"Little Lumpy" 100 mile Charity Sportive - 20th May 2018

"Little Lumpy" 100 mile Charity Sportive - 20th May 2018

21 May 18

This is the second time I have ridden this event - the previous time was in 2016. That's long enough for me to have forgotten the horrors of the two final climbs!
This is an excellent event; well run, superb home-made food en route and fabulous scenery in the Sussex and Hampshire Weald and the South Downs. As the name suggests it does involve a fair number of hills! All profits this year went to   Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care
My day started badly with all M25 traffic being diverted through Watford and my having to divert into Guildford to buy some sun-tan lotion - bad planning! By the time I had got myself organised and eaten my free bacon butty, most of the 100 mile riders had departed. This didn't make much difference in practice as I would soon have left me behind in any case. It was chilly at the start with grey skies and mist but the sun soon came through. A few nasty steep climbs early on but then longer less-steep ones which were more to my liking. At the half-way point there was a wonderful feed stop at the top of Teglease Down - wonderful views in all directions (wouldn't be so good on a wet, windy day I suppose).
I thought I was going pretty well until the second climb up Butser Hill after 65 miles which was close on a mile consistently above 10%. After that, though, there was 25 miles of much gentler rolling stuff - lovely views and pretty villages. Then there were the two final "difficulties"; 4 miles of ghastly steep up and down (mostly up) on dreadful road surfaces then a final 800 yards so steep that even standing on the pedals with 34x32 I was only just able to make forward progress - not much appreciated.
A pretty good day until, late in the evening, it flashed into my mind that there was a large empty space in the car where my front wheel should have been (it's an age thing). Fortunately the organiser has it so another trip to Surrey will be needed.