Tour of the Cornfields 2010 On a sunny Sunday in a car park in Bassingbourn Richard Stiff, Adi, Richard Emmerson & I met up for our first go at “The Tour of the Cornfields”, a 60 mile cyclo-cross event taking in a few roads & large stretches of the Cambridgeshire countryside. Richard E was on a mountain-bike and off-road biking is his thing. Adi’s bike had been assembled by Geoff the night before & was uncharacteristically clean.

Richard S commutes on his & had prepared it for the event before going on holiday which was just as well as he’d only arrived home just over 12 hours ago. He looked knackered & was yawning for England but was keen to do a good time. Richard’s brother Paul joined us & we made our way to the start. The entry limit is 200 & it looked to be a capacity crowd. They set you off in groups of 20 & our gang was about the 6th group to go. Now while I wasn’t expecting to do it in a floaty skirt & straw hat “the Tour of the Cornfields” had a gentle cycle through pleasant countryside ring to it. Wrong. We set off like the clappers, this was a race. I had ridden a 25mile time trial the day before and had a bit of a sinking feeling as my legs complained as we thundered over some pretty rough terrain. The Richards soon went off ahead & I put my head down & tried to hang onto Adi. Easy to spot being large & red! The first casualty was Richard S. I passed him fixing a puncture after only a few miles. He didn’t catch us until the feeding station halfway & we found out later he’d had a second puncture in the other wheel shortly after the first & had gone the wrong way later on. I was highly impressed he’d brought 3 spare tubes with him & could deal with a 3rd puncture if the need arose which thankfully it didn’t. The feeding station at 29miles was excellent. Unlimited Torq energy drink or water, cake, bananas, Torq energy bars & flushing loos! All we needed. Richard set off with us & soon crept ahead & we were back to the Adi & Trish West Suffolk Wheelers combo. Adi had decided he was going to be a Knight in Shining Armour for the day & stuck with me. I was pretty grateful as the riders had thinned out by then & we had large stretches cycling alone, I would have hated to have done it without Adi for company. The terrain was variable. Maybe half roads but the rest rutted field edges, a few wooded stretches, some dreadful brick strewn stretches, some better grassy tracks but all through stunning countryside. It lived up to its name, cornfields alongside much of the tracks & the combines were out in force. I was just entering a wooded area several miles after Richard S had shot off ahead when I heard “Peep peep!” It was Richard “How did you get behind me, dear?” He’d gone the wrong way again & had just caught up. Real case of the tortoise & the hare. We eventually arrived back at HQ. Richard E was first home, then Richard S & finally Adi & I. Excellent coffee & pastries & a lovely stretch on the lawn outside the Bassingbourn Sports Centre. This is a truly fabulous event. Cyclo-cross bikes were in the majority but there were plenty of mountain bikes. I would encourage everyone to consider doing this next year & have a big WSW group going round. One word of caution I saw more punctures being fixed going round than I have ever seen so come prepared.

Tricia Dennison