Over the past 6 weeks, I have used four Velo29 sportives as part of my bike training for Ironman UK 2021. The Velo29 Tour of the Peak sportive was the fourth and biggest of these, coming in at 116 miles and 14,160ft of climbing.

I began with the Manchester-Sheffield sportive 6 weeks ago, this was 102 miles with 12,100ft of climbing. That was the highest elevation gain I had clocked during one ride until the Tour of the Peak. I followed that up with the Tour of Lancashire Sportive 4 weeks ago, another century ride at 104 miles and 9,400ft of climbing, last week was the Daffodils sportive, a shorter one at 85 miles and “only” 6,600ft of climbing.

Once again Velo29 did a great job with the pre-ride communications and COVID secure event. On Tuesday we were sent the link to complete a COVID questionnaire, this has to be done prior to event day and needs to be completed before you select your start time. Start slots are available every minute with 7 slots per minute.

The Tour of the Peak starts at Bakewell in Derbyshire, rides through the Peak District National Park into West Yorkshire before turning at Holmfirth and heading back down to Glossop onto Macclesfield and back over to Bakewell.

There was a medium route of 66 miles and a long route of 120 miles (2021 had a slight detour due to mud on the road in one place). Both routes take in Winnats Pass and Cat & Fiddle climbs with the long route also going over Holme Moss. Part of the long route also covered some of the roads we did on the Manchester-Sheffield sportive 6 weeks ago. Significantly for me, it went over a hill called Ewden Bank which I had to get off and push 6 weeks ago, this time I was out for redemption!

I hadn’t felt great this week, 9 days prior to the ride I had my first COVID vaccination and whilst I hadn’t shown any major side effects, I had felt quite fatigued this week. I had to change a few training sessions out to easy runs and rides to give the body more time to recover. I took Saturday (the day before the ride) as a full day off, my first day off training since mid December.

Bakewell was a 50 minute drive and I was due to start at 7:07am so I set the alarm for 5:30am, had a bowl of porridge and a coffee before a 10 minute lower body stretch to warm the legs up a little.

I arrived at Bakewell showground at 6:50am, just enough time to gear up and make my way to the start line.

The first major climb today was Winnats Pass, this is just over 1 mile long and averages around 11% with parts ramping up towards 20% as you get near to the top. I had been worrying about the steepness of this climb as my Giant Propel Adv 1 (2018) only has an 11-28 cassette on, making these steep climbs harder on the legs. You just have to muscle through it but with this climb coming just 14 miles into the ride I was sure I could make it up.

My plan was to take the first 14 miles steady and save the legs for Winnats Pass, once over that I can relax a little and enjoy the day but not push it hard at any stage with the fatigue of this week.

5 miles in we came to Cressbrook Climb, a 0.95 mile climb with 452ft of gain at an average of 8.8%, I could have gone up this a lot quicker but held back yet still went past at least 15 riders, from there it was mostly flat and downhill up to Winnats Pass

This was one of the most stunning climbs I have done, the scenery around helped to distract the mind from the road in front but to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I had built up to be. I passed 2 riders a third of the way up before hitting the steeper section (see above).

The view at the top would normally have felt stunning, which it was but less stunning than through the pass.

Winnats Pass was 1.45 miles with 741ft of climbing at an average of 9.7% and I felt comfortable going up with my gear ratio, yes it would have been easier with an 11-32 but you lose the speed on the flats then. During last weeks Daffodils Sportive in the North York Moors we went over Blakey Bank which was a similar length with slightly more gain and higher average gradient, that climb had given me the confidence I could get over Winnats Pass, I would probably say Blakey Bank was the tougher of the two.

From Winnats Pass it was 19 miles to the first feed stop of the day, this was mostly downhill with one 2.5 mile steady climb aroun27 miles.

I took my time on this stretch, I felt good from the earlier climb and pleased to have seen the back of it but it was still a long way to the finish. I knew just after this first feed was the hill where I had to push it up 6 weeks ago and I really wanted to get up and over this one.

The feed stop was at Low Bradfield, I spent just under 9 minutes here using the toilet, taking off the rain jacket, grabbing 2 bags of flapjack & brownies (1 of each in each bag), took a High 5 gel, drank a can of Redbull and filled up my water bottle with High 5 powder mix. Pretty much the basics of fuelling for the next 30 miles.

