Cheshire Cat March 27th 2011

The Cheshire cat marks both the start of the racing season and the transition to British summertime. If your pre season 12 week training plan is still unwritten then it’s too late now. The route for the Cat takes you out from Crew for a flat first 15, is then hilly for 20 and very flat for the remaining 65 miles. By sportive standards this is quite an easy course, however what it lacks in climbs it makes up for in pace. Some sportives are hard, some take you through stunning scenery this one is all about the riders. Perhaps this is the first opportunity for some to get out on their summer bikes. There are some amazingly expensive cycles amongst the assembled competition, carbon and blingy wheels are everywhere. If you then add in a bit of sun and dry roads the result is adrenalin fuelled, high octane (Go Bars?) full on speed . Bring it on !

So after a quick coffee and a bit of queue jumping we were off. Mike put the hammer down before we’d got out of the neutralised zone (Crew Alexandra car park). With no chance of a gentle warm up, we followed as best we could and defended the early break away (Mike on a sugar rush). With the club run shekels off we were passing the long line of early starters like they were going backwards. Fifteen miles in we arrived at the first category one climb of the day, Mow Cop (25%). We flew up, no messing. The terrain was then rolling until about the 30mile mark and the first feed station. At this point the route headed west over the M6 onto familiar Cheshire lanes but there was no pissing around, we were whistling along at Mach 4 chasing down groups up the road, pushing hard up the risers and generally having a great time. We thundered past the Ice Cream Farm faster than the Paris-Lyon TGV, strung out in a group going full throttle Arthur’s excitement boiling over. I could just make out the words as he screamed ‘Ice Cream Farm, Ice Cream Farm’ like a hysterical child.

The rest is a blur, the pace never slackened until the traffic in Crew made it impossible to push on. The stadium came into view and then the finish. I would have done another 20, next year they should extend it ! I think we all agreed this was a cracker.

SR