Excitement mounts – the first closed road event of the year, The Tour Of Cambridgeshire. This is the first UCI sanctioned event in the UK, a continental Gran Fondo race over 135km. I have made the decision not to do so many cycling Sportives this year. The events are becoming so popular and on certain Sundays you can get two or more events using the same routes and this causes all sorts of chaos. The price of these rides has gone through the roof as well so I now pick my events carefully, choosing the “closed roads” events.
The Gran Fondo was a race, you get a timing chip, but your time starts from when the gun goes off, NOT from the time you cross the line. The top 25% in each age group get the option to qualify for the UCI world event later this year. I have no illusions of grandeur and my plan for the day was simply to have an enjoyable closed road ride. I was accompanied by my brother and friend from university, who was riding his first big event and would be the longest distance he had done on two wheels.
The course is pan flat with only a few inclines but the weather was fantastic with only a slight wind. The ride would be a very different affair if there had been a strong wind. My friend got the hang of drafting behind a group and we had a fantastic ride out.
An excellent event, and the video below tells the story.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VlnC501Z-AI width=”320″ height=”180″]