So, I turned to the L'Etape, a Tour De France affiliated sportive organised by Human Race that departs and finishes from the rather magnificent Olympic Velodrome in Stratford, taking in 115 miles of city and countryside and featuring three sprints: two intermediate (at 40 and 85 miles) and one 1km effort around the road track back in Stratford. I expected the pace to be high with the number of clubs involved and a fairly flat, fast looking course inviting some pretty full on efforts to get around the route as fast as possible. As an added bonus, the weather, for once this year, was forecast to be dry and bright, so everything looked good for a challenging but rewarding day in the saddle.
I stayed overnight in Stratford with my wife and the boy, so it was a relatively luxurious amble to the start line at a surprisingly civilised 7.00am. We had seen several other participants checking into our Travelodge the previous night, so it was clear that this was going to be a well attended event with some serious riders and I took myself to bed for an early night. It didn't take long to arrive at the Velodrome, take in the usual paltry coffee van and spend some time surreptitiously checking out the competition, suddenly wondering if my 41mm carbon rims looked a bit spartan by comparison to some of the 90mm and full TT set ups that were milling around. There were a good number of staff manning the event, even at this early start, although they were unable to use the speaker system at this time of day, so getting information about loading times was a little haphazard.
I decided to hang around the loading area, so as not to miss my start and actually ended up being ushered out with an earlier group, enjoying a nice spin on part of the road track before being lead out onto the roads. This is not a part of London that I feel overly familiar with (Stratford and the surrounding areas were still very much a wasteland back in my days of hurtling around the city on mountain bikes and BMX's), so I had that slow and steady feel that inevitably creeps over you when you're riding unfamiliar roads. However, it was crisp, sunny and I felt good on the bike, so the fairly swift pace off of the line set by the club riders was welcome and I followed the large group out onto the course, letting their familiarty with the route set the tempo.
Of course, I got dropped fairly swiftly and, riding alone, soon found myself in that strange no man's land of being faster than the slower riders but not able to hold the wheel of the faster groups. Which left me alone. In a block head wind. With 100 miles to go.
Suffice to say, my finish time was not what I had hoped for. Despite feeling strong, the head wind really ate into my energy and my back began to ache early on as a result of hunching into the relentless gusts. By the 100 mile mark, I finally got off, made my way into a newsagent and bought a beer to lament my rough outing... Not something I would generally recommend but definitely a marginal gain for my knotted shoulders.
That aside, the route was lovely, with some spectacular roads and literally the greatest feed stations I have ever encountered on an organised ride (salted, baked potatoes anyone?). It is a ride I would recommend, especially if you are lucky enough to have a tail wind or a solid club to go with. As a lone rider, I found that I noticed the lack of road side encouragement that is rife in say London to Brighton or the London 100 but there were moments that made up for it, notably the three sprint sections that forced me to think about how to spend my energy in ways that more endurance based rides do not.
The medal I got at the finish line was great (as long as you don't look at the finish time on the reverse) and there were a number of events and activities going on that had helped to distract my wife and the boy from their nagging worries about my extended ride time. So, overall it was a good experience, if not a great day in the saddle for me on a personal level and, as I said, I would recommend it.
So, I suppose I will have to wait for 2018 to find my form again and get back to those solid finishing times from two years ago. Then I'll be back to try this course again and nab myself a medal with a time that I can wear with pride, in addition to a few handfuls of those delicious, carb filled potatoes.
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