Pearson 150 Sportive

What’s the best recovery for a 112 mile Friday? A 94 mile sportive on the Sunday.

It was always my plan to have a big weekend of riding to try to mimic some of the distance I would be completing in June.

The Pearson 150 seemed like a good idea and all for a good cause so I signed up.

When Sunday morning actually arrived, I had little wish to do another long ride but gave myself the option of changing to the shorter route if I really felt bad after starting out, although this was never really an option……

After the first few miles, I felt pretty good and joined onto a group of riders from the South West Road Club. They were a bit too leisurely for my liking though so I upped the pace and found a faster group up the road.

The route was really nice and almost identical to the one that the British Heart Foundation use for their annual London to Brighton route. It seemed like no time at all when I arrived at the bottom of Ditchling Beacon.

I’m happy to say that the Beacon wasn’t too much of a challenge and I got up it without too much drama. I spent most of the time laughing at the guy in front of me riding up on a singlespeed….

I would have loved to forget the ride back and stay at the seaside. The weather was really hotting up and it seemed a much better prospect than riding back. I continued on though and reached the feed stop just outside Brighton which was really well stocked.

I think for a ride of this distance, only one stop is necessary as sometimes it’s all too easy to stop when it’s not really needed.

The route back was a mixture of quiet lanes, most of which I’d seen on Friday. This was quite fortunate as the signs were a bit on the small side and not very prominent in places. The blue writing on a white background was not very eye catching!

A final sting in the tale came with the climb up to Headley followed by a descent and a final climb up over Epsom Downs. The little energy I had, quickly evaporated from me.

I think Pearson’s first sportive was a success. Well organised, fast registration. A good HQ with parking and food stands, chip timing and a goody bag with a few food products to go along with the warm glow of some of the money going to charity….