Having taken part in four VELO29 Sportives in April & May as part of my training for IRONMAN UK 2021, it felt like a no brainer to sign up for some more in September as I gear up for the Ironman World Championship. That race ended up being cancelled but I still rolled out for the 102 mile long route on the VELO29 Selby Three Swans Sportive. I may not need the training but it is still great fun to get on the bike and spend the morning riding around the Yorkshire countryside.

The route was reduced to 96 miles due to some road works and a road closure but no biggie, it’s still a decent distance to cover. This wasn’t one of the typically hilly VELO29 routes, in fact, it was a really flat and thus potentially fast route.

As with previous post-COVID VELO29 sportives, we had to complete a medical questionnaire ahead of time to ensure everyone was safe to ride and we had to select a start time. They send off 10 riders every minute to help to reduce crowding in the start area which also has a knock-on effect of reducing crowding out on the roads and at feed stops. I am a big fan of this measure, I really like the less crowded roads, especially in those first miles as you are finding your pace.

Having not done a sportive since May, only three and a half months ago, I felt a little out of practice with what gear I needed and ended up forgetting one of the most important bits of kit…. the sunglasses! Thankfully, it wasn’t too sunny early on but did brighten up as the miles rolled by. The worst part of not having the sunglasses was the number of flies and bugs that somehow always end up going straight in your eyes.

Anyway, I parked up at Back Micklegate car park in Selby, it is free on Sunday’s (as of Sept 2021) and just a 1 minute ride to the start area just in front of Selby Abbey. It was a 2hr drive from Stoke on Trent so I picked the last start time for the long group… 7:59am, that still meant leaving home at 5:45am and a 5am alarm call but that’s a small price to pay for a morning in the saddle plus a few of the famous VELO29 brownies & flapjacks.

After a very stop/start first 2 miles through the town and traffic lights, we hit the open country lanes. I spent the first 3 or 4 miles with the other guys who started with me but decided that their 17mph pace or 150w ave power was too slow so I went my own way. I prefer to ride by myself and at my own pace on these rides, although sometimes welcome a wheel later on.

As mentioned above, this is a very flat century ride (96 miles today!), I clocked just over 1,500ft of gain today and the majority of that came between 70 – 78 miles. With that in mind, I thought I would try to stick to around 20 – 21mph, not go too crazy and blow up but aim to keep it under 5 hours.

The first feed stop came 19 miles in which, for me, was too soon so I went past. I was thinking of stopping at the final feed stop at mile 70 but ended up stopping at the second feed 45 miles in at Bilbrough. It was warming up so this was a decent opportunity to take the arm warmers off, use the toilet and grab some of those flapjacks and a can of Red Bull.

The ride up to that point had been pretty uneventful hence not writing much about it. It was just flat winding country lanes passing a town or two. I had done the first 45 miles in 2hr 20mins, a little under the 20mph average but I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over that.

Since doing IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE in July, I had not done a great deal of bike training and this was my first ride outdoors since then. In hindsight, I should have set out a little slower knowing that the bike fitness had dropped after 2 months or more so the endurance side but we often think we can pick up where we left off and then suffer for it and that was me today.

I wasn’t suffering so much but it wasn’t as easy or as straightforward as it would have been 8 weeks prior. Needless to say, the pace slowed in the second half of the ride and I was glad I made the decision to stop at the second feed. That chance to refuel and stretch the legs was welcomed.

I hit the third feed stop at 70 miles in just over 3hr 48mins, still a decent time and holding some good pace on the flat sections but I was weirdly wishing for some hills to break up the ride, having that downhill to give the legs some recovery time would have been nice.

The sun was out now, it was warm and everything felt good. You cannot beat riding on those late summer days, knowing that these could be the last decent days of riding before the wet grey endless winter months set in.

After that last feed stop, it was just 26 miles to the finish but with the one big hill of the day…. I say big, that is in comparison to what had come before it. I think it totalled around 250ft of gain and a steady 4 or 5% gradient. After that, it was downhill and flat straight through to the finish.

I did catch up with a couple of guys who had earlier passed me then looked back and they had gone out of sight. Not sure whether I took a wrong turn or not but the Wahoo GPS was saying that I was off route but there were still VELO29 signs, I took it that I was on the right track and maybe the other guys had followed their GPS and gone a different route, who knows! In the end, I reached the finish 3 miles short of the 96 miles so maybe I did go off course somewhere or maybe the turn down to the first feed stop which I skipped was the difference.

Once again, another brilliantly managed sportive by VELO29, having now completed five sportives with them this year, I cannot recommend their events highly enough. The feed stops are fantastic, plenty of proper food, High5 gels, bars and powder, water, coke and Red Bull. The route signs are spot on and the routes themselves are often long and very hilly giving for a great challenge to test the legs and lungs.

Today, the lack of recent training slowed me towards the end but I had a great time in the sun enjoying a nice flat route. Had this been one of the more hilly routes, the legs would have been in trouble.

Some stats:

• 93.10 miles
• 1,585ft
• 5hr 15min (4hr 50min moving time)
• Average speed 19.3mph
• Max speed 28.9mph
• Cadence 86rpm
• Average heart rate 128bpm
• Max heart rate 153bpm
• NP 225w