Stafford RC Reliability Ride 2015- Record Breaking Event
Stafford Road Club hosted its annual Challenge ride last Sunday (1 March) which despite the strong to gale force winds attracted a record breaking 197 riders and raised £200 for Katherine House Hospice. This year there was a new route on offer taking riders on one of two challenging routes that both headed off across Cannock Chase toward Upper Longdon before swinging back towards Uttoxeter via Abbots Bromley. There the two route split with the shorter option (51 miles) cutting across to Bramshall before heading down the Stone road through Millwich to Sandon and back into Stafford. Link to Route Maps and Event Details
For the rest of the riders they kept heading north into the Staffordshire Moorlands where the biggest climbs awaited. The longer route (65 miles) took riders out to the beautiful village of Alton and then west to Cheadle. The riders then turned south towards Stafford and climbed a leg breaking 20% climb out of Cheadle back to Hilderston, and then the final climb of the day for all the riders Sandon Bank, before returning to the HQ at Stafford Rugby Club where hot food and drinks awaited the riders.
This year’s event was a great success and attracted riders of all abilities from the region. With over 2,600ft of climbs on the shorter and 3,200ft of climbs on the longer route the event was going to be a challenge for all taking part. The strong winds meant anyone not in a group was going to have to work extra hard but thankfully the rain held off until most of the riders had finished the event. It was great to see so many clubs so well represented including Mammoth Lifestyles, Born2Bikes Stafford Tri, RRP, Liverpool Mercury, Pro Vision, Audlem Cycles, Lichfield Cycles, Lyme RC and of course Stafford Road Club.
Hopefully we will see you all again next year and in the meantime at one of our 8 road races or 20 plus time trials we are running this year
Thanks to Dave Pugh for organising this years event and Ade, Robert for signing the routes and Wendy and Linda for signing everyone on and Dave, Luisa and Linda for signing them all back in again