And the Lanterne Rouge goes to.....
Great ride report from Auntie Helen, specially the pictures!
Hi, another Suffolk Sunrise rider here. I didn't meet up with any of the other Cycle-Chatters, mainly because we didn't start the ride until nearly 9am due to a misunderestimate of where Woodbridge actually is in relation to Newmarket (we thought it was 30 miles away and it turns out to be all the way over there on the other side of Ipswich! Ah well)
But, when we finally got going it was a really nice ride. Lovely sunshine and NO WIND (it's back now though I notice). The first 15 miles before the ferry were pretty easy, though because we were so late we hardly saw any other cyclists and kept wondering if we'd gone off route - the yellow signage arrows were there to rescue us though (no Garmins here!).
When we arrived at the ferry there was some dicussion of how many people there were behind us - not that many is the answer, as fifteen minutes later a couple of people turned up! An hour's wait for the ferry at least gave me time for a loo break and a banana, but I was starting to go cold by the time we got to the front of the queue and I was very glad it wasn't raining at this point.
Other side of the river the roads became narrower and windier as they went through tiny villages and bits of bluebell wood - this ride goes through some very scenic areas of Suffolk (though were did those hills come from? I'm sure they weren't on the route profile!). At a couple of points the roads are completely returning to nature, with grass growing up the middle and sand-drifts at the edges.
We made sure we followed the signs for the 50 route where it split from the hundred, and soon it was time for lunch. At the lunch stop, bearing in mind we were some of the last to go through, there was an incredible amount of food left - crates of grapes, mounds of sandwiches, and about 400 bananas. We did our best but there was still quite a lot left when we were done.
The last ten miles we actually caught up with some other riders and rode in a group for a while. We overtook two people as well, just in time for the two hilly bits right at the end as the ride came back into Woodbridge. We must have been right at the back of the 50-miler group by this time as on arrival we were greeted by name as we handed our t-shirts and medals.
The organisation (especially the availability of cups of tea!) on this ride was very good, and overall we had a really good day. Next year I shall leave a bit earlier (!) try for the hundred!!