Smiling Like a Cheshire Cat...

Aggghhhhh! - the Mow Cop

The Cheshire Cat Cyclosportif - it might be 'Up North' but Paul Hartigan is now a southerner and he tells us his story.

Keen to get in a bit of a leg burner before the forthcoming pilgrimage to the Tour of Flanders cyclosportif, on Sunday 25th March I found myself with a teammate at a quarter to eight on a cold, bright Sunday morning in a leisure centre car park in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Along with a couple of hundred like-minded souls, we were there for the Cheshire Cat Cyclosportif – one in a series organised by Kilotogo (great name, and you can see the rest of their events at www.kilotogo.com).

One really interesting feature of this event was that all riders were equipped at sign-on with a transponder, which attached to a chainstay with zip-ties. With electronic ‘mats’ in place at the start, finish and various points in between, this meant that every rider was promised an accurate personal time for the event (other sportif organisers take note!).

Lining up for a nominal 08:30 start, the transponders meant that there was no pressure to get to the front, and in any case, riders were corralled and set off in groups of twenty. My teammate Tony and I waited patiently in our group and listened to the pre-race, sorry pre-sportif, briefing from the organiser. I think he may have mentioned something about the turning point for the long (97 miles) and short (59 miles) options (but I must have missed it – see later). One wag behind us, sitting on his top tube, shouted ‘if anyone sees the wife, you haven’t seen me – I told her I was only nipping out for a pint of milk’.

Anyway, we were off, and our group split pretty quickly into fast and not so fast – and we got caught up in a reasonably fast group, not once dropping below 20 mph for the first 10 miles, but it was pretty flat, so no problem. Soon though, the rolling Cheshire hills began to feature, and groups began to fracture and reform. I was keen to do a decent time, and falling in with like-minded riders, hit the first check point at 29 miles on schedule – on offer were fantastic fruit cake, flapjack and bananas, and High 5 on tap, all in a pub car park (I think they had something better on tap in the pub itself, but that would have to wait for another day). A big thank you to the organisers for a very decent spread.

Beeston Castle

Jersey pockets filled with nosh, I pushed on and seemed to be riding solo for a couple of miles, only to look behind to see a half dozen riders drafting behind me, but we were soon organised into a reasonable through-and-off, with heart rate and speed rising, past the impressive site of Beeston Castle, and on through a series of hills, picturesque Cheshire villages, and more hills. At around the 50 mile point, one of the guys commented ‘a while since we’ve seen any other bikes isn’t it?’, slightly disconcertedly.

Apart from the 30-odd vintage motorcycle riders that had just passed us in the opposite direction, it was true, but without thinking too much about the implications of this, we hammered on. It was only when we saw signs saying ‘Knutsford 2 miles’ that we guessed what happened. We asked the other guys in our group ‘Are you guys doing the short route?’ to which they answered ‘Yes’ – no wonder they were pushing on. In our heads-down, take no prisoners haste, subsequent analysis of the route map showed that we had turned left at a key point, taking the short route option, when we should have turned right. Well, there was nothing for it but to push on to the finish, and to ride over the electronic mat at the finish line, back in the leisure centre car park.

I ‘phoned my teammate to let him know what happened, and he expressed his profound disappointment that I would not be able to share the delights of Mow Cop (a brutal 1 in 4 road climb, and a recent ‘Killer Climb’ in the Comic). I naturally empathised, and smiled as I tucked in to a slice of fruitcake I had stashed in the car, whilst I put my feet up in the sunshine to wait for him to complete his additional 35 or so miles to the finish. The icing on the cake would have been a feed station at the end as well, for a hot drink and a bit of a wind-down with the other riders.

All said, despite my navigational faux pas, this was a great event – well organised, the feed stations were great, we had police bikes dotted round to keep an eye on other road users, and the transponders were a treat – this also meant that finishing times were rapidly available, and although I was genuinely disappointed to have not done the long route, the by product of hammering along with a shorter route group meant that I got fourth place.

I can recommend this event to London/South East riders who fancy an early season change of scene. As an ex Cheshire lad, I can vouch for the great scenery, and friendly people, and would be well worth the trip.

Paul Hartigan
Team PharmiWeb.com

Paul himself