Manorlands Charity Event

Summary

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love riding my bike. I love challenging myself. There is no better feeling than to achieve something and push yourself to the max, always going that little bit extra and questioning yourself ‘how much more can I go? Just a little bit more, keep on going’ The Brontë Sportive is an event held in Brontë country, home of the Brontë sisters in West Yorkshire, where riders can choose a distance between 9.9 miles to 93 miles to tailor for different capabilities. The sportive is all in aid for Manorlands hospice. It is a great cause and an even better course (a lumpy one to say the least) and apparently it is one of the hardest sportives in the UK alongside the Fred Whitton!

About the day

I’ve ridden the Brontë before, but this day was going to be particularly difficult. Mainly because the UK was experiencing a heatwave and it was forecast to be an absolute scorcher! It was hard enough to ride a steady 20-mile loop, let alone 93 extremely lumpy miles. The only thought I had in my mind if I were to complete this was: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and hydrate. Your body can cope longer without food than it can liquid, so that was my priority.

I know the beautiful Yorkshire roads well, and would have found the sportive extremely tough, even if it wasn’t as hot. The heat drained away my energy to the point where I was practically crawling up some hills. I tried to hydrate as much as possible, but however much I drank, I sweated it all out 30 minutes later. My jersey was covered in salt.

I felt dizzy at times, had an horrendous headache, I lost the group I was riding with and ended up riding solo for the majority. It’s hard to suffer when you’re riding alone, but still, I carried on. My head was pounding! I had to dig extremely deep at times, especially mid-day when the heat was at its peak. I could have easily thrown in the towel, called it a day and said it was far too hot, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to complete the ride, all I had to do was to keep on pedalling. With that in mind, I eventually came rolling into the finish 6 hours later with help from the group that I eventually caught up with. I felt a massive sense of accomplishment and can honestly say, the burger that was provided at the barbeque at the end, never tasted so good!

Final thoughts..

Without everyone who was involved in helping organise the sportive, I probably would have collapsed in a big heap somewhere. The feed stations were a life savour! Although I felt physically broken by the end of the day, I could recover. Some people at Manorlands don’t recover and have a life changing diagnosis, but by raising funds and taking part in the sportive, I felt this was the least I could do to support people through the most difficult times of their lives.

If you are going to do anything with your life, helping others is the most valuable thing you can do.

Manorlands | Sportive | GPX

Brontë Sportive 2021

Fred Whitton

Heading South