It was a pretty brutal ride with the heat and those Yorkshire hills.But a great ride all the same.The 3 main climbs of Blotby, blakey and Rosedale chimney were all very tough but do-able. I think what made this sportive so hard was the constant undulations. Not neccesarily big hills , but very little time to recover before the next rise was onto you. I got round i 7hrs 47 mins and was well chuffed with that. I missed gold by 2 mins and 20 seconds. But to be honest I'm not fit enough to chase times and just do my best on the day and see what happens. It was a well organized event with well stocked feed stations and helpful volenteers.
Longers , think you definatly did the right thing by opting out when your knee is giving you grief. It's bad enough with two goodish legs , so think you would have suffered beyond the call of duty and possibly given yourself a longer delay in getting back to fitness. Would definatly reccomend this one to you and Hugo15 and anyothers who want a hard, hilly sportive and are prepared to suffer in brilliant surroundings and have a great day in the saddle.