Nottinghamshire - Glorious Gravel and Tea with my big Sis.
Having entered the Glorious Gravel Sherwood Forest sportive I took the opportunity to tick Nottinghamshire off the list of counties to be ridden by combining the event route with a route of my own, swinging by my sisters new(ish) house before tracking south to explore Nottingham City then returning back to Sherwood Forest.
Nottinghamshires flag combines the George cross with Nottingham’s favourite son Robin Hood.
Fine cool weather greeted me at the start venue close to Mansfield after a trouble free 90 minute drive. No sooner had I off-loaded the cross bike from the bike carrier than a car pulled up next to me and a friendly hello was offered from a fellow West Midlands Cyclo Cross league rider.
Having collected my number and timing chip I grabbed a quick coffee from the Hairy Collie Coffee Bar and lined up at the start line with a small group for the off at 8:15am.
The route was swiftly off the tarmac and on to single track hugging a field and then a gently sloping narrow gravel track and it was also swiftly the case that I was hitting the deck! Luckily a soft landing and lack of witnesses softened the blow from a less than graceful spill caused by glare from the low morning sun blinding me to a rut deep enough to catch a pedal on.
The route flowed from various tracks, trails and terrain with minimal tarmac needed to join up different surfaces varying from loamy, soft forest trails to sandy single track and compacted gravel to hard grassy soil.
The variety of the route and friendly competition between riders brought me to the excellent first feed station at 38km in what felt like no time. The autumn sun provided gentle warmth making for a comfortable few minutes break with good camaraderie between the riders.
Unsurprisingly taking part in a sportive changed the tone of the ride compared to the other counties, the rare photo stops were followed by determined pedalling to catch back up to the groups in front and I repeatedly passed and was passed by a couple of riders from Cambridge as tyre differences dictated speeds on different surfaces. Having chosen my relatively slick Hutchison Override tyres whenever the surface was firm and reasonably smooth I gained time but in contrast as soon as conditions got looser, sandier or muddier they would come scooting past making the most of the advantage their cyclocross mud tyres gave them.
It was a little surprising to see TT legend Matt Bottrill and five team mates come gliding effortlessly past as a compact gravel section transitioned to a narrow country lane, fleetingly I toyed with trying to latch onto the back of them for a tow but a complete mismatch of age and ability quickly consigned that plan to the maybe not category!
Following a short road section as I turned right into a wood, there were Team Bottrill, again, I congratulated myself on catching them up and passing them, ok so one of them had a puncture but the time sheet wouldn’t say that! Suddenly I had a new target, how close to the finish could I get before they caught me? I determinedly set about the task and enjoyed forty minutes or so of imaginary breakaway action before they came through on a tight wooded section. Credit to them all, great riders and good lads calling out cheerily and passing safely on twisty singletrack.
As I started to feel the pace a little and was thinking it had felt a long 37km to the second feed stop I was jolted into action by a couple of riders coming up on my side urging each other to ride strong on the last climb to the finish.
I had obviously missed the second feed station, little wonder that 37km had seemed a long way!
I missed the turn for the finish arch heading straight to my parked car, sharing a laugh with the two riders from Cambridge I’d spent so much of the ride with as they took advantage of my error and crossed the line a few seconds ahead of me.
I picked up a slice of rocky road and flapjack, resisted the finishers free Brewdog beer and opted for the alcohol free Lucky Saint with another 80km of riding at the forefront of my mind.
Unfortunately the start/finish venue for the glorious gravel event was closing at 5pm and the car park gates would be closed requiring me to find somewhere else to park the car whilst I completed leg two of the day’s ride.
My first option of the Dog and Duck pub whose car park provided access to NCN route 6 proved fruitless as all around the pub car park were bold red signs warning not to park there if walking or cycling, very frustrating not to be able to use a huge empty car park right next to the trail I was going to ride.
