Well, there I was - all geared up to regale you with my in-depth, witty and engaging commentary on the Wiggle Cheshire Cat sportive, due to take place on March 24.
Guess what? It was postponed. Guess why? The weather!
I confess that, when I got the email informing me that the event was postponed, I was not a happy bunny. Thoughts like “bunch of wimps, another weekend wrecked” and “blimey, it’s only a bit of snow” crossed my mind. However, I did see some pictures later of what it was really like and I then offered up a prayer of heartfelt thanks that I didn’t participate!
So, having got over it, what to do? I’ve got to have a goal to keep me going on the turbo/rollers whilst this wretched Siberian airstream makes it too cold for me to go out on the road (see “wimp” comment above…), so I decided to try to find another sportive to aim at to replace the Cheshire Cat.
I’m due to go out to Spain in late June for the Quebrantahuesos (QBH) sportive, so I thought that I’d look for one early to mid-May, which would give me a reasonable indicator of where I was in the training stakes.
Reference to the sportive section of the British Cycling website turned up the very thing – The Arrow Sportive from Red Kite Events. Date – Saturday May 11 – perfect (I prefer Saturdays as I can attempt to recover on Sunday before going back to work….). Distance – 105 miles – spot-on. And – to my astonishment – over 3000 metres of vertical climbing! That’s a test very worthy of my consideration……
As this is an outfit I’ve never heard of, to be honest, it’ll be interesting to see how well it is attended and run. It should also make a refreshing change from the bigger sportives that I tend to go for. Hat tip to British Cycling for making it so easy to find.
Anyway, that’s it. I’ve coughed up my £25 and I’m booked on, so you can look forward to my deathless prose about it sometime in mid-May!
Incidentally, the Cheshire Cat has been postponed to July7 - two weeks after my QBH experience, so you can look forward to not one, but two reports from me over late June/early July, assuming I can turn a pedal after QBH, that is. Bet you can’t wait…
