100 mile Circle of Hope

dsmiff

Just got back from the Circle of Hope, some of you may have seen my son (now 12 years old) who was featured in months Cycling Plus on Page 40.

He finished the 100 mile (97.5 actual ) ride in about 6hr's 45min's with a ride time of just under 6hr's 30 mins, he spend the last 40 miles riding on his own - which must have been really hard, only a handful of riders finished infront of him!

The weather was a bit interesting with a few thundery showers thrown at us and strong winds, but we did get some good sunshine I finshed about 20 mins behind, mind you he did so an extra 3 miles when he went the wrong way!

pdstsp

Chapeau to both of you - and particularly your son - some effort and I bet he'll sleep well tonight.

Paul

cougie

Very Impressive riding from junior !

I was on some of your route today - its not an obvious choice for a charity ride - breaking people in gently by sending them up the Sunspot ? I saw plenty of riders stopping and walking. The climb up Worlds End was nasty - I didnt see one other rider ride the climb when I did it. I was just glad I'd chosen the bike with the compact on !

Always good to see so many people out on their bikes - I'm not sure they ALL enjoyed it - the wind looked a bit strong for some.

dsmiff

I think a lot of riders bailed out at 50 mile instead of doing the 100 pleased to say I didn't walk once!

Luckliy I hooked up with another rider and we rode together for the whole distance which made it alot easier!

The lad did an extra 15 - 20 mins of riding with his detour he was heading up the panaroma with a group of riders, until they realised their mistake and turned round!

cougie

Good work on the not walking - there werent many of us from what I could see.
Do you have details to send donations to - I want to send something to the charity as their marshalls all seemed really happy to see me - despite me not being part of your ride.

Its a much easier way over Worlds End the other way round I reckon.

dsmiff

The charity was Clatterbridge Cancer Research.

This is our Just Giving Page - if you want to use that.

http://www.justgiving.com/david-Smith15

I take it your local then - we live over towards wrexham and it's only the second time the boy have been out on his road bike this year (we had a quick ride out to the horseshoe pass about 4 weeks ago), he is usually at Llandegla every weekend on his Mountain Bike.

Seemed like most of the riders were keen amateurs, did not see any club riders out, not sure why so many riders will do the Cheshire Cat yet give this a miss as this is slightly more challenging but seems a pretty good ride for a first sportive.

Maybe it needs a bit more publicity.

cougie

Ta for that ! Will donate.

I only saw a few club riders doing it - from what I saw of it - it was a nicer route compared to the Cat, so I'll definitely look out for it next year.

I'm from the Wirral so I only picked it up from the Sunspot and out to Malpas - the loop from there would have been too long for me !

Your lad does really well for his age. Very impressive.

dsmiff

Thanks for the donation much appreciated!

Yeah he really seems to enjoy this type of thing, likes rubbing it in how he can beat his Dad!

dsmiff

Just an update if anyone is interested but we have so far raised just over £850 for clatterbridge Cancer Research.

Can't be bad we had a fantastic ride on a great route met some really great people and also managed to raise loads of money.

Maybe more riders will do this next year, far better route than cheshire cat and even if you don't raise money your entry fee (£15) is going to a good cause