Wiggle Surrey Hills Gravelcross CX Sportive

Paul Horta-Hopkins

I rode the third event in the Wiggle CX Sportive series, the Surrey Hills Gravelcross CX, part of a five event series that aims to get ‘cross riders out on their bikes and exploring those lesser travelled routes…

I’ve ridden a few sportives over the years and have been using my ‘cross bike around the bridleways and paths of Sussex for a while now, but the Wiggle Surrey Hills Gravelcross CX was going to be my first chance to ride a ‘proper’ CX sportive.

Preparation for the event was pretty much the same as for any road event, apart from the fact that I was running knobbly tyres, and not just any knobbly tyres, this was going to be my first ride on a tubeless set-up, which I’ll tell you about in another article.

The event HQ was the Cranleigh Showground and had plenty of parking and hot food on offer. Numbers were on the low side if you are used to some of the more established road sportives, but this gives the event a low key, friendly feel, with plenty of opportunities to chat and participants will increase as more people hear about cross sportives. With smaller events, registration is quick and easy, and once the numbers are on and the facilities have been visited it’s on to the start.

Briefing completed and we’re off, but unlike most sportives the organisers have arranged a cheeky little three kilometre timed loop at the start and finish. The idea is to see who rides the fastest start, finish and combined laps with the winners getting some spot prizes from sponsors Lezyne… Read More >