Friday 3rd April - "like riding bikes on gravel? On and Off for 160kms? I bloody don't.." - this was my post on Instagram promoting the impending Epic Echappée our homage to the Tour of Flanders the day before it was due to take place. Billed as "the Classic" of the year (mainly by us!), it was going to be 160kms (100 miles in old money), with over 2,000 meters of climbing and *gulp*, 14 gravel sections. Tasty then. Mainly due to my bike meaning more to me than the oxygen I breathe and being a rather vocal opponent to riding the rough stuff, I decided to knock my participation on the head for this one and let the real hard men of the group loose on what would turn out to be, an absolute belter of a ride. Saturday 4th April - Morning of the ride: I popped into Brickwood coffee house, Clapham where the ride was due to roll out from, to say "hi!" to the chaps and wish them well on the ride, I was passing through en route to Regents Park for some laps. An hour later I would be sat on the front of the gruppetto heading for Richmond Park and pastures new, with 14 gravel sectors staring me in the face, as well as a ton of mud, grit and a bunch of unforgettable experiences. The ride started with good intentions of being as social as possible with 160kms on the horizon. Before long, usual form soon ensued: Neil Philips sat on the front tearing legs off before we'd even hit Richmond Park... everybody's heart-rates elevating to new max heart levels, straining to keep his wheel whilst he just sat upright talking like he's in an armchair with a pipe and slippers on. Finally taming his enthusiasm, to an extent, and settling in, we hit the first of the gravel sections. My nemesis now staring right at me. Gravel. Real gravel. That proper stuff. Golf ball-sized chunks of stone waiting to pull you down onto their jagged tooth-like surfaces and tear flesh from bone and split rubber and carbon like a warm knife through butter. I was scared. However, in the true style of the Echappée, lots of encouragement from a genuine top bunch of riders by my side and with the recent Echappée ethos (SMASHY SMASHY!) that Geraint Thomas had stolen and decided to unleash on the pro Spring Classics at the forefront of my mind - I grit my teeth and smashed across it. Tail-sliding left and right. Up and down through gears to find optimal grip levels. Bum firmly planted on the seat and watching everyone shoot past, I grinned like the Cheshire cat that got the cream as the adrenaline rushed through my body. My word it was actually fun... I would attempt to put into words the main part of the ride: the rolling across Surrey and Kent under cloudy skies, chilly but perfect for riding, the comradery during punctures and when at 100km+ it began to really hurt. The beautiful climbs, the deadly, evil, horrible tyre munching... no, sorry, sorry..... exhilarating gravel sections, the coffee stops and relief at said coffee stops, the mud caked grass and tarmac stretches causing our bodies to clamber all over our bikes to find purchase on a multitude of different terrain OR the fact Steve (route-master extraordinaire) included a gravel section that wasn't even a road.... honestly… it was literally just a hedge and a trench... on a climb. I would attempt to do this part of the ride some justice but there isn't a vocabulary from English to Mandarin and all those in between that could manifest the correct imagery in your minds. And quite honestly, you really had to be there to experience how much a ride such as this takes out of you, how much you don't want to stop regardless of the energy sapping, muscle aching, body beating road that lies ahead. The fact that the people around you encourage you to battle onward and the utterly sensational world we live in just making every pedal stroke an absolute pleasure... on any surface. With it's various challenges, handful of punctures, slippery roads, secret climbs and me showing the team how to properly open a banana; this really was every, single bit as epic as it had been billed. Chapeau to everyone that took part, genuinely smashed it and made it every part the only Spring Classic you need to be a part of next year! I for one will be back, provided that is if I’ve finished cleaning my bike by then.
Words: Karl
Photos: Andy, Neil, Sophie