Anthony Maynard Sportive report

On Sunday, 3 Maidenhead riders took part in the 118miles Anthony Maynard Sportive organised by the Reading Cycling Club and starting in Theale. All 3 riders took different approaches to the event. With a dry start but showers forecast all day care would be required at times to ensure no crashes. The 1st 40-50 miles were going to be made tougher by the brisk head wind.
Robin Smith set off by himself in TTing fashion, looking to complete within his gold standard time. He made generally good progress, but part way round he decided 112 miles was not quiet enough, so he added in an extra 4 mile loop (or did he miss a sign). This extra loop caused him to miss the gold time by a couple of minutes.
Andrew Payne had a brief discussion with Shea Hindman in the start area, but got put into a different starting group. Andrew was also looking to complete within his gold standard time, but was hoping to form up with a small group of other riders to share out the pace work. While circulating the A4 Pangbourne roundabout 2-3 times looking for the correct exit Andrew saw a number of bike riders on strange machines with rear disc wheels and strange pointy hats. After about 3miles Andrew teamed up with 2 other riders and made good progress to the 1st food stop, where a short break was taken to fill up water bottle. As he approach Marlborough near the half way point he slowed and allowed his follow riders to pull away due to a problem with the right knee. After a short pause in Marlborough Andrew decided not to risk a major problem with the knee and dropped out of the event and caught a train home having completed about 90miles during the day.
Shea's approach to the day was to have an enjoyable days cycling with friends at a steady pace. He eventually complete the course in about 8 hours having taken a number of short stops to avoid the worst of the weather.