A team of riders from VC Revolution journeyed to Abbeville in northern France to take on La Ronde Picarde Cyclosportive on 11th September. Leading the effort was VCR President Ian Pearson.

This weekend saw six of us travel to northern France to ride La Ronde Picarde Cyclosportive. The event is a scenic ride around the Somme valley, taking in parts of the coast and the many pretty villages dotted around the hinterland. We had chosen to ride the longer route, which at 189km would be a test for most of us.

The team was made up of Shane Chapman, Steve Enright, Dave Hales, Phil Pearson, John Sanderson and myself and we set off for France early on Friday morning, the day before the event. John has obviously been spending too much time on his TT bike and needed to make a last minute adjustment to his road bike. As I met up with the guys at the dock in Dover he was testing out a newly installed chain in front of coach loads of mocking German school kids.

The crossing passed smoothly and we were soon at the gites where the majority of the team would be spending the weekend. With everyone unpacked we headed into town to sign on, grab some provisions and find somewhere for dinner. Cue Shane's hilarious attempts at speaking French and a healthy sized pre race burger for John and myself. All well fed, the guys headed off for a nights sleep and I started building my bike!!

Saturday morning meant getting up at an ungodly hour to get prepared and ride over to the gites to meet the guys. As me and my brother arrived at the gites we were greeted by the usual sight of tyres being pumped and embrocation being rubbed into legs. Finally with everyone ready we rode the 4km into town and joined growing mass of cyclists at the start. Unfortunately by the time we got there around 500 riders were already in front of us. This seriously increases the amount of time it takes to get through the start gate and means you are unlikely to ever get near the front of the bunch.

After about 30 mins of waiting, punctuated with 5 mins of panic when I realised my headset was lose, we finally started scooting forward and as soon as we were over the timing mat the race was on. The ride out of Abbeville is fast. You ride along a wide main road that is completely closed to traffic for the event, speeds are around the 30mph mark and you are constantly pushing to close gaps as faster riders come past and slower riders drop back. Unfortunately some of the riding skills are below par and within 30 seconds Phil had nearly been taken off by a rider wildly cutting across his line. He stayed up and we managed to restrain Shane from starting a diplomatic incident.

After around 20km the route hits the first climb of the day, nothing serious but a steady drag. We stuck together and rode up at a steady pace, passing riders who were clearly feeling the early pace. After cresting this climb the road turns left and sweeps down into a village before rising steeply toward Limeux. This is the first testing climb of the day and left riders spread all over the road. It was at this point that we lost touch with Dave. We had decided to ride the event as a team but after several kms of riding easy with no sign of Dave getting back on, we decided to continue and wait at the first feed, at 98km, for everyone to regroup.

The climbs come fairly frequently after this and whilst none of them are overly steep or long the frequency makes it difficult to keep groups together and positioning is increasingly important. After the climbs at Vaux, Oisemont and Rambures we had witnessed groups of 50 or more come together only to be split into pieces, especially on the descents where some poor decisions were being made and several riders had taken heavy falls. My own descending was being hampered by my now lose again headset which was causing massive vibration at the front of the bike, not good when descending at close to 45mph. This meant me slipping back on the descent and being badly positioned for the following climbs.

The elastic finally broke on the climb to Buigny les Gamaches. I had dropped to the back of the group on the descent and started the climb a couple of lengths behind John. Although I managed to hold his wheel to the top I couldn't follow the acceleration over the crest and watched as the group split into three. Shane, Steve and Phil in the front, myself in the third group and John marooned in the middle with two other riders. For the next 10km I watched as the gap between the groups increased, my attempt to jump across cut short by a strong cross wind. The climb at Dargnies was my last view of the others and my problems descending meant that all of a sudden I was on my own!!

