100 miler so it was a great achievement. I was due to ride it originally, but very fortunately I had another commitment that day so I left it to the young 30 somethings. I am glad i did- I would have still been out there now.
Well done all of you.