"Little Lumpy" 100 mile Charity Sportive - 20th May 2018

This is the second time I have ridden this event - the previous time was in 2016. That's long enough for me to have forgotten the horrors of the two final climbs!
This is an excellent event; well run, superb home-made food en route and fabulous scenery in the Sussex and Hampshire Weald and the South Downs. As the name suggests it does involve a fair number of hills! All profits this year went to   Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care . 
My day started badly with all M25 traffic being diverted through Watford and my having to divert into Guildford to buy some sun-tan lotion - bad planning! By the time I had got myself organised and eaten my free bacon butty, most of the 100 mile riders had departed. This didn't make much difference in practice as I would soon have left me behind in any case. It was chilly at the start with grey skies and mist but the sun soon came through. A few nasty steep climbs early on but then longer less-steep ones which were more to my liking. At the half-way point there was a wonderful feed stop at the top of Teglease Down - wonderful views in all directions (wouldn't be so good on a wet, windy day I suppose).
I thought I was going pretty well until the second climb up Butser Hill after 65 miles which was close on a mile consistently above 10%. After that, though, there was 25 miles of much gentler rolling stuff - lovely views and pretty villages. Then there were the two final "difficulties"; 4 miles of ghastly steep up and down (mostly up) on dreadful road surfaces then a final 800 yards so steep that even standing on the pedals with 34x32 I was only just able to make forward progress - not much appreciated.
A pretty good day until, late in the evening, it flashed into my mind that there was a large empty space in the car where my front wheel should have been (it's an age thing). Fortunately the organiser has it so another trip to Surrey will be needed.