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HHH or HFHH
4 of us did the Hampshire Hilly Hundred sportive today, or HFHH as we think would be more appropriate.
Guess the clue was in the title but yes it was in Hampshire, it was 100 miles, and oh boy was it hilly...
pete, paul, stuart and i started as a team, it was very cold and a bit windy, and the first 60 miles were hill after hill after hill, so we wernt really firing on all cylinders, i in particular struggled and very grateful to the others for waiting. gradient was up to 26 % in some places but it was mostly the frequency of the hills rather than steepness that caused the problems. we lost stuart at the first feed station as we pushed on to the second (at 60 miles.. maybe could have been a few miles earlier!). but from then on we warmed up a bit and there were even some flattish bits between the hills so the blue train got some steam up and we had a really good last 40 miles.
got back to scan the chip, get a very nice teeshirt, a cup of tea and cornish pasty, and a print out of finishing position. to our surprise we all finished in silver times,. and provisonally appeared to be about 200th out of 700. at this point a warm glow of satisfaction descended on us, and we started to realise how tough a ride it had been, for everyone not just us.
the route was great, some lovely descents, just reward for the tough climbs, not many cars. well organised, would unreservedly recommend it.. if it wasnt for those damn hills...
Guess the clue was in the title but yes it was in Hampshire, it was 100 miles, and oh boy was it hilly...
pete, paul, stuart and i started as a team, it was very cold and a bit windy, and the first 60 miles were hill after hill after hill, so we wernt really firing on all cylinders, i in particular struggled and very grateful to the others for waiting. gradient was up to 26 % in some places but it was mostly the frequency of the hills rather than steepness that caused the problems. we lost stuart at the first feed station as we pushed on to the second (at 60 miles.. maybe could have been a few miles earlier!). but from then on we warmed up a bit and there were even some flattish bits between the hills so the blue train got some steam up and we had a really good last 40 miles.
got back to scan the chip, get a very nice teeshirt, a cup of tea and cornish pasty, and a print out of finishing position. to our surprise we all finished in silver times,. and provisonally appeared to be about 200th out of 700. at this point a warm glow of satisfaction descended on us, and we started to realise how tough a ride it had been, for everyone not just us.
the route was great, some lovely descents, just reward for the tough climbs, not many cars. well organised, would unreservedly recommend it.. if it wasnt for those damn hills...
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Although I get the feeling I'll be paying the price in the next couple of days!
OUCH.
looking forward to the chiltern100 (or 107 miles as i just noticed from their website) despite a sobering first look at the ride profile...!