...on the Bike Events Cambridge 100

After reading Phil Laycocks’ great write up of the Wiggle Newmarket Spring Saddle Sportive and the saga of the punctures, I thought I’d give a quick summary of last Sunday’s Bike Events Cambridge 100/50 charity Sportive.

See here for Phil's write up of this event.

This was the first time that Bike Events had run the Cambridge Sportive and the start and finish was at Impington Village College. The first part of the route going West out of Cambridge towards Fordham I know like the back of my hand as I work in Fordham and increasingly I’ve been cycling to and from work from Great Gransden (~30 miles) as part of my IronMan training. From Fordham the route headed North towards Ely where the 50 mile route split. The 100 milers kept heading North through Downham Market until Watlington on the outskirts of Kings Lynn where we turned South for home.  Apart from a hedgerow pee stop I didn’t make use of the official rest stops and I managed to complete the first 70 miles in bang on 4 hours (average 17.5mph) when my chain broke! After fixing the link I completed the last 30 miles via Ely and Cottenham for a total ride time of 5:59. My first sub-6 hour 100 miles.

I had also ridden the Wiggle Newmarket 100 miler and it is worth comparing and contrasting the two events. My time for the Wiggle ride was 6:48 and this reflects the more challenging Newmarket route which had some nice hills (3600 ft) whereas the fens of Cambridgeshire are flat! Both routes were primarily on quiet country roads, although there appeared to be more traffic on the roads last Sunday. Both Sportives were blessed with lovely sunny spring weather although as Phil highlighted cold at the start (I opted for dressing for the afternoon in shorts and suffered in the morning). Wiggle were definitely better organised (with 3 routes), the Race Course and Conference Centre at Newmarket was great with loads of space, the signage was also much better than the Bike Events, there were more marshals and chip timing BUT you pay for it (£28 versus £19 + £3 for parking which was poorly organised). I understand around 1100 took part in the Bike Event and a similar number rode the Wiggle. I thoroughly enjoyed both rides and will probably be doing them again next year. Looking forward to the start of the TT this week and can’t wait for our own 100 miler next month.

Steve Pleasance