The Cat & Fiddle Challenge ride, 4th October

I'm getting a bit blasé about sportives now. In June and July, I would have my "pre-flight" countdown - three days of carb loading, a planned ride pattern for the week prior to an event, weeks of weather checking, outfit planning, nutrition strategies etc. Come October and the Cat & Fiddle challenge, things are a little more relaxed. I did a ride on Wednesday, ate a bit more cake than usual on Saturday and at about 10pm Saturday night, thought about checking that I'd got some washed kit for the following day. I checked the forecast on the morning and it looked reasonable - rain forecast for the afternoon but I'd be home well before then.
The ride starts from Brian Rourke's shop in Burslem, Stoke on Trent. On the drive over, there were a few spots of rain but the sky was bright, the temperatures cool and it looked as though we were going to have a lovely autumnal day for it. As I was unloading my bike and getting kitted up, it was noticeably colder than anything I'd ridden in recently. My ill-chosen mitts left my finger tips cruelly exposed to the elements. After registration, I hung about at the start, waiting for someone to get us all of and running, but it never happened. Riders seemed to be slowly meandering off onto the road, with no fanfare, and as soon as I realised what was going on, I joined them.
The first few miles were an escape from the built up streets of Burslem and Tunstall. I used to go out with someone from that area years and years ago (my first boyfriend in fact) and it was quite interesting to see the area again. The vast majority of the route was on A roads, roads that I would normally try to avoid. It was early on Sunday morning so traffic wasn't a problem. In fact, it was an interesting game of join-the-dots to see how the quiet routes that I usually take are linked together by these busier roads.
Rain started around Congleton so that by the time I got to the foot of the day's main climb, the Cat & Fiddle, few kilos of water were swilling around in my shoes. I don't think the Cat & Fiddle is a climb to be feared - the start is a quite steep with gradients up to 10% ish, but you get some flatter sections higher up and even some descents. I made it up, even overtaking the odd one or two on the way (also overtaken a lot), and then it was straight over the top and a descent towards Buxton before a right turn saw us climbing back to Leek. I found this climb much more difficult - it seemed steeper and it felt cruel to making such an effort to regain the altitude that we'd lost so easily on the last descent. From here on, it was a bit of a roller coaster, some nice long descents and some tiring long drags up. Nothing as big as the Cat, but plenty to test the legs. I'd originally hoped that this ride would be a renaissance of Colin's interest in Cycling, and I'd promised not to drop him and ride all the way round with him. In the end, a problem with his back put him off joining me. As I rode around, I thought that it was possibly a good thing that he didn't choose this as his comeback ride - the rain made the Cat quite miserable and those long drags, which seemed to keep coming right up to the finish, well, it might have been a bit too much for a first ride back since Annecy. I know I found it a bit of a challenge after a few weeks of lighter riding.
Back to the community centre where sandwich and tea had been promised earlier. I did a double-take when I saw the spread on offer. I wondered if the food was meant for some other group of hungry people. Picture the scene: two long tables laden with plates piled high with sandwiches, salad veg, oranges, pork pies, sausages, cakes, cakes & more cakes including my favourite, caramel shortbread. I opted for a few sandwiches, a cup of sweet tea and a caramel shortbread. I took a picture to show Colin what he'd missed out on.
All in all, it was a good ride - the route, while on busier roads, was certainly challenging with some quite picturesque sections. The signage was good and there were a few marshals out on the route. There were feeds stops at the top of the Cat plus a few other locations - stocked with water, energy bars and some home made cake. The highlight was definitely the hospitality at the end - other sportives could learn a lesson or two from the Cat & Fiddle Challenge. When you've done a challenging ride in wet conditions, there is nothing to beat a nice piece of cake and a hot drink.