The Exmoor Beast

---

As I'm unable to train at the moment due to self inflicted crippledness I now have plenty of time to sit down and write a report on the 100 mile Exmoor beast, so here goes!

So I rocked up at Butlins Minehead at approx 6am to register and guess what it was wet although not raining at this point!  Registration done I got my bike ready and then set about deciding what to wear as it was actually pretty mild but being exmoor I knew the weather had to be **** somewhere around the course! So I eventually decided to go with the leggings and jacket rather than just shorts, shirt and arm warmers!  

I managed to get myself in the first wave set off at 7am on the dot and headed out onto the course where we headed inland towards the National Park, the first few miles was just on easy A roads with speedsters getting their kicks on the flat section (the one and only!) whilst I happily cruised along trying to forget about the pain in my back and thinking by the time i hit the fist hill it should have hopefully warmed up, freed up and I can cruise past them on the hill (dam it this isn't supposed to be competitive!!).

After 20 minutes of cruising along you are hit by the first big, sorry enormous hill at the bottom of which you had to ride over a cattle grid (and it had starting raining by this point) so as I approached the cattle grid the people in front who had speeded past earlier whom I was now catching at the foot of the hill (yes!) were busy falling off their bikes on an extremely slippery cattle grid on entry to the national park whilst standing out of the saddles climbing the hill. Simple, increase speed up to grid sit down over the grid and keep going, well that was my tactic whilst everyone else around me was falling off lol. Having navigated my way through the bodies on the road (or cattle grid should I say), i then set about climbing, looking ahead of me thinking with every brow that this has to be the top but no it just kept on building until finally i reached the top, but i knew that this was just the baby before the real big one.

Having topped the first biggish hill you then dropped down at speed and headed through a ford being careful not to fall off, I found speed the best option and navigated the cobbled surface as quickly as I could without falling off and getting completely soaked.  Having gone through the ford you then started climbing again up a couple of switch backs and up, up, up until you reached the moorland where it leveled out a little I say levelled out, what I mean is the gradient just became less seveare!  But then as you carried on you saw the road disappear into the sky! By this time glasses only served to blind you as the water was coming sideways out of the cloud in which you were cycling, but I wasn't stopping on this hill (mountain!) to take them off! Eventually I reached the summit and set about dropping down the other side without brakes as they were so wet they might as well have been lumps of cheese, the steep descent the other side was pretty wild to say the least! Its wasn't long before it climbed back up again and with little climbs and descends all the way along the coast to Lynmouth before it then dropped down into Lymouth heading down a 1 in 4 hill to the first feed station at approx 25 miles.

I was feeling pretty good so decided not to stop at the feed station (big mistake as I found out later) plus I was taking on board what I thought was enough energy in the form of gels and granola bars every 15 miles.  With a big drop down off the moor into Lynmouth it only meant another whopping climb back onto the moor which althoungh not quite as steep and high as the first big climb it wasn't far from it with over 400m of accent taking over 30 mins to climb it! As you accended up onto the moor the clouds closed in on you again and the rain came down!

Once at the top it seemed like a countinuous battle with wind buffeting you and drizzly rain coming at you and with constant climbing where you would just being playing around at 1500ft, dropping down a couple of hundred feet before climbing straight back up again, again and again, with the odd farmers gate way thrown it with mud and slurry all over the road for a few hundred metres either side!

Having battled my way to 56 miles where you momentarily join up with the wimbleball route near to Bury hill (you know where I mean if you've done it) going the opposite way to then climb back up to the top of the road which leads you to Bury hill on the wimbleball route, my tank was empty and I had 15 miles of just trying to keep the engine going before the second feed station.  Those fifteen miles were some of the hardest I had ridden before and the climb back onto the wimbleball loop, how the **** I managed to climb that god knows, maybe he was pushing me up it!!!  Anyway having know joined the wimbleball course and avoided the temptation of turning left back to minehead rather than right i felt a little bit of renewed drive as i headed down the hill knowing exactly what I had in front of me, then the feed station appeared.  Diving into the tent I was like a kid in a candy shop, I was just craving sugar where upon i managed to eat 6 pieces of flatjack, 5 soreen loaf slices and 2 banana's! it was like someone just flipped a switch, i felt great again!

I then set off again on the wimbleball course (easiest way of explaining it as most of you know it!) and I have to say the having thought the course was hard before I have to say this time round it felt pretty easy compared to what i had just endured in the previous 70 miles! Plus the fact that I knew what was ahead of me the time seemed to go by pretty quickly, before long I was then dropping back down into Minehead at speed before they threw one last small climb in near the end at which point i was on an adrenaline high and flew up it and arrived back at Butlins after what was an epic ride.

If anyone if looking for a challenge then this it! And if 100 miles is to far then the 100km route will be equally challenging as you take in the biggest climbs on that route to.

Hope you have enjoyed my burbling.

Cheers

Sam

---

Author: Sam Pociecha - 04 November 2011 19:31