I headed to Shrivenham, & noted the fact that the weather looked fairly bleak.  I'd brought a lot of warm clothing, & was thankful for it.

So, I headed to the Memorial hall & signed in.  This is where the 1st struggle started.  Someone had already waltzed off with my transponder.  I just hoped that he was going to get a good time in my name!

Dave Ricketts arrived & thus we headed to the start.  Me looking like a polar explorer (with leg, & arm warmers, gillet, & jacket), whilst Dave was set for a hot summer ride!

The start was cold, but the pace was brisk.  It was also fairly flat, & right from the outset we teamed up with Steve (33, from Portishead I think), whom needing some company for the ride stayed with us to share the load.

We took turns at the front, & were enjoying the brisk pace.  The 1st real hill was at approximately 30 miles in & I think that Steve was paying for early exuberance.  Cramp was not a good sign so early.

At Cerny Wick after averaging 19.7 we headed south & immediately the pace dropped, but it was still flat & we remained in good spirits.  We crossed the M4 & headed past Wootton Bassett for our 1st horse at Broad Town.  I clearly was looking in the wrong direction, & missed it!  At least we were now near the 1st feed station, & I of course gorged some great flapjack.  So this is where the ride gets nasty.  The route from here is basically East or North.  Either way was into the wind, & initially on the A4.  The three of us latched on to a big group, but we were just about to face our 1st big challenge.  Labour in Vain hill.  Half way up the pressure was telling.  A few had dropped off the back, & I'm afraid I was the reason that we split to two groups.  Dave maintained his position in the front pack, & slowly moved away from my newly formed chase group.  I took a quick look at the Cherwell white horse, but actually needed to concentrate on the pain & the need to maintain pedal pressure.  We hit the summit, or what I thought was, but then I just gawped at the fact that the lead group were now a good minute in front, & that in fact it was just a false crest.

On the descent, I realised that I'd need to temper my effort & that we still had 40 plus miles to go.  It makes you wonder then why I latched on to the next group that came through.  We'd just passed through Avebury.  A beautiful village that was teeming with tourists.  Huge great stones were everywhere you looked.  The downside was that we were at low point, & had a long gradual climb into the wind & to the next horse at Hackpen.

The new group that Steve & I were in were pushing the pace, & though it initially felt comfortable, the constant shallow climb, & constant wind were forcing another re-think.  So at the turn to Hackpen I sat up & hit the foot of the next climb at my own pace.  I think (in hindsight) that this was the wise decision as the short climb was severe to say the least.

Now we moved further East to Marlborough, & a 2nd short section on the A4.  It was after the A4 that we hit the worst of the hills so far.  Not because it was long, but because it was very steep (Dave now tells me 17%).  Tired legs would suffer, & silence greeted us & those with us.  One rider set off from the small bunch we were in, but he faltered & was barely moving forward when we passed him near the summit.

To be honest, I was deep into my own personal psychological battle.  I'd gone too fast too early, was not fit enough, & was too far from the finish to be comfortable, especially as I had back pain (a new cycling pain for me).  But at least there was plenty of flapjack, bananas & other goodies at the next stop at Froxfield, & the prospect of a final turn back with the wind.

Unfortunately, the turn North was greeted with 3 or 4 gradual, & leg wearying climbs.  The average pace had dropped significantly, & though we were joined by others we were not getting any help, & were now averaging 15.

Worse was to come of course, as we headed to the Lambourn Downs.  Ewe hill was the 1st long drag, but thankfully there was nothing too steep. The descent from the downs was a brisk & very bumpy 47 for me, & with a very dangerous finish.  I saw the junction sign too late, & was still travelling nearly 50 with too little time to pull up.  Road gravel was not helping matters, but somehow & with the junction & left turn approaching I managed to bring the bike up, & just had to pray that there was nothing coming.  Steve followed round, & thanked me for my shout (more of a scream really) for getting him to a safe stop.  The downside to all this of course is that we were at Uffington.  If you're going to the horse you have to go up.  Let me tell you, that up is nasty.  It's only a mile, but we had 80 miles in the legs, & by now I was completely over dressed.  Worse still, even after climbing all that way, I failed to look over my shoulder to see if I could see the vale horse.  At least from here it was all downhill.  Literally.

At Ashbury we turned toward Shrivenham, & met a couple of riders heading towards us.  "Only a mile" they shouted.  This seemed to stir Steve, & he set off with me in tow.  It was then my turn to pull us along.  My pace faltered of course, & Steve hit the front again.  By now a mile had passed, & yet we were still in countryside, with no sight of any villages.  After a couple more turns each, & with the pace obviously waning, I finally had to sit up & could not take my turn at the front.  We thus took a steady ride to the finish, & were very glad to stop at the memorial hall.

We both finished in 5 hours 24 mins.  This gave me a silver, & yet again, I was just 4 mins outside of a gold.  Though still very tired this morning, I'm very pleased with the result.  I know that I'll get much fitter, & will be tested by much more severe rides in the summer.

http://www.whitehorsechallenge.com/Route.htm

Bring on the Fred Whitton route! 

Regards

Ted

Editors Comments...

Dave Ricketts finished in a superlative time, 4 hours 55 minutes for a Gold Award ride. He sped off with the group from High Wycombe where Ted had done an excellent job into fooling the rest of the pack that he was struggling, and let the gap go. This is a textbook maneuver and you would have thought that others in the pack might have seen it for what it was. However this was not the case and a few riders rode off into the sunset (figuratively). Dave reported "There were some handy guys in the group and the pace was fairly hot to say the least and I was feeling good to push it on. As we took the first climb after Avebury 5 of us formed a break and I was holding my own taking a turn on the front, until that brutal 1:7, thank god there was a feed station not long after the climb. I managed to hook up with Gary from London and we worked together until the next climb when he dropped off the back. I was on my own until Lambourn when I caught up with some of the High Wycombe crew who were struggling. I felt good coming out of Lambourn and the territory was familiar. What did it though was that climb around the last White horse at Uffington. I think the photographer was taking great pleasure in watching the pain expressed by everyone climbing. Unfortunately for him a given some pain back when he offered me a jelly baby which I accepted, as he tried to place it in my mouth I must of bit him! After this climb it was the run back into Shrivenham. I managed to finish in under 5 hours with 4:55 and a Gold."