A very wet and windy Sperrin MTB Sportive

On Sunday 23rd June a very wet and windy Moneymore, County Derry greeted the 9 Cuchulainn’s who travelled up to take part in Harps Cycling Club 3rd annual Sperrin Mountain Bike Sportive.  The course consisting of distances ranging from 35km, 55km and 65km over all terrains and all three distances included loops within the newly opened MTB Trail Centre in Davagh Forrest.  Over 100 riders, club riders and individuals rolled out at 9:30am for what turned out to be an excellent day’s mountain biking in spite of the adverse weather conditions and occasional bike acrobatics.  Like it’s road cycling namesake, a sportive doesn’t necessarily mean a race, but as anyone who has done one knows, invariably it turns into one, with 2 Cuchulainn’s finishing the 65km sportive in sub 4 hours.  There would have been 3 however being geographically challenged only leads to a new nick name, “SatNav”.  A much needed bike wash, hot showers and hot food greeted all the riders on their return to the leisure center.  All the Cuchulainn’s thoroughly enjoyed the sportive and no doubt we will see some of the faces on the start line of the Cooley Thriller in August.  Well done to Harps CC for again running an excellent MTB Sportive.