Great Nottinghamshire Bike Ride - Sunday 19th June 2011

     The alarm was set for 6:00am :-( to get to the National Water Sports Centre at Nottingham early Sunday morning to take part in the Great Nottinghamshire Bike Ride. We needed to get there early to register with the start from 8:00am onwards. We didn't really know what to expect, was it hilly, was there going to be many in it (and would they all be dead fast?) and how much rain were we going to get???
  
     We arrived to be met by a sea of people on all shapes of bikes (from £2k racers, to £50 Tesco Mountain bikes and every variation in between!). Parking, Unloading and Registration was pretty simple and we were in the que to start off in front of the main building. We set off at 8:50am in amongst a very mixed group of serious, not so serious, and this is the one time a year I ride a bike, Cyclists!

Mmmm Scones the choice of champions!

     We cruised along at the start, especially over the rough ground just outside the watersports centre, passing lots of people who had started in earlier waves, but who were all intent on doing the 58 mile route like us. Things were going great, the route was virtually flat for the first 10 miles or so and we were comfortable :-) There was a section where you had to get off and walk along the path on a bridge and after that was a pub car park filled with people having a rest already! My pannier rack came loose soon after but was quickly sorted. We pressed on and again passed the next stop. After a while longer and a few gradual climbs we stopped for about 5 minutes for a mars bar. There were a few more gradual climbs and one where I went into "Granny" for about a minute but other than that it was great.

     There was a 'downhill' mile which was too twisty/busy to really enjoy and after about 45 miles we came back to one of the rest stops we had ignored earlier. THANK GOD I decided we should stop - Strawberry and Cream Scones were definitely enjoyed! From there it was a steady run back into the finish back past another of the rest stops which looked like a scene from the battle of the somme (mostly full of people who were doing the 19 miler!). The last few miles were a bit messy crossing roads to go onto cycle paths - the only part of the route I didn't enjoy, and on rough paths alongside the racecourse.

     We finished the route and crossed under the start/finish gantry at 2:00pm, so it had taken us just under 5hrs 10min to complete, including 35 minutes worth of stopping/scone eating - not bad at all considering the crowds/crossings/getting stuck behind other riders etc, etc... We were home (via Starbucks - for refuelling purposes only :-) by 4:30pm.

     In summary a really nice ride which I would happily do again, it didn't rain more than a few spots, at £10 for pre entry it would be a bargain for a well organised and marshaled ride out in a different area - and last but definitely not least, did I mention about how good the Scones were???

Martin