Wild West Country
We caught up with Kinesis Ambassador Rupert Robinson after his epic ride at The Wild West Country a few weeks ago for a few Q&A’s.
What is the Wild West Country
This challenging yet achievable ride starts and finishes in the Cotswolds. The punishing climbs of Exmoor and Dartmoor are the real highlights of the route, but it squeezes in plenty of scenic riding, ranging from dramatic Dorset coastlines to quaint Cotswold villages. the race was billed as - short sharp climbs and winding lanes through the best that the south west has to offer, covering over 800 kilometres. Sounds easy yeah?
Why did you choose this race?
Seen as I’d done All Points North the last 2 years, I decided to ride somewhere else in the country. This looked interesting and I’d heard good things about the organiser and the vibe with the Perfidious Albion Ultra’s.
What areas did this race cover?
Starting north of Bristol and heading west, climbing the notorious Porlock Hill then heading towards the Quantocks taking in the Mendips, Cheddar Gorge, Exmoor and Dartmoor before dropping East along the Southern Coast via Sidmouth and then up through the Avebury Stone Circle to the Cotswolds.
How many checkpoints in this one?
Just the 4, but they were well spread out as you can see from the map above.
Where were the checkpoints?
1 - Dunkery beacon, 2 - Haytor Car Park, 3 - Whiteways viewpoint and 4 - Avebury Stone Circle
How hard where the checkpoints to get to?
Well, Dunkery had a climb that started around 29% and there was 10 of us on it at the same time! This made the Haytor one easy until that hit similar gradients making me weave from left to right to get up.
The 3rd at Whiteways went through Lulworth firing range and here I had a nice chat with someone else out on a ride who subsequently dropped me on the climb. The last checkpoint I hit during the night in Avebury so didn’t get to see the stone circle but at least it was flattish.
Was this your longest ride in one go?
No, this ride was 835km (518 miles) and I’ve managed over a 1000km (670 miles) in one go. Very tiring!
Didn’t you think you should stop for sleep?
I did but felt OK and wanted to preserve the 3rd place I had gained after the first night. I didn’t think I had the time to stop for a power nap, because I was so determined to get it done and not lose position.
Were you not needing a stop to alleviate the soar bits?
Oh, for sure, my feet were on fire on every pedal stroke at this stage and I could barely sit on the saddle due to saddle soars. It was hot and even a change of shorts only gave a small amount of relief. At this stage elbows and wrists were also hurting but being focused is key to these things. Mind over matter.
Why didn’t you ride the GTDv2 like the other ultra races you’d done?
I wanted to be as light as possible so rode the Aithein disc and in the end still carried more than I needed.
How did you feel at the finish?
Absolutely ruined! I was convinced that 4th place was closing in so emptied the tank on the last leg. They were over 3 hours behind. I had early morning freezing fog to contend with and had to put my jacket on to keep warm due to the fatigue.