Central London CTC blog

Jo Wright and I both did this last year, and were back for more this year, showing the purple and black and white colours of Central London. Cyclosportives inhabit a territory pitched between full on racing, Audaxes and charity rides. The joy for both Jo & I is that we do not have to worry about navigation - just follow those huge black arrows on a flourescent background. There is considerably more atmosphere than at an Audax, and the riding (both in terms of speed and road manners) is of a much higher standard than prevails at Charity rides. There was a 140 or 80k option. We did the longer version as did the majority of riders.

What is not to like…well they are expensive, and this one is a very long cycle up an interminable hill from the nearest (somewhat sketchy) railway “service”. (There are times when cars come in handy. Thanks for the lift, Jo!) That said, it was extremely well organised, and put “L’etape en Angleterre” to shame. And in a break with CTC traditions, there are no lengthy cafe stops. Or indeed any cafe stops.

The ride soon sorted out into bunches at the front. (No, I wasn’t involved, but did see 2 huge leading groups barrelling towards my tattermedallion grupetto as they headed away from the halfway point and we toward it - some distance away). The route was challenging, with 10 climbs, very thoughtfully signposted 1 - 10. I made the big mistake of wolfing down an energy bar just at the start of climb No 2, which was an unpleasant challenge to my limited multi tasking ability. There were some lovely downhill stretches, and I manged to get over 70kph. When not going at 70kph or grovelling up the uphill bits, there was plenty of time to enjoy the scenery in the autumn sunshine, and rejoice in names such as Frittenden, Three Chimneys, Offham and Dig Dog Lane. The final climb was the evil Carters Hill, which rears up to 20% and is tackled 2k from the finish!

Jo had a small mechanical at the start, which was quickly fixed. We didn’t see any evidence of punture fairy visitations, motorists were not much in evidence, and well behaved when they were. There was a troublesome head wind for most of the return journey, which slowed times considerably. That did little to impede the progress of the leading headbangers that blatted round in just over 4 hours. Needless to say, we were considerably slower, averaging either side of 25kph. Both of us were pleased with our rides.

Afterwards, we relaxed by listening to jazz on the lawn of the HQ, and scoffing free delicious mushroom soup, sandwiches and tea in the marquee out of the wind. Definitely to be recommended for 3 & 4* riders - hopefully there will be more in the purple peleton nect year.