damerell

I was a bit nervous about this event, having attempted one 200 before and packed, and got quite sore and tired on 100s. 0800 starts in the middle of nowhere are not really a good fit with my usual sleep cycle - I got to bed at 0100 and to sleep at 0300, then up at 0510, eat pasta, grab luggage, out at 0550 to catch the Tube from Aldgate out to Chorleywood. I seem to be making a habit of Tubing to the start of these affairs - a wise choice on this occasion, since the railways had decided running trains was beneath their dignity.

5 mile run to the start - the usual collection of miscellaneous bikes, one trike (misidentified as Legs Larrington's, but soon sorted the confusion out), everyone's luggage was smaller than mine and in many cases smaller than the pair of malt loaves I had stowed away. Collect brevet card and amended routesheet, drink tea, eat marble cake, out of excuses so off we went at 8am. We were heading West from Chalfont St Peter towards Sonning Common - into a headwind, naturally.

I noodled around at the back trying to find a group to surreptitiously tail-suck, and eventually fell in with Alex from ACF. He had cracked a rib recently and was on a 74" fixed, too high for the terrain - making a reasonable match speed-wise with me just being slow and cautious. Alex also had a GPS - helpful, but probably not necessary - and a head torch - vital. Every previous event with darkness I've done, I've done with a stoker/ navigator on the back with a wee torch and the routesheet - the problem of navigating in the dark simply had not occurred to me. I'd have been in moderate trouble had he not rode along with me.

We were pretty much dead last at the 55km control in Pangbourne, but still had enough time in the bag to grab food and leave with 10-15 minutes to spare - also at this stop and all others I hogged some of the malt loaf, which helped to keep me going.

Onwards West to an info at Pangbourne and the control at Hungerford. Around the 70-80k mark Alex seemed to be struggling into the headwind, which was very strong on some exposed portions - and I was temporarily confused by a typo on the routesheet putting a turn at 89.9km not 99.8. "What's he talking about, we've got 10 kilometres to go!" We got to the control before the cutoff, but left 10 minutes after it - however, others had ordered food, and we weren't quite last to leave.

As usual, the promised tailwind wasn't as strong as expected, but we still were a lot feistier after a rest and some food and foul-tasting energy drink. We got over to the info at Kingsclere (125km or so) quite quickly, but stopped for five minutes there - during this phase we kept overtaking a chap with a beard every time we got going, but he was shunning stops and would pass us every time we stopped. Unfortunately, we lost him at 175km and I think he DNF.

On again to stop at a level crossing at 145km - I was starting to feel empty, and ate more substantially - and it was a very good idea to not press on to the info at 153km in Mattingley before doing this. The promised supermarket cafe at 174km in Winnersh was closed, leaving us munching dubious food in a chilly foyer instead. At this point we seemed to be catching up, with two other riders still there when we arrived and three more drifting in before we departed. A German chap (who we thought was French) left this control slightly before us, but we passed him shortly afterwards - he hung onto us for a bit, then dropped back again.

There was a recurrent idea there'd be some stiff climbing to come after the final control, but it never manifested - some moderately busy roads around Maidenhead and Slough, though. I had a moment of glee as we passed 200km, and the bonus 11km in the ride passed quickly as we took the alternative homerun on "flatter, busier roads" - in fact, there weren't many motons around at all, so this was unequivocally good.

We made it in with about 45 minutes to spare. Nothing to write home about, but nice to have more than just time for a puncture in the bag. The German chap arrived about 20 minutes after us - I collapsed, drank tea, and ate a toasted cheese sandwich before eventually forcing myself back out to go and catch the last Tube but one.

Knees, bottom, wrists etc quite sore, of course, but nothing critically so. By the time I made it back to Sarah's flat I'd got about 250km on the clock.