10-09-07

JAYNE WADSWORTH LEADS IN THE LADIES COMP & is 12 o/a

CYCLEFILM TROPHY 2007

	TOP 10 MALE		TOP 10 FEMALE
	1. Rob Benington 2. Nigel Hobday 3. Ian Turner 4. Bill Belcher 5. Mark Thomas 6. Mark Harding 7. Tony Dawson 8. Fraser Ellison 9. Jack Belcher 10. Robert Cole	380.3 (5 Events) 366.9 (4 Events) 339.7 (4 Events) 339.2 (4 Events) 331.2 (5 Events) 327.5 (4 Events) 322.4 (4 Events) 315.9 (4 Events) 313.1 (4 Events) 290.8 (5 Events)	1. Jayne Wadsworth 2. Kirsty Thys 3. Anita Luxton 4. Victoria Watt 5. Melissa Brand 6. Verity Currie 7. Katie Crowe 8. Fiona Paterson 9. Helen Gibson 10. Fiona Hunter	288.0 (4 Events) 146.1 (2 Events) 144.2 (2 Events) 136.6 (2 Events) 130.6 (2 Events) 126.7 (2 Events) 126.7 (2 Events) 116.4 (2 Events) 108.6 (2 Events) 108.0 (2 Events)

Well it’s been a pretty hectic month or so for me starting back at the beginning of May with a trip up to The Lakes for the Fred Whitton Challenge. We spent 2 days taking it pretty easy cycling around the amazing countryside and admiring the views and plentiful cake shops, even managing to conquer a couple of the passes prior to the event on Sunday. The new Specialized bike felt great especially on the climbs having changed the back cog to a 27, so far so good. I started the course feeling strong and in good shape having even given some thought to my food routine for the day which is unheard of for me to be that organised, but 30 miles into the 100 mile course my crank fell off leaving me stranded road side in the middle of nowhere. Despite many cyclists stopping to offer assistance no-one had a tool which would fit the carbon fitting. Eventually I was rescued by a rider’s wife and driven to the nearest town where I found a bike shop willing to help. The thread had sheared off the bolt so Lock Tight was applied to hold the crank in place so that I could cycle dejectedly the 30 miles back to the start where I waited for 6 hours for my friend to finish the course. On returning to London I took the bike back to Evans to be repaired they changed the crank to an Ultegra model until a new carbon crank was available and unfortunately at this time of writing some 4 weeks on I am still waiting for that call from Evans.

So on the 19th of May we set off for the Yorkshire Dales another beautiful part of the country with some great cycling to be had. The Etape Du Dales is a course of around 110miles on undulating roads, although the course does not contain the huge almost impossible passes of the Fred Whitton it is unrelenting with no flat areas, you are either going up or down! I had ear marked this as the long distance event that I would treat the most seriously last year after finishing 3rd in 2005 I rode most of the distance with a couple of my Tri-London friends but we did have to drop the male member due to his faffing at the first feed station, so then the race was on between myself and Jo and although we didn’t actually ride together, we both managed to pick up a couple of guys to work with, and so seemed to keep leap-frogging each other. Fortunately for me with 5 miles to go I had a bit more left and over-took Jo to which she could not respond and so finished 2nd lady with a time of 8:02: although the rumour is that the first “lady” was actually a guy riding in her place and I think the time of 7:09 reflects this!

The very next weekend I met up with Ross for the 3 day Tour of Wessex which was an excellent event with a 100 mile ride on day 1, 100 miles on day 2 and 125 miles on day 3. The organisation was amazing resulting in a lot of pack riding in manageable sized pelatons which was new to me but which feels amazing when you are bowling along at 25mph with very little effort although it definitely takes its toll on your mental state with so much concentration required. Unfortunately the weather was terrible on the first day which resulted in a lot of serious crashes especially through Cheddar Gorge with I think about 8 people being hospitalised, the worse being when a rider met a car and had her forks were sheered clean off the bike. Parts of the course were off tarmaced roads which was strange and left the road sides littered with people repairing punctures. Day 1 I achieved first place with a time of 6:34. The quote of the day coming from an older guy who 5 miles from the finish commented that “I was going well for a woman” not a great remark at the best of times but after having just towed him and 2 other guys for 15 miles with no-one releaving me of the front position I was a little non-plussed! Arrangements were made to meet up with some other members of my starting group to share the work load the next day.

Day 2 dawned much brighter with dry conditions so at 07:10 Ross and I were off again, unfortunately only a few miles in Ross had to turn back due to a problem with his knee. It was great ride alongside some friendly faces from the day before and lots of chat about the ride. Fortunately the course stayed on-road today so the risk of puncture was drastically reduced and there were much fewer casualties. This may have been due to reduced numbers with some of the guys who had entered the 3 day events taking Sunday off in order to watch the Grand Prix and spend time with wife and kids(?) The day went well for me although I found myself riding solo much more often then the previous day and even managed to locate the egg sandwiches on the second feed station which I had only heard rumours of the day before. I joined ranks with Battersea Cycling Club in the last 15 miles when I was really starting to feel it and they brought me home again first lady in a very respectable 6:21

Day 3 and by now I am tired, 6 of us had hired a caravan to stay in which did the job but with tiny bedrooms and very small beds it was not the best of conditions,. My quads and gluts were already starting to moan on the start line. Again the ride started strongly, riding in a large pelaton with Jo and myself even managing to take our turn at the front without dropping the pace which I was very proud of! This was the longest course of the weekend and boy did it feel like it, my legs literally had nothing for the hills making me tackle them all seated, Jo on the other hand was having a great ride and after we stopped to help her fix a puncture off she rode off into the distance. I struggled round to finish and with a large lead over the first 2 days was determined to hang on to my overall lead. We took a coastal route today and then rode over the highest point of Exeter Moor where again very welcome egg sandwiches were on hand. At last in sight of the finish line I thought it was all over but no, a right turn and on to a very unnecessary 3 mile loop to take in the last hill of the day.

At last I crossed the finish line in a time of 8:37 managing to win overall by @ 15 minutes and thank-you Ross for being on the finish line with some of that fantastic flapjack!!

I decided to give the Tuesday TT at Eastway a miss the week following Wessex as I was entered in the Polka Dot on the following Sunday. By now all of the rides are beginning to merge into 1 but I have done the Polka Dot in the Peak District several times before and was confident that this ride although 106 miles was not particularly challenging. I shouldn’t be so complacent as shortly after meeting my friends talk turned to the killer climbs of the day, Cat & Fiddle, Axe Edge, Snake Pass and the worst Winnets Pass which I had had to walk up the previous year. So my mood had changed from looking forward to an easy ride to one of “oh no not again, have I left enough recovery time between these events?” Again the weather was on our side, the heat had dropped off a bit from the previous day, there was no wind and no chance of rain. 8:18 back on the road. Surprisingly I felt strong and was soon off pushing myself to a good time. Unfortunately although this is a big event the riders did not seem as experienced as on the Tour Of Wessex so there was no pack riding to be had but there was always some-one to pass the time of day with en route. The same film crew was on the course as in Wessex and as there are always so few girls they lent a morale boosting hand. Managed to get over Winnets Pass no problem at all and finished in 6:07.

That’s it now until 23rd June when we attempt the epic ride from Trondheim to Oslo so I am going to put my feet up for a while.

jaynewadsworth@hotmail.com