Shrivenham, just outside of Swindon hosted the start/finish of the 2008 Whitehorse Challenge a 150k ride around Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The ride’s name comes from the large white horses that have been carved into the chalk hills at places through the area: 3000-year-old Uffington, Broadtown, Cherhill and Hackpen.

There were no trains arriving in Swindon early enough for me to start the ride so Mal and I traveled to Swindon the night before and stayed in the Brewery Farm House B&B. It was a bit of a hike to the B&B from the train station but the room was really nice and modern and the hosts were very friendly and accommodating.

Saturday night was a bit of a mission to track down Dan H who had his mate’s ride number that I was entering with (I’d missed the initial entry period). After a long walk and some hassling of locals for directions, Mal and I finally found the Italian restaurant I was looking for. I craved pasta.

La Carbonara was rammed with people. I almost left without even going in but it’d been such a long walk I figured it’d be worth a try. The guy that seemed to be running the show was really nice and within a couple of minutes had us at a candle-lit table for two. Awww how sweet. Left the place happy and totally stuffed – portions were much larger than London’s!

In the morning I looked out the window and was surprised. There was no rain. Not only was there no rain but it didn’t even look like it wanted to rain! The forecast had said, basically, that it would be HEAVY RAIN all morning. I brought the heavy, mudguard-equipped Ribble expecting a torrential downpour and now.. NOTHING! I was both happy and annoyed. I could’ve brought the S-Works out to play, but at least it was dry.

I kitted up, filled a couple of bidons: one with SiS GO (carbs + electrolytes) and an experiment drinking REGO (carbs + protein recovery mix) on the bike. I ate some jam toast, packed a banana and packed the foil-wrapped bacon butty they’d made for me in place of a ‘full English’ and headed off down the A420 to Shrivenham.

Signed on and had a timing chip attached to my wrist. This was activated when you pushed it into some kind of receiver the starting staff had. Off I rode, alone.

For a while I was really unsure if I was going the right way. All I could think was “what if I’ve missed a turn?!”. Eventually I spotted a ‘straight on’ arrow and breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after I caught and passed a solo rider, then another, and another. I probably rode 30-40k solo until I caught a bunch of 10 riders which I joined. Shortly after, this bunch was joined and then passed by a faster group. That looked more my style and so I jumped on. As the weather was so nice I decided I’d push it rather than take it easy and ‘sight see’.

So, I spent ages riding with a similar group of people, the bunch being driven mostly by four white-jerseyed Tor2000 riders.

The bunch was busted up over the first big climb but regrouped quickly. At the first food stop, helpers were out putting rider timing chips into their little machines. I needed a leak so lost some weight here and grabbed a single flapjack. Unlike the British Sportive where I wandered around, took in the scenery, stretched, ate, etc. this time I was out of the stop in a couple of minutes and got back with the same group. Ooh, now I am taking this seriously!

We spotted a couple of the white horses at some point. Great stuff. We also got involved with a time trial. We passed a competitor and he passed us and then we passed him again. I’m sure he got a bit of benefit from drafting us.. naught, naughty! 🙂

There was a steep bugger of a hill at some point (Hackpen Hill) and I moved off the front of the group in order to maintain my position. No one came past though. Odd. That’s never happened before – I usually move to the front so that I’m not off the back by the top of a climb. Anyway, I kept the pace up in the hope that the photographer I spotted would get a good shot of me out of the saddle tearing apart the bunch up the hill. I’m such an attention seeker. 🙂

After that the pace slowed and yet I was still out front. I chatted to an older High Wycombe rider that we’d caught. He was losing his sportive virginity on this event. I mentioned seeing lots of his club mates at TT’s and Hillingdon and the like. The ride seemed to be splitting up now with some new faces but what’s this? The Tor2000 riders are back on the front driving the bunch along the flat like it’s a race. Awesome. I helped out at the front doing some short turns while a lot of others hung on.

I remember a Cervelo guy dropping his chain on every hill. There was another super steep one and I wasn’t half cursing the fact I’d left the S-Works at home by the top! I need lower gearing (and 10kg less body fat). I did manage to hit 86kph/53mph on one of the descents which would be the fastest I’ve gone in the UK.

At the second food stop I was running out of juice so I grabbed some of the High-5 drink, a handful of Jaffa cakes and another flapjack. In a hurry I scoffed all this a bit fast I think and didn’t feel so good for a while.

I lost contact with the bunch, as did another Aussie guy (guessing from his accent) with an Iron Man tattoo on his leg. I eventually caught Iron Man but had the power to pass him and carried on chasing the bunch. After some serious energy sapping chasing I finally got the small group. I then hung on the back for the next few kilometres. But eventually the chase took its toll, the road reared up and I was out the back. It would be a solo finish for me now.

The final hill appeared – Uffington. It climbed up to the left and was a terrifying sight. I rolled along and could see little riders scaling it. “Uh oh” I thought.

I absolutely groveled up that hill. Lowest gear, total mental battle just to turn the legs. I was trashed. Great time to be photographed, not. It leveled off in the middle and I came to an almost standstill to catch my breath. At the top of the next section was a group of people taking photos and cheering riders on. They really helped lift me and I was out of the saddle up the hill pretending I was Pantani or something! Over the top I went and shot down the other side.

I checked my Polar and knowing the Uffington hill was near the end I guessed I had to get a move on if I wanted Gold standard (sub 5hr finishing time).

Time trial mode. Stared at my Harden The Fsck Up band, thought about “One Gear, No Breaks”, Lori-Ann Muenzer’s book that I’d been reading – “how bad do you want it?” she’d ask herself. I raced to the finish line.

Signs to Shrivenham! I must be close to home. 3mi to go. On the drops still TT’ing. 1mi to go. I could see a rider ahead and I was trying to chase him down. I could see the start/finish! Hammer into the timing tent and thrust out my wrist for the timing girl to stop the clock.

I drop the bike and sit down for a while, catching my breath. After a while I go into the hall and hand over the timing chip. The timing system prints off my time..

4:43 GOLD STANDARD

Woo hoo! Gold and with plenty of time to spare. I ate cake outside in the sun talking to some Aussies and then the Tor2000 riders came in. Congratulated each other and they thanked me for working on the front while I said “no no you guys did all the work” (which was true). Turns out the woman in their group is working at Tour of Wessex registration and the others are riding it so I might meet some of them again.

Thanks to Dan and his mate for getting me the entry. It was a fantastic ride.

The results indicate I placed 33rd out of 390 finishers. Not too shabby.