Whether its your favourite or nemesis ride, you visualise it in your head the night before, you know the roads like the back of your hand, every corner, climb and descent it’s as if you were there already….then press start, click in, change down, your off, the anticipation as you glide out of town and onto the rolling roads up to the foot of the first climb.

The head wind doesn’t bother you “tail wind home you say to yourself”. As the climb draws near your conserving energy ready to hit it hard to beat that PB or take the KOM, the climb rolls on and you pass a few riders in their own moment of pain and ecstasy, the gradient steepens but your feeling good, 100m to go that final push out of the saddle and the PB is yours, you’re the King of this Mountain.

Then focus your mind for the rewarding descent, the spoils for your effort unfolds in front of you, swooping down it’s as if you’re on rails, the swish of the tyres and the sound of the wind, at one with the machine.

Then the road opens up, your back on the rolling roads with more climbs and technical descents to come but there covered with poise and grace. The miles count down until you see the sign for home, one last push you change down 2 gears wind up the pace, down 2 more gears and you’re out of the saddle sprinting for the finish, you cross the line, your home, exhilarated with a sense of accomplishment….

This is the essence of the Ribble Endurance SL!