Straight out of the feed you are onto a 2.5 mile uphill drag before a big downhill to the hairpin at the bottom of Ewden Bank, this was the climb that broke me 6 weeks ago. It is only 0.62 miles long with 406ft of gain at an average of 12.3%, what makes it tricky is the sharp turn to get onto the climb, this scrubs off most of your speed and you are straight onto a 20% uphill for the first 200m. That was the section I got off at last time. This time I got through that part and felt pretty good, I knew now that the middle part wasn’t that bad before it kicked up a little at the top.

I kept the power around 310w, I knew I could hold 365w for 20 minutes so a short blast up this hill inside of that FTP would be manageable and not take too much out of me for the rest of the day. It was really tempting to just drop the hammer and really smash this segment after the struggles last time but I kept my discipline and got over it in 6:21, roughly 3:30 quicker than 6 weeks back. I had got my redemption.

After that, it was 12 miles to Holmfirth and the Holme Moss climb, the second big climb of the day. The ride over to Holmfirth was nice, I was riding with a guy from the Cleveland Wheelers CC, we were making up some good time here and flew down a big downhill into Holmfirth, I clocked 46.5mph down here. I have always felt comfortable riding uphill and on the flats but always been a nervous downhill rider. I am really starting to improve in this area and having someone fast in front to follow their lines really helped. When I get stuck behind someone who is on the brakes for every slight turn, that is when I get really anxious.

We got stuck at 2 sets of traffic lights in Holmfirth, this brought 5 other riders into our group going onto the bottom of Holme Moss. To be honest, I had looked at this climb before the ride and thought it wasn’t that bad and not given it much thought. It is 2.9 miles with 1,160ft of gain at an average of 7.3%, what I didn’t realise was the middle section levels out and has a downhill for a few hundred meters which brings that average gradient down. The first 0.8 miles is around 11% with the final 1.4 miles again around 11-12%.

As we got higher up this climb the wind started to play more of a factor, it was really getting breezy, at times it was a headwind, as we turned up the switchbacks it would then be a crosswind. One of them that never seems to be a tailwind!

At the top, the crosswind was that strong I was having to lean my weight to the right to keep the bike straight. By the top I had dropped all 6 of the riders that were with me at the bottom of the climb, I would only see the Cleveland Wheelers CC guy again from that group.

I got over Holme Moss is 22:35 averaging 272w with a heart rate of 142bpm, not a massive effort but certainly, more of a challenge than I had been expecting.

The wind made the descent from Holme Moss a tough ride, I was getting a lot of headwind and crosswinds blowing me around, at times I was having to peddle to keep the momentum going.

From here it was another 10 miles to the second feed stop at Glossop. Again, a big refuel on flapjack and brownies plus a Redbull. The next section from Glossop to Macclesfield wasn’t as long as the others, coming in at 22 miles. It doesn’t look like much on the route profile too but it is like a rollercoaster! up, down, up down all the way. Not the long climbs of Winnats Pass, Holme Moss and Cat & Fiddle but short sharp climbs which really racked up the elevation gain.

I was starting to feel it a bit on this section. The wind was still blowing and it was raining on/off so the jacket was back on.

It was a relief to reach Macclesfield and refuel for the last 30 miles back to Bakewell. It had gone really grey, a little chilly and very windy now. This last part was going to be a challenge. I knew if it was windy in the town centre, it will be very windy up on the Cat & Fiddle which was at a similar elevation to Holme Moss.

The ride through the town centre to reach Macclesfield Forest was not a pleasant one, so many traffic lights, junctions and general traffic on the road.

Once in the forest, it was a lot quieter, just me and the road, oh and a 5.6 mile climb through the forest up to the Cat & Fiddle, with another 1,102ft of gain but only an average of 3.8%. Another one of those climbs with a downhill part which brings that average gain down. The section pictured below was a tasty 16% 100m slog, even more of a slog when you have 90 miles in the legs.

On the ride from the Cat & Fiddle back to Bakewell it rained but not too heavy, the wind was the big challenge but that took the mind off the pain in the legs. It was just a matter of head down and push on to get finished, that last 18 miles was mostly downhill so that made it go by quicker. I was glad to see the Bakewell sign that’s for sure, I felt cold, a little damp and my ears were aching from the wind.

But all that said, I really enjoyed this ride and the challenge of the distance, which was only 5 miles shy of my longest ride at the 2019 White Rose Classic, and the challenge of the 14,000ft of climbing, 2,000ft more than the most gain in one ride clocked at the Manchester-Sheffield sportive 6 weeks ago.

Some stats:

• 116.76 miles
• 14,160ft
• 8hr 57min (8hr 15min moving time)
• Average speed 14.1mph
• Max speed 46.5mph
• Cadence 75rpm
• Average heart rate 131bpm
• Max heart rate 175bpm
• NP 229w