Some Random Thoughts On The Road To
Shotley Gate (and Back) (LGD -270 Days)
Wednesday 16 August 2017, 103 Miles
Click here for Route Flyby
Today
I had a hankering to ride over to Shotley Gate on the coast between Felixstowe and
Harwich so that’s where I went! Why? Well, I’ve no idea it just seemed like a
good place to go! To add a bit of variety I decided to ride the route the other
way around to my last outing and I also snuck in a couple of small diversions
to knock off a couple of ‘new roads’. Why? Because I can!
I
was underway just after 8.00 am. Carol Kirkwood, the BBC weather lady, had promised me blue skies, sunshine
and heat so that seemed like a good omen. As
I rode along I was thinking about the last of this year’s Grand Tours, the Tour
of Spain (La Vuelta a EspaƱa) which starts on Saturday. Slightly confusingly,
but following a recent trend by the Grand Tours (read on) the Vuelta will
actually start in France - from Nimes! It has all the makings of tough event. The
defending champion, Nairo Quintana, won’t be riding as I suspect that he’s rather
overdone it this year having ridden both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de
France. He looked a shadow of himself in this year’s Tour. Bertie/La Pistolero (Alberto
Contador) has recently announced his retirement so this being his home event I am
sure he will want to leave on a high note. And then there’s the Froomedog.
Whilst he's best known for his four victories in the Tour de France we shouldn’t
forget that he has also finished as runner up in three past editions of the
Vuelta so there is an element of unfinished business here. He has made it
clear that he will be riding to win. If he does win he will become only the third rider
to complete the Tour-Vuelta double in the same year. I’m going to be glued to
the nightly highlights on the box for the next 3 weeks. Sorted!
Heading
towards Hadleigh I started to think about which of the three Grand Tours I liked
the best. And I didn’t reach any conclusions on that score. They are all very
different in scope and spirit. The Giro d’Italia, which in 2014 started in Northern
Ireland with a time trial round the streets of Belfast (see, I told you to read
on), tends to be a loud, raucous and flamboyant event. This year it celebrated
its centenary and has had a very colourful history, including years when the pre-race
favourite has been paid not to take part and allegations of result fixing and
mafia involvement. The Tour de France (La Grande Boucle), which this year
started in Germany with a time trial in Dusseldorf, is the ‘senior’ Grand Tour;
it was first held in 1903. The Tour has become heavily commercialised and the
pre-race caravan is probably now at least as much a spectator attraction as the race
itself! By contrast, the Vuelta has a rather lower profile and to me feels more
like a rider’s event rather than a public spectacle. But that doesn’t mean that
the spectators don’t vent their feelings with passion. Lots of Latin passion! In
a way, I think it’s great that the three Grand Tours are each quite different. It
makes for much more interesting racing and much more interesting spectating.
The
only regret I have is that over the years pro-riders have become much more
specialised in their approach. Some like the Froomedog only target one or two Grand
Tours in a season. Everything else is preparation for the Grand Tour. Technology
and team tactics also play a greater role today than hitherto. I recently
watched a couple of films of Eddy Merckx. One featured him climbing Mont
Ventoux on a stage of the Tour; the other was of Paris-Roubaix. I was left feeling
that pro-cycling has lost quite a lot of its special character – riders and bikes racing each other, battling the roads and weather with fairly basic technology. Then
it was more about strength and talent and less about specialisation and team
tactics. But that’s progressI suppose.
These
random thoughts occupied me until I reached the ‘new’ part of the route – a little
diversion after passing through East Bergholt so I could ride around part of Alton
Water. This is a reservoir which was opened in 1987 to provide water for
Ipswich and Felixstowe. It extends over 400 acres to a depth of over 60 feet
and can provide up to 10 million gallons of treated water daily. Apart from the
road crossing at the top end of the reservoir I didn’t see much of it. There is
an 8-mile circular cycle route but some of it is unsurfaced so I didn’t want to
risk any punctures.
One
of the great delights of riding a route ‘the other way around’ is that
occasionally I get a surprise and spot something I haven’t noticed before. Well
today’s surprise was Erwarton Hall with its spectacular gatehouse. This dates
from c1549 and is a rather spectacular brick structure. The Hall is also pretty
impressive. The other claim to fame, or perhaps notoriety, is that Anne Boleyn’s
heart was apparently buried in the village church, St Mary’s. There’s a copy of
a Hans Holbein painting of her attached to the organ - to be clear that's the church's pipe organ!
The
remainder of the ride which took me down to the shore at Shotley Gate before turning
back inland to head for home via Ipswich was all very enjoyable. The only disappointment
was that the blue skies and sunshine that Carol Kirkwood had promised me didn’t
materialise until a couple of hours after I had finished. I am going to have to
have word with her about leading me on with false hopes!
By
way of a postscript I realised after uploading my ride data to Strava today I had now crossed the 10,000-mile threshold for the year to date – the equivalent
of riding from home to Fiji apparently. And I have also just about climbed Mt
Everest 8 times. Wow! But to keep my feet firmly in my pedals, Mark Beaumont who is trying to ride around the world in 80 days, is in New Zealand. He has
completed over 10,000 miles in 46 days. All apparently with a suspected
hairline fracture to his elbow/arm sustained in a fall early on in the
challenge. Go, Mark, Go!
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