Feecdback Kent Reliability Trial 15th January

[Gavin]

Fantastic day today. Arrived at East croydon to see a good turnout of addiscombe riders there ready to go. When we got there the was a few more addiscombe so there must have been nearly 15 addiscombe riders doing one of the 2 events. Great turn out and we all got round the course with a only a few minor detours.

Had a really great day but very tired now.

All the best

G

[Marek]

After the swift 90 miles I clocked yesterday with the club run in the middle I got up today with aching legs. I drove over to the RR and did the 85km ride with Tim, Graham and Sylv.

We took off at quite a swift pace, thankfully the route was not too hilly until about 15km from the end when the day before started to really kick in and I got left behind on one of the hills. Thankfully another couple of riders also were starting to suffer including Graham so we rode together the last part of the route, which got a bit more hilly by the end so nice and easy did it.

After I finished lots of other ACC riders started to enter the village hall who had done the shorter route, but all seemed happy with there times etc. When I got back to my car I saw another 3 ACC riders looking lost on the final hill which went down. I pointed them in the right direction else they would have gone around the course again I am sure.

Excellent catering in the hall after with Sausage Rolls, thick veg soup, cakes galore and a really fantastic bread and butter pudding.

I will probably be there next week if not for the riding for the cakes.

Cheers

Marek....

[sylv]

Told you about the bread pudding! It was really really really nice, moist, some kind of caramel on the top, somehow almost reminded me of my mum's rice pudding. Maybe I was just really needing some food, but it tasted heavenly.

Oh and had a good ride too. Felt a bit short changed on the mileage though as they had announced 95km!

[Robbie Dread]

I had a good ride today as well,well mash can't do a thing right now just have to put my feet up and take it easy,thanks guys for the support all the way through,see you at the next one,it's true the cakes were all nice i had loads blessssssssssssssss.

[Andrew G]

I was out on the shorter route and had to drive there to get there in time, so missed the ride down with the other ACCers. Was waiting in the hall when a larger group of yellow than I expected walked through the door.

We set off at what felt like a fairly brisk pace as a group of about 12-15 and after a while split in to 2 speed groups. A relief as I wouldn't then feel guilty about slowing down too many people.

Unlike Marek I found the course plenty hilly enough for my abilities (or lack of). That long hill near the end with the switchbacks had me weaving about all over the front of my bike in the vain hope of finding some extra climbing ability.

Echo the comments of others on the quality of the cakes - the date and walnut....mmmm.

Very good day on the bike, although I am glad I had the car to go home in. 30 miles on those hills after a club run the previous day was enough for my legs.

Big thanks to Gavin for his route finding skills or we'd probably still be riding round Kent.

Andrew.

[Graham O]

Had a great ride. As Marek says, my legs gave up towards the end. If only the tea and cake were available in the middle of the ride. The extra energy may have got me through.

Looking forward to doing the rest of these rides.

Oh and my red bike with its new wheels is now a lovely colour of brown.

Ta,

Graham.

[sylv]

Other "highlights" of the day ...

- Seeing the rider in front of me lose it in a turn on a fast wet downhill in a village about 15km into the ride. He was going too fast, realised it too late, veered to the middle of the road, then the other side, then ran out of road and ended sommersaulting luckily in the leaves piled up on the side of the road. A car came by only seconds after. Apparently people had already been noticing his shoddy riding.

- Dropping my water bottle when there was a sudden braking in the group, only to realise it had fallen right into the biggest pile of horse sh1t, not even worth trying to salvage it. Lucky I had a second one.

[Yohan]

...all I can say is Date & Walnut cake.....awesome!
I had two slices of..

I enjoyed the ride very much, it was great to see so many ACC's out for the day, represented the club very well.

One thing I learnt today was that Kent is hillier than Surrey!

[Phil L]

First time I have done one of these rides, and the first mistake was to not bring my reading glasses - couldn't read the small print of the instructions to save my life. Knowing that I could not follow the instructions, I desparately made sure that I kept up with the group. Being bit of a porky, I kept getting left behind on the hills (and there were some brutes), but thankfully we ended up splitting into two groups (fast and slow), lead by our trusted guide Gavin.

Being bit of a gadget man, I recorded our outing today on my GPS and overlayed it on a Google Map for anyone interested...

http://www.the-lamberts.co.uk/cycling/addiscombe02.html

... another very enjoyable and satifying ride.

[jon avery]

Good ride yesterday, there were a couple of killer hills and my gears being all over the place and slipping didn't help. Had a guy called Dom who joined us for the day on what seemed like a mountain bike with drops on it, but boy did he fly up the hills! We did manage to get lost a couple of times but it was all part of the fun! Must aggree with the other posts that the cakes were great! Who's going next week? I'll come for the bread pudding

[jeffmesie]

Turned up for the longer one but had the face the fact I couldn't keep up with the other ACCers. Ended up with a nice bunch of lads dresssed all in black for most of the 85k.

I should perhaps have eaten a bit on the way round as I felt rough the last 15 miles. I was lucky to get back in in 4 hours.

Most embarressing moment: Near the summit of Exemouth Road I stopped for a breather. While gasping, slumped over my handlebars, I heard someone coming up behind me. Spinning happily up and past me was an 'older' bloke - on a TRICYCLE! Aaaargh. Got to get fitter.

The fruit cake ws pretty good too. Was glad I was driving home though.

Good one

[Jon H]

Well, despite going off-route within the first two miles and not realising the rest of the group had stopped to correct the error, I and the GS Invicta guy I was riding with managed to find the check point more through luck than judgement. Next week I will make sure I get a route sheet or map at the start! Might go for the longer route next week, as I seemed to still have plenty left in my legs on the ride home.

[Alan M]

A pretty good run out although I sent everyone the wrong way, briefly got lost, and lost John as we went through and beyond the the first village. We almost made the 2 hour target and were awarded certificates probably on the basis of the moral case and that they seemed to be giving them out to everybody. With the ride there and back I clocked over 70 miles and as has already been said, the the cake was to die for.

We were all amused by Robbie's entrance at E croydon station - running, as usual, to his own schedule, he was depositied by his nice lady friend in an adjacent street and appeared briefly to tell us he had arrived and then returned to piece together his bike observed by us all. With a kiss (only Robbie) and flourish we set off and had a wind swept ride along some major roads and thanks to Gavin's immaculate map reading got there at 10 on the dot.

All the rest is as has been described, except we adopted Dominic from Dulwich CC who turned out to be an asset in terms of pace and map reading - he had a 'Dog's Bollocks' Roberts MB frame and 26" wheels and was very swift. About 10 of us rode back together and all seemed satisfied with the event.

Alan