Exmoor Beast

Having eagerly filled my 2008 calendar with lots of juicy looking sportives and then spent the season crossing them off, one by one, I was determined to fit at least one in before the end of the year - The Exmoor Beast.
When I originally booked our accommodation, I thought that it might have been possible to cycle to the start but it was easy to see that this would have been a disasterous move - Exmoor is very lumpy. So, at 6am I took the car off to the start and left Colin with the kids and the attractions of Minehead.
Twenty miles into the drive and I realised that I'd forgotten my computer. It was impossible to turn back as I would have been late for the start - I was just going to have to ride without it and that all important HR data. I arrived in darkness and it was already really busy with riders getting their bikes set up. It took me a little longer than I expected to get myself ready for off - fiddling for ages with my rear wheel, deciding on layers, gloves etc. By 7.30 I was ready. I stood for a short while ready to go and then without much fanfare, we were off.
The climbs started fairly early on and riders were spread out way into the distance. I found that I was overtaken a lot in those first few miles, and overtook only a few. It was a bit lonely to be riding without Colin - I do it every week in training but we've always done these events together. It made me think about what we would do in the Etape - will we stick together or ride our own races? Still not sure about what we'll do.
After a long exhilarating descent to Minehead we were soon climbing again and wow, what climbs they were. The first real test was a longish stretch at what must have been over 20%. There was a cattle grid in the middle of it and I saw many losing traction and toppling over onto it - I played it safe and walked over; taking the opportunity to have a drink and some Go bar while I was stopped. I saw plenty more hitting the grid while I was there just for those few minutes. Setting off again on that steep climb was interesting and I went across the road rather than directly up - I managed it, and stayed on right to the top, overtaking many pedestrians on my way up. Now I was starting to feel good - I was doing it. That hill would have beaten me only a few months ago and here I was, overtaking people on it.
Another nice descent to a ford - not wanting to risk planting my wheel in those big cobbles, I got off an walked around it. They were the only two occasions where I walked and I was really pleased with that.
More undulating terrain followed - I was able to maintain a good speed, even on the short ascents and was on a real high on this point. A huge 25% descent followed into Lynmouth - my lack of computer confused me a little, as I thought we were already at the 50 mile mark and was doing really well. When I found out that we were in fact only just over the 30 mile mark, my confidence was shaken. A huge climb over the moor followed next and that really sapped my energy; it went on and on and on. The temperature dropped and those were some hard miles. I kept at it and was eventually rewarded by a nice descent into the best food stop ever. Hot leek and potato soup; bacon rolls; buttery flapjack - it was just great. I met with Paul from Cycling Plus and we had a chat and we agreed to cycle back to the end together. Thank God for Paul! I really struggled on those last 20 miles. There were some really nice fast descents but there was a lot of really slow, painful, climbing as well. After just over 7 and a half hours, I made it back completely f***ed!!!!
As I stood just past the finish line, glass tankard in hand, semi-delirious, I saw Joe Beer straight ahead of me. It was fantastic to see our Coach - he came over and gave me a huge hug, which was just what I needed at that moment. He told me I was well and truly BACK!
On reflection of the event in our weekly call, it was apparent that there are a few areas where I can immediately cut out wasted time: eating and drinking whilst riding. During the beast, I had to stop to eat, take off huge gloves, struggle to get my food out of rear pockets etc etc. At one stop, I took my hat off and then spent 5 minutes pulling chunks of hair out as it was trapped in my bobble. I'm going to get a tri-bag and cut my go bars into bite sized chunks so that I can easily get my hands on food without having to lose touch with the rest of the field.
All in all, it was a superb event, really well organised, spectacular scenery with climbs that seemed very similar in length and gradient to those I experienced in France earlier this year. I would definitely do it again in 2009. Joe told me to be proud of my achievement and I have to say that I am.