Pro Tour Ride - 145km - 6th Sept 2009 Stoke on Trent

For me and Ben, this was the ultimate challenge. The opportunity to be one of the first ever amateurs to ride an actual full stage of the Tour of Britain, the very same the pro's will ride.

The venue was the Stoke on Trent Stage 5 on the 6th September, 145km described as a "rollercoaster ride of ups and downs."

I left the house on Saturday at 3pm and arrived at Bens around 5pm. Anoushka has only 5 weeks or so to go before they have a little daughter in the family so it was great to see her looking so well and all baby! Me and Ben went straight out on the bikes for 10 miles just to stretch the legs. Felt good on the bike and followed by a massive bowl of pasta, a steak and about 3 litres of Isotonics I hit the sack for an early night in preparation for the 5:30am start the following morning.

I didnt really know what to expect of the day as I guess this is the first time I have done a ride like this but I can 100% say it was one of the best sporting experiences I have taken part in. The organisation was first class from turning up and registering to completing the race and getting our medal and our free pasta meal.

We set off around 8:30am in a pack of 40. It was amazing to be riding with a group this big and the first 10 miles or so just felt effortless as you were just slip streaming from the person in front. One thing I was concerned of and had in the back of my mind is the training I had done and how much that had prepared me the ride. The most we had done in the run up to the ride was 67 miles. We had another 30 miles to do on top of that and the terrain was different to what we had experienced before. I was really concious to not go out at full tempo then to be struggling at the end. I would have much prepared to have started steady and finished strong.

The first third of the stage saw us take in 60km which reached a maximum gradient of 200mtrs. It was from this point the hard work really started. We hit Wootton Hill which at the base starts at around a gradient 100mtrs but works its way up to 500mtrs in the space of 26km. The gradient and hills are just relentless and continuous across thgis section.

The thing with training at home in and around Selby is that it is the flatest place in the world. The nearest thing we have to a hill is a speed bump. This is great for continuous pushing yourself and keeping your heart rate at a steady rate but then when it comes to hills of this degree, it can take its toll if you havent trained for it properly.

The steepest hill we undertook on the course and the main feature was the well known Gun Hill near Leek. This hit us at 86km and had an incline of 150mtrs to 350 mtrs in the space of 5km. It was an absolute killer but with only 2 cogs still managed to climb the hill without stopping. We were rewarded after this climb with a fantastic downhill to Leek which I managed to get 42mph.

What only felt like a handful of downhill sections

The long climb up Wootton Hill...............

In the zone focusing on getting up Gun Hill

We then had a much needed stop (MULE BARS!) at the top of Cheddleton Hill before the final 34km to the

finish

The great feeling crossing the line knowing we had achieved what we had set out to do which was ride the 94 miles. While 6 people had lost their lives to Prostate Cancer while doing the ride as around 1 perosn every hour dies from this form of cancer, for me it made it even more worthwhile and an achievement.

Its strange because out of all the blogs I have wrote, I thought this would be the most detailed and clear in my memory. In a situation like this when your primary focus is completing the course, when I look back it all seems to have rolled into one because you are constantly looking forward.

Let me share some of the highlights of the day for me:

• Nikki, Nyah & Ciara's voice message at the start of the day saying "Come on Daddy, you can do it!"
• At the start line when me and Ben were getting really hyped up shaking each others hand and hugging each other wishing each other the best of luck while everyone else was looking at us like we had 3 heads between us!
• Setting off at the start line with the pack of a 40 strong peleton for about 15 miles, awesome!
• Been overtook by a woman. Me and Ben looking at each other saying has that just happened. Picking up the speed to overtake her and grin only to be overtaken by her again a mile down the road and never to be seen again!
• Some of the downhills - 42mph!!!!!
• Getting to 1 mile from the finish and seeing a dad with his young daughter of maybe 5 riding this little pink bike. I just though of my girls and cant wait for the day we can all go out together on our bikes and do something like this.

• Crossing that finish line with BT, Mega

I guess you are only as good as your last adventure / race so heres to planning of the next one.......................

Thanks for a great memorable day BT.