Plan B involved a short trip up the road to Sherwood pines, this unfortunately came with an £8 parking fee but did have the bonus of being right next to a cycle store allowing me to purchase some chain lube to eradicate the annoying squeak emanating from my drive train caused by the effects of the morning’s gravel ride stripping the chain of the lubrication applied the night before and replacing it with Nottinghamshire’s finest: muddy water, dust, sand and detritus from the forest floor.
Leaving Sherwood Pines on my now nearly silent bike I made a mental note where the car was parked as the finish was now in a different area of Sherwood Forest compared to the gps route I had planned on Komoot so on my return I would need to navigate from the planned finish to my car.
Just a couple of kilometres gentle downhill pedalling from Sherwood Pines I picked up NCN 6 at the Dog and Duck pub, cursing still about not being able to park there. NCN6 is one of Sustrans’ long-distance routes totalling 406 miles from London to the Lake District. My short section of the route took me from Kings Clipstone to Rainworth where I dropped in to see my big Sister Deb.
Somehow I managed to divert myself from the lovely smooth tarmac of NCN6 onto an interesting bit of single track that took me up a bank and then onto a virtually impossible to ride section of deep gravel reminiscent of railway ballast. After a couple of minutes battling along gamely, I gave up and scrambled back down the bank to the pristine path below and was then quickly at Deb’s house in Rainworth.
Refreshed from a mug of tea and a few biscuits and humoured by a boisterous tug of war between me, Dylan, the flat-coated retriever and a fluffy green alligator I cracked on towards Nottingham city centre.
NCN route 6 took me on a convoluted route using quiet urban roads through Blidsworth and on to Ravenshead where an eclectic mix of scarecrows kept me company thanks to a fundraising event hosted by the local primary school.
From Bulwell onwards right through Nottingham City centre the traffic increased and the cycle paths became less contiguous but nevertheless provide a means to an end, safely getting me through the city and back into rural lanes to the villages of Lambley and Woodborough.
Nottingham City left me with few memories, probably as a result of my poor planning rather than a true reflection of the city. Not having planned the route around landmarks and places of historical interest as I normally do meant Nottingham was a bit of a box ticking exercise, visit the county town – mission accomplished. The one place of note, Nottingham castle looked worth investigating but I just didn’t have time to explore.
Conscious that I only had about an hour of daylight left and a great big forest to find my car in I stopped for not so much as a photo from Bulwell to Bilsthorpe.
I got to the end of the planned route and then followed a sign to the visitor centre in the now pitch-dark forest. Unfortunately, somewhere I either missed the next sign or took a wrong turn, either way I was now in the middle of the forest with no route and no phone signal.
Following my sense of direction only I luckily picked up NCN route 6 again and followed it to the familiar surroundings of the Dog and Duck pub where I picked up the road and returned to Sherwood Pines relieved not to be going round in circles in a dark spooky forest!
As I reached the car park my light finally gave up, no problem I thought get the back-up light out – nothing, not so much as a flicker. My trust Lezyne 600 has come to the rescue many times in the past when my main lights have run out of energy but despite having been fully charged overnight there was no light! Luckily having reached the now empty car park a couple of minutes for my eyes to acclimatise to the dark and I could just about make out the shadow of a car and bike rack a few metres away.
With a sigh of relief I opened up the car, racked the bike and thanked my lucky stars that my main light had got me to the Dog and Duck otherwise I really would have been lost in Sherwood Forest.
Ultimately this was a fun ride mainly for the route and camaraderie provided by Glorious Gravel and the novelty of navigating the dark forest. My legs certainly felt the strain after so much off-road cycling and the competitive element provided by the morning’s event but I missed the simple pleasure of creating and following a route engineered to showcase the best a county has to offer in a hundred mile loop.
The ride in numbers
169.63 km Distance
Elevation Gain 1458m
8hrs 16 min moving time (20.56km/h)
4 SIS Tropical Fruit gels
1 Rocky Road
1 Flapjack
3 coffee stops
5 bottles of water
1 cans of Beer – Lucky Saint (alcohol Free)
No punctures
3 categorised climbs
Finally if you’ve got a spare quid in your pocket my justgiving page to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance is now live Keith Jones is fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (justgiving.com)
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