Wiggle Ups and Downs Sportive - 11th March

John Mac and Alex arrived early enough to be in the first group out. It was a rather overcast, grey start but getting off early paid off as it meant they missed a huge traffic jam to get into the start and gave them more time, and confidence, to tackle the full "epic" 80 mile distance.
The first section was a mix of flat, rolling terrain with one genuine climb as they headed south into the flatter plain that lies between the start in the north downs and the south downs. Immediately after the first feedstation John had a puncture, before we headed off into the the first extra loop of the epic route. Thankfully this 15 miles was in this flatter plain and John was able to assist a female rider by following her closely to protect her from any tailwinds. By the time we reached the second feedstation the sun was fully out and it was warm enough to strip off a layer or two.
The final section took them back close to the start, before the second epic loop took them into a genuinely hilly area in the North Downs close to Leith hill and into Peaselake (bathed in both large quantities of  sun, hikers, road and off road bikers). They then teamed up with another female rider leading to Alex getting distracted discussing her Etape de Tour rides and briefly missing a turn (not helped by a group of idiot cyclists shooting out without giving way from the way A&J should have gone, on the wrong side of the road blocking their view of the signs and taking theirattention). The final long climb at 14% was on a very narrow road requiring very slow climbing behind cars trapped behind very slow cyclists. They got back to the start shortly after this, happy to have finally finished the epic length of a sportive and with at least a few cars left in the carpark.