27th Hell of the North Cotswolds

A joint promotion by Winchcombe CC and Cheltenham and County CC, if I remember correctly this event was originally set up as a cyclo-cross reliability ride. It is now in its 27th year, promoted on the same Sunday as professional cyclists tackle the Paris – Roubaix. The route is varied each year and takes in a mix of very quiet lanes, routes across private estates and selects from the abundance of bridleways in the North Cotswolds.

The HQ is Winchecombe High school and is the perfect venue for the event, ample parking, indoor signing on, if required, room for after ride massage etc A couple of trade stands and a catering van completed the ideal hosting base. I arrived early and watched in amasement how quickly the car park filled. With the 1200 entries selling out rapidly the popularity of this form of ride was very evident. The friendly, chilled atmosphere was obvious, I’m sure the clear blue sky and the warming sun assisted, as riders busied themselves signing on and preparing their bikes.

At signing on the vast numbers of helpers and marshals is evident and reassuring. The map of the route in each riders pack has my OCD running wild, as it varied from the route I’d been given 2 days earlier and meticulously drawn onto my OS map  This year the route was fully signed with black arrows on a yellow background. I quickly try to take in the basics of the route and unload my aging Cannondale cyclo-cross bike complete with Headshock. MTB’s are the predominent steed of choice however I’m a little relieved when I spy a few more cyclo-cross bikes. Riders start to gather near the school gates in readiness for the mass start

Having ridden this event twice before abliet the 50km (on a MTB) with no or little training, I knew that early bottlenecks formed due to the mass start when the route left the tarmac road onto a bridlepath, it was better to be as close to the school gates as possible. I chatted to a few riders I knew and spied, Louise Robinson, Isla Rowntree (both Stourbridge CC) both top riders and Belinda ………… (cant remember surname) whom was the ladies masters XC National champion and again, as has been evident on a number of events this year a good number of ladies riding

We get the ‘low down’ from the organiser on a loudspeaker before the school Headmaster starts the event to the cheer from the riders. Some pour in from the sides similar to the January sales at Harrods  and everyone patiently shuffles towards the gate and the moment arrives that you can ‘clip in’ and join the throngs following the Marked Gloucestershire Police vehicle that escorts the ride through Winchcombe at a brisk neutralised pace

                          My Cannondale with ‘Headshock’

Released from the ‘escort’ the route starts the first section of bridlepath and up we go. With the exceptionally dry month of March coupled with little / no rain in April the tracks are hard and dry, with wheels rolling quickly across the hard packed Cotswold stone. The route climbs long and steady, through woods, alongside Cotswold stone walls until we are spat out on the top of a fell. The sun is warming the air nicely and with little wind its almost a perfect day

I’m quickly reminded that I must remember to switch my Headshock to ‘active’ before entering off-road sections. Before long we reach the first split where the 50km route forks left, 100km forks right. Immediately we reach a check point, now there are up to 5 check points somewhere on the route to ensure riders stay on the right track. Even by now I’d had a small ‘off’ where I’d had to consult the map to get myself back on route, this was due to the arrows being approx 5”x3”, quite visible until you take into account some of these you approach on the tracks that manage to have your eyes shaking in their sockets, making them missible, for me obviously

We pass through numerous picture postcard areas of the North Cotswolds, which would remain undiscovered for large numbers of the riders if it wasn’t for this fantastic route Before long both the 50 and 100 routes reconverge and arrive at the feedstop at Guiting Power village hall. It is buzzing with the chatter of cyclists reliving their adventures during the first half of their ride. The riders probably more than double the usual population at this well stock with goodies refreshment stop !

Both routes set off together for a couple of climbs before they again split. It is an eye opener at times considering there are close to 1200 riders on these tracks that you can ride for so long without seeing someone else on their bike. I made another error, this time a little more time consuming as I overshoot a right turn on a bridlepath, dividing down a steep grass field into a valley then realising I was off piste I had a slow walk back up the bank to correct my error, so frustrating but less haste more speed springs to mind

We are given a tour of some more spectacular scenary, as we climb and dive in and out of various hidden valleys. Arriving at the Snowshill checkpoint, (BTW Snowshill was stunning) I know we are about to descend to Buckland before returning to the same checkpoint. I didn’t imagine the climb was to be such a brute, narrow, some places loose rocks, bordered by steep Cotswold banks with water draining off the hillside. All this combined to create oven like heat, struggling for grip as the running water had mud in some areas, slippy water cover rocks in others, together with a steep gradient that seemed to go on and on Cresting out was a great relief, heart and lungs eventually gain their composure

                    Participants map of route. Blue is 50km route

There is a quick run for home with just a few gentle rises to interrupt progress, we rejoin the 50km route riders to  share 8 or 9km of tracks back to the finish and HQ at Winchcombe school

                   My certificates from 2007 and  2011

Rolling into the school you approach the signing on table where you recieve your certificate and medal. The timekeeper wrote the time I finished ie 1.30pm instead of time elapsed, 4hrs 30min but nothing could take away the sheer joy of a wonderful day on my bike.

        My medals from my 3 attempts at this event

I’m sure everyone who rode on Sunday would join me in thanking the organisers, it was excellent,  All for £15 entry, with all the hard work planning / recce’ing the route, fantastic value

Just to make the day absolutely perfect, later I watched Sky Plus ’d Paris – Roubaix with my brother and son