Club Run Fun

[Marek]

Well today was a great club run. I left the house at 8am and hot footed over to Coulsdon for the club run. Got there a bit early so loaded up on a flap jack at the newsagents in Coulsdon, a bit of extra fuel for the training group ride.

Got a bit of a shock when I saw George turn up on his TT bike and Stu with his tri bars. Apparently the plan was to set the training group off last and see if we could catch all the other groups. After a bit of discussion we decided that we would do the norm and just have a normal training group ride. Well, we set off with Stu, George, Sylv, Toby, Andrew and myself. Towards the traffic lights at Hooley and things started to get hot. Sylv managed to catch a draft off a passing lorry, I sprinted after him and after a few hundred yards caught him up. The rest of the group were left standing so Sylv and I now had a gap so decided to keep the pace up and work a bit together. We bombed it down the hill, but it was not long before George dragged the others along to get back onto our wheel.

Onto the Reigate steps and we caught up with the TSN crowd on their TT bikes, not sure whether they caught our wheels but Stu