Whether it's global warming or just chance, we've almost forgotten what a frosty, crisp, cold Salisbury Plain Winter Challenge is like. This year's event was best described as "moist". Not that it rained (much) during the ride itself, but mainly because it had rained so much in the previous few days that conditions underwheel were distinctly squishy.
A big push by the organisers to get people to pre-enter to avoid big queues on the day kind of backfired - queues to enter were quite short, but the queue to pick up your number for the 50km route were rather long. There were over 400 people doing the 50km, though, so it's perhaps not all that surprising. The total entry was just shy of 1,000 riders at 998 - just under 900 finished their chosen loop.
There were a few changes for 2007. First was an extra, shorter course - a 15km option aimed at families and beginners. Riding anywhere around Erlestoke on a day like this, with soft ground and high winds, is going to be hard work, though, so even the relatively short distance was a challenge.
The other change was a move away from last year's two-lap long route and back to a single loop. This was only partially successful. You didn't get the psychological trauma of getting back to within sight of the car pack and then having to go around again, but the single loop was packed into about the same space as last year's shorter loop. The result was that you'd often see bikes going in all sorts of different directions and you kept seeing the same bits of the Plain from different angles. We prefer the "old style" course with a proper big loop out into the wilds - it's obviously harder to manage for the organisers and marshals, but a feeling that you're actually going somewhere rather than just doing extra bits of loop just to make up the distance is, we feel, worthwhile.
That said, there are still few better ways to blow out the Christmas cobwebs and give yourself a warm glow of exertion. And it's hard not to like a race that features a tea stop at half-way...
Somewhere up the front various people were actually trying to go fast. Most successful in that was Scott Forbes (Pedalon.co.uk), completing the 50km course (which ended up being a bit shorter in the edn) in an impressive 2:05.55, just nine seconds ahead of Elliot Challifour. In the women's category it was Jenn Hopkins (Minx/Kona) coming home first on a cyclocross bike - an ideal choice for the conditions.
Full results are on TimeLaps, with more stuff (including pics) available from the organisers SPAMBiking.
