Brian Robinson Challenge 2011

The Brian Robinson Challenge, named in honour of Great Britain's first Tour De France stage winner, took place last Sunday from the Galpharm Stadium home of the mighty terriers.  Organised by Ravensthorpe CC's Martyn Bolt, this 75mile Sportive is a bit of a killer with 7000ft of climbing including Holme Moss.  Brian was down to greet the 300plus riders as they arrived to sign on.

Star Wheelers had a good turnout for this one with about 15 riders, me & my brother Will led the bunch out of the Stadium along Leeds Road before Toby Miller upped the pace as we turned left in Bradley heading up to Fixby.  Not that it's a race but my tactics for this one were to stay near the front but try not to do any work & save my legs for the big climbs ahead.  I was hoping to give club mate Mark Sadler a bit of a run for his money today.

After Toby had trimmed thr group down it was Sowerby Brothers rider Chris Fothergills turn to make it painful as we approached the first climb over Buckstones.  It's a pretty steady gradient but the speed we were going it was not easy, Mark Thaxter took the lead & kept a very good tempo over the climb & across the flat section before I did a turn down the hill, best place to do any work I reckon.  By this time there were only 4 riders left up front, me, Chris F, Mark T & Mark S.  We surprised the marshals in the village at the bottom as they weren't ready as we'd ridden there so fast!

Carl Saint (Yorkshire RC) caught us up before the climb over to Marsden & at this point I couldn't hack the pace that Chris F was setting so decided to ride at my own speed & either catch up on the descent or wait for a group to come up from behind.  Had a pee stop & was caught by Toby & 3 others, did a bit of through & off down into Marsden before once again getting left behind on the climb up Chain Road over the Meltham.  Toby was hammering it up the hill & was looking good.

The early pace had taken a bit out of my legs & I was aware that the 2 hardest climbs of the day were next, Wessendhead Road & then Holme Moss.  Wessy Head Road is an absolute pig, a continuous nasty gradient & always into a headwind, with a cattle grid to ride over about 2/3 of the way up which destroys your rythym.  It was a very warm day for the time of year & by this time it was getting to be hard work, I could feel the first sgns of cramp in me legs so kept the pace steady.

Tom Randle from Waky Tri caught me about halfway up & was looking strong, he'd had a mechanical earlier in the ride, I rode with Tom down into Holmfirth then to the bottom of the Moss when I was once again on me tod.  Think I was 10th rider by this point, only Tom in sight up front & a big gap behind me, looked like I was doing the rest of the ride solo.

I didn't find Holme Moss too tough, no more than normal anyway, was glad I'd stuck a 26 sprocket on as this helped me out loads.  The Moss is the most famous climb in the area, it was always frequently in the Tour of Britain & in the Leeds Classic race in 1994 to 96.  Lance Armstrong rode it one year in his World Champion's rainbow striped jersey, I've got a very blurry photo to prove it.  For some reason the Tour of Britain  has avoided the Moss & Yorkshire in recent years which is a shame. Here's a video that I put together in 2004.

I bombed down the other side & began the climb of Woodhead Pass, one to be avoided during the week as there are loads of trucks but not too bad on a Sunday, nice gradient & a bit of a tailwind this was more like it.

So all the main climbs out of the way just a bit of climbing up to the last feed station where I filled up my water bottle then a nice section down through Denby Dale, Scissett & Clayton West.  Just before the turn up to Emley my left leg seized up with cramp.  Ouch it was painful, had to freewheel & try to stretch it out, luckily I was caught by a few riders, after about 40 miles on my own I was glad of the help, & got a tow up to the village.

One of the riders that caught me was Paracycling World Champion  David Stone MBE so I didn't feel too bad.  Got me legs back in order, over the top & over to Flockton, we caught Tom as he was a bit broken, I think he appreciated a few people to ride with as like me he'd spent most of the day on his own. 

Going across the tops past Grange Moor I saw a yellow shirt in the distance which cheered me up a bit.  It was Toby who was obviously paying the price of the fast early pace, this spurred me on as it would be quite a scalp to finish ahead of him as he's a bit of a mountain goat unlike me.  I got to the front & gave it some stick & we passed Toby just before the drop down to Colne Bridge before the last couple of miles back to the stadium.

Me & Toby had a bit of a sprint finish but I just edged him out to finish in 8th place by my reckoning, 4 hours 7 minutes there or thereabouts & a gold certificate for me! Chris Fothergill was first back with Mark S in 3rd & Mark T in 4th.  The rest of the Star Wheelers arrived in a big bunch at about 4 hours 40 minutes.

A great day's riding then home to lig out on the settee watching Amstel Gold on Eurosport.,

Loadsa photos & videos on Richard Asquith's fine website here flamingphotography

Here are my brother's stats from the ride, you can have a look at the route profile from that, will be good training for Etape Du Dales in 4 weeks time.