Batley Bash 2012

13/02/2012 by Doug.

At the library on Sunday morning were me, Alastair, Gentleman Geoff and Mad John. We rode steadily to the start of the Bash, joined on the way by Spinner and Mick and Jonny and Fry Up at the start. There were about 80 riders in all at the start. There was a quick speech from Craig Newton which went something like “Do what you want, just do it safely”.

I was new to the Batley Bash and didn’t quite know what to expect. I had already learned that there was no stop (unlike the Pocklington 100) and that everyone took it seriously. It seemed a bit like a proper race – but it couldn’t be, could it? Surely not!

Well, we set off at quite a pace. There were spells when we went at 25-27mph. Some of the time we were much slower than that, but the pace was more than brisk, but manageable. I rode with Alastair on the way out for most of the way, and near to Selby the pace got much quicker. However, I was enjoying it. Then, coming out of Selby the only female rider fell off in front of me on a roundabout. I was heading towards her at a fair turn of speed and confident that I could steer round until another rider hit her and fell off. I then had two choices, ride over his back wheel or jump off. I headed for the verge, unclipped and dived off, forward roll, back on my  feet, ran back to the bike, picked it up, got back on and pedalled like hell to catch Alastair up again. No harm done!

The pace got quicker. Alastair at one point said to me “We averaged 25mph on the way back last year. We have averaged 18mph so far”. As we approached Boothferry Bridge, he then said “Here we go”. “What’s he on about”, I wondered.I soon found out. The pace went mental. 27mph. I dropped back 4 or 5 riders but kept in the group. The pace just never seemed to drop. Flat out, jostling for position, trying to eat some more (thankfully I had eaten in the first half of the ride). The field split, and I am pleased to say I stayed in the lead group until Pontefract when I got spat out the back on two hills with a dozen others. A group of 6 of us managed to get a fair old pace going, and I managed to get back to the finish. 70 miles, 3hrs 29mins. Average speed was 20.1mph which gives some indication of how much faster it was in the second half of the ride.

It was a good day!

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