Lisa and I did the 70 mile Ryedale Rumble, which is the middle distance. We have the Trans Wales next week so didn't want to overdo it with the long one.. It was a nice day but windy. The route is hilly with 5000ft climbing and a couple of steep (20%+) banks. We set off pretty much last as I didn't want to get up early! So we passed the miles counting up the number of people we overtook.
By the first feed we'd got to 11. The feed was great, sandwiches, cakes & fruit - perfect! In the middle section we were tussling with the 13th as he kept re-overtaking us. But we got rid of him on Blakey Bank, where we were surprised to see everyone else walking. Two men had even taken their cycling shoes off as they were in it for the long haul! We reached 19 overtakes by the time we got to the 2nd feed station at Hutton Le Hole. There was a strong cross wind on the descent, it was a little disconcerting at speed, there were lots of sheep poised to run into the road at any moment too.
We didn't really eat at the feed station as it only seemed a moment since the last one. In the last 3rd we were up to 21 overtakes when we fancied a coke as we both got sore legs battling with a really strong headwind. We stopped in Hovingham and had a quick drink. Luckily, we only lost 2 places and overtook them when we got going again. On the approach to Ampleforth a group of 4 Rapha boys overtook us, they were the 1st group back on the long route, racing snakes. There was quite a climb to the finish and we got 3 more to finish at 24 overtakes and overtaken by 4. When we checked in we found we got silver and were 1 min 3 secs off gold - what a shame we stopped for that coke!!
