Four members of Westbury Wheelers Cycling Club participated as a team in the recent Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 Sportive, on Sunday 2nd August, which is now in its third year.
The Sportive is classed as a challenge and not a competition, raising invaluable funds for various charities, with Scope being their official charity this year. British Cycling invited affiliated clubs to enter teams in the British Cycling Inter-Club Challenge.
The 100 mile traffic free route follows much of the 2012 Olympic Road Race course, starting in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park heading out along the A12 through Limehouse Link Tunnel, Ludgate Hill, past Nelson’s Column, down Piccadilly, Knightbridge, and out of London over Chiswick Bridge. Riders pass through Richmond Park, Kingston, Hampton Court, Molesey, Walton-on Thames, Weybridge, Byf-leet, Ripley and into the Surrey Hills.
Newlands Corner is the first of three major ascents, followed by the toughest hill of them all Leith Hill and the infamous climb of Box Hill. The run back towards London passes through Leatherhead, Oxshott, Esher, Sandown Park, Kingston Upon Thames, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, Putney, over Putney Bridge, Chelsea Barracks, Whitehall, Nelson Square under Admiralty Arch and down The Mall to the finish.
Allen Laker, one of the Westbury Wheelers’ riders reports, “After an early rise, I set off with team-mates, Ian Bartlett and Gary Bendle from Waterloo at 0425 for the 7 mile cycle ride to the start area. Clubbers were pouring out of night clubs and traffic was quite busy.
“At the start area we met up with Damian Churchill and proceeded to our loading zone. At 06.18 we were set off by Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson. Weather conditions were perfect and having ridden it twice before, I knew it was going to be a fast course.
“Heading down the A12 we were already hitting speeds of 26mph plus. Going through central London and being so early in the morning, it was a bit like a ghost town. A fast pace was maintained to Richmond Park and the start of Sawyers Hill at 23 miles. Once over the top, speed picked up again until the start of Surrey Hills and Newlands Corner where we were a little down on our target average speed.
“Coming off Newlands Corner ascent we briefly took in a panoramic view overlooking the Surrey countryside before proceeding down one of the many fast descents. The road began to undulate leading up to the hardest climb of the day, Leith Hill. This hill starts okay, but kicks up again and again.
“We arrived at Dorking where the cheering crowds of onlookers were more evident. Dorking now behind us we sped on to the foot of Box Hill.
“Box Hill is a long steady climb with hairpins and at this point we reached a decision to work better as a team. This way we could help each other along by sharing the front of the quartet and drafting the other 3. The wonderful views from the top of Box Hill now behind us and around 32 miles to go we were once again back up to speed
“Soon we were once again passing through Kingston Upon Thames , here the crowds were out and quite vocal. Wimbledon Hill was soon upon and we slowed for this short sharp climb. Then with 16 miles to go it was time to put the hammer down.
“Barring any unfortunate incident we seemed on course to achieve our two goals, beating my 2013 time of 05:06:10 and going under 5 hours
“We worked hard as a team trying to achieve the best time we could along the Chelsea Embankment, down Grosvenor Road, past the Houses of Parliament, down Whitehall and past The Cenotaph, under Admiralty Arch which was comfortably negotiated at around 25+mph onto the long finishing straight of The Mall with Buckingham Palace as a backdrop.
“The atmosphere was incredible, shouting, cheering and banging on the hoardings as we approached and crossed the finishing line, the four of us abreast in a time of 4 hours 46 minutes 22 seconds. An average speed of 21.1mph, over 100 miles. It goes without saying that we were elated with our ride and enjoyed the experience and buzz of riding on fast traffic-free roads with like-minded people.”
Other Westbury Wheelers taking part as individual entries: Sharon Gover, John Matthews, Sandy Barton and Ian Jaques