The next 40km is a straight run to the coast, flat with a ripper of a cross wind. I was on my own with no shelter so got my head down and tried to hold a decent pace. It was around this point that I first started feeling a bit of cramp, unusual as I hadn't done more than 70km. When the route reaches the coast it turns onto the sea front and immediately climbs the steepest hill of the day. This climb, at Ault, catches a lot of riders out as you need to have shifted into the little ring before you have even seen the climb. Shane dropped his chain here and had to ride back down the hill just to get going again!!! The climb is fairly short however and if you stay on the power you can get over it fairly quickly making sure you dance on the pedals to impress the many people lining either side of the road cheering you on.

After Ault you follow the coast through Cayeux to Le Hourdel, thankfully with a tail wind which helped my now knotting calf muscles. I managed to find two riders from Glendene who had taken a wrong turn (not sure how as every junction is clearly marked and marshalled!!) and we rode together into the first feed. As I arrived I could see Phil and Steve sitting on a grassy bank working on their suntans!!

The feed was well stocked with variously typical French treats and I filled my bottles and stuffed my pockets before sitting down with the others to discuss the mornings events whilst waiting for Dave. He duly appeared some 10 mins later in a large group looking fresh and keen to hit some more hills!!! We waited for Dave to stock up and for everyone to get themselves sorted when we realised we had made the biggest mistake of the day. Although at least a couple of hundred riders had been behind us when we arrived at the feed we had been sitting around so long that most of them had been and gone. There were literally us six and a rather large Belgian. We got back on the bikes quickly!!

Riding out of the feed meant heading back toward Abbeville and back into a cross wind. We road smoothly through and off for another 15km until my legs started cramping again and I decided it was more sensible to sit in the back and let the others do the work. We caught up with a large group of French riders but it was clear they were doing the short route and would soon be turning off. At this point my legs completely cramped and I could hardly turn the pedals. Luckily Steve and Dave stayed with me and fed me gels and strange pastes designed to cure cramp. It worked to a degree but I knew I was on a bad day and the last 50km were going to be tough. Phil dropped back and we decided to ride together to the finish.

The route for the final 50km of the route had been altered this year to avoid a large Agricultural Festival being held near Abbeville, as such I had no idea where we were going or how hard the climbs would be. On another day I'm sure I would have described them as drags but with my legs feeling like concrete they were almost impossible. The long climb at Bettencourt had me weaving across the road and when I was the climb dragging up out of Hangest sur Somme, I just wanted to get off!!!

As with all these events they save the worst for last. The climb from Long to Aily-le-Haut-Clocher is one of the longest climbs in the area. Fortunately the route only climbed two thirds of it before descending back to Long and heading for the finish. Only 10km to go. Possibly the longest 10km of my life!! I crossed the finish line a lonely figure, 6hr 40mins and 114miles on the bike but over 7.5hrs due to the long stop at the feed. The guys were all relaxing at the finish village with their pasta and a few beers, something I was more than happy to join in with before the 15km ride home. In total I rode 215km, more than I have ever done in one day. It was probably my lowest day ever on a bike as I rode more than 120km with cramp. Oddly I still had a lot of fun.

The rest of the guys put in some really stunning performances. John and Shane took their rivalry off up the road and did their best to put each other into the red on the climbs. A riding time of 5hrs 40mins is not bad going at all. Steve was strong all day and my thanks to him for sticking with me when he was clearly strong enough to have gone with Shane and John. Phil, who hasn't ridden a bike seriously in nearly 7 years, couldn't help but give in to his competitive streak and was chasing wheels all day dragging the team into faster and faster groups. Despite that he completed the distance comfortably and spent a good amount of time pushing me on climbs.

For me though ride of the day goes to Dave. I'm sure he will admit he was surprised by the early pace and he'll also admit that hills aren't his best friend. Despite this and getting dropped early on, Dave kept going, kept taking his turns, helped shelter me when I could hardly pedal and did an all round top ride that he should be very proud of.

Our day was topped off with several beers in town, two over friendly middle aged women and a couple of gay Danish guys but that's a story for another day.

Roll on September 2011..

Ian Pearson