At the end of April, Alistair and I rode a "sportive" as part of the Tour de Yorkshire. This took place on the final day of the Tour, starting early so as to be all over before the professionals came in. This was our first cycling event after a year of cycling so it was very exciting!! Our friend Sarah is to blame for talking us into it but at least she and her brother, Tim, joined us. The boys did the 75km circuit while we girls did the 50km.
It was a fantastic experience but boy did those hills hurt. Yorkshire is not known for its flat plains and our routes followed several very steep hills. We had tried to train for this, having an idea of what was coming but none of us really expected them to be so steep or go on for so long. However, we all finished and felt great at the end. We came down the same finishing lane that the pros would follow later in the day and the sound of all the spectators cheering and banging the boards was impressive - it made us feel as if we were in a proper event!!