Riding The Tour of Cambridgeshire

Although the Tour of Cambridgeshire has a very civilised start time of 12 o’clock, travelling up from the South Coast meant an early start, plus the organisers had warned us to come early. With over six thousand riders expected on the day, queues were likely and I didn’t fancy a panicked rush to get ready after a three hour drive. Maybe next year I’ll stay overnight, no running around and a chance to have a look at the finish would be nice.

Once we pulled into the arena I realised just how big the event was going to be. An army of marshalls saw us safely parked and with fours hours to spare, we took a gentle stroll over to registration. There was every type of cyclist wandering around and bikes everywhere; most were nervously fiddling with bikes, or stuffing their faces in preparation for the ride to come.

Although the Tour of Cambridgeshire had a late start, riders were encouraged to arrive early, which meant plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere

Alongside the multitude of food outlets, there were various exhibitors showing their wares, cycle stunt teams, radio road shows, massage tent and the odd BBC reporter looking for a soundbite. All this and we hadn’t entered the huge arena building yet. Being early paid off; we were soon through sign on with no queues and into the exhibition hall.

Here there were more stalls ready to lighten your wallet, including Tour of Cambridgeshire clothing sponsor Godfrey Sports, who were doing a good trade in souvenir kit. As a side note, Godfrey Sports are also supplying the team kit for the Amateur World Championships, the UCI having decided after asking riders, that national team kits should be worn by all riders.

The organisers had told us to be prepared to start queuing up to two hours ahead for the race pens, but we decided we knew better and ignored the growing queues of sportive riders; we after all were ‘racing’, surely we wouldn’t be expected to stand in line?

If you want to be up the front for the next edition, make sure you arrive in plenty of time

You guessed it, we turned up at the race pen – riders who had opted to race were going off before the sportive riders – to find a huge mob of cyclists queuing back out of sight. Lesson learnt; next year turn up early and don’t amble about chatting to friends and ogling carbon goodies. Get yourself sorted and down to the start!

Now ensconced firmly towards the rear – although we weren’t the last, riders were continuing to pour in behind us – it was time for a sit down. With over an hour to wait many took the opportunity to swap tall tales or attend to a last-minute call of nature. A small niggle here, there were no obvious toilet facilities to hand, though to be fair to the organisers there had been plenty on the way down to the start.

I spotted a Holiday Inn across the road, where the staff were allowing a growing number of riders to use their facilities. Some riders opted to water the fence, despite the fact they were in full view of the public. Not the kind of behaviour likely to endear the event to locals, and eventually the organisers warned riders over the PA not to use the fence, but some riders always think this kind of thing is not for them, which led to one rider being ejected from the race pen! Harsh, but this is a new event and relies heavily on public support, so it’s up to riders to be seen to be on best behaviour, whether this is waving at the crowds, not dropping litter, or not urinating on the locals environment!

With so many riders taking part, getting to the front of the bunch was going to have a huge effect on how your day was going to go. Some late arrivals tried to slot themselves into the front of the bunch, but the eagle-eyed compere soon spotted and ousted them, to the great delight of those of us who were stuck way back in the cheap seats. As he pointed out, it was hardly fair on those riders who had made the effort to turn up on time and wait for a decent spot. You’ve got to love us Brits and our love of fair play and queuing!

And were off! Well the front was. The rear of the massive Tour of Cambridgeshire peloton was going to be some way behind…

Finally, after all that waiting – with a brief respite to wave at a hovering camera drone – the countdown began. Final checks were made and we were off, or rather the front were off. We stood around for almost a minute, watching the front of the bunch move off behind the commissaire’s car, before we finally got going.

 
Continued overleaf…
 
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