Riding

Simon Hartwell tackles the Galibier after breakfast… and it all downhill from there, until it starts going back up the Cime de la Bonnette

Our man Simon Hartwell rides 700km from Geneva to Nice with cycling legend Graeme Obree

Geneva Airport. After months of anticipation, training and anxiety, I was dragging my bike case and kitbag into the arrivals hall amid a sea of people holding up handwritten signs of names, none of which were mine. This was the beginning of my eight-day tour across the famous Alpine cols in the company of ex-World Champion and hour record holder Graeme Obree.

With a portfolio of ten big rides across the south of England, organisers UK Cycling Events have come from nowhere to quickly become a major name on the sportive scene. For 2010, these sportives are sponsored by another well-known name and brought to you as the Wiggle Super Series. Your correspondents from road.cc tootled down to the south coast last week to join Martin Barden, the man behind UK Cycling Events, for a preview ride round the route of the upcoming Mega Meon.

It’s a fresh Spring morning and the only thing troubling the sky is the welcome return of the aircraft contrails, it’s going to be a good day. It’s going to be an even better day for a big bike ride.

The White Horse Challenge is an entertaining 90-mile romp through the rolling chalk-lands of Wiltshire and Berkshire, past several of the iconic chalk figures that give the ride its name. Actually, it isn’t all so rolling. Some of those hills are quite steep. But over the past few years - 2010 was the fourth edition - this event has become well-known for its old-school ambience and friendly vibe. And with just 650 riders, it’s quite a contrast to some of the mega events that now feature on the UK sportive calendar.

Half way up the Rhigos, on a Rhigos, it was clear that the bike is aptly named. Verenti are a company without a back story, the decades of racing history that many of their competitors can draw on. This bike isn't a Galibier or a Mortirolo, with all the memories that those sinews of tarmac can evoke, but it is a proper bike for the hills nonetheless, and a homegrown one too, designed for these shores. The Rhigos is a proper climb, not the longest or the steepest but a challenge and a rewarding one; you might call it good value and that's certainly what you get with the bike.

Long Audax rides, I've discovered, are pretty much everything I like about riding on the road. There's cake, for a start. Lots of cake. And there's the camaraderie of a mass start and a big group ride, and plenty of easy miles sitting in a bunch and chatting. Until you stop for cake. And there's a maximum speed as well as a minimum one, which makes me feel like I'm doing everyone a favour by not going too quickly.

For an early-season sportive in the south of England, the Cotswold Spring Classic on Easter Monday ticks all the right boxes. A new improved route for 2010 cuts out some pot-holed lanes, but keeps most of the best climbs and all the finest scenery. The event’s distinct Cotswold flavour certainly remains intact.

This is it: the final test. Shakespeare Avenue rises steeply from the Bear Flat, too steeply for the gear I'm running. It's not long but the race has been, an hour in and the legs are beginning to really hurt: I'm digging deep but the entrance to Alexandra Park seems impossibly distant, even though in reality it's a couple of hundred yards. It's just Jez and me: If I can make it to the top then It's three laps of the park and a sprint, and I reckon I can find the legs for that. If I can make it to the top.

On 28 March, the clocks go forward. That’s one less hour in bed. But it means summer time is here, even if summer weather may take longer to arrive. What better way to celebrate than a good day out on the bike? David Else suggests the Cheshire Cat sportive may be just the ride you’re looking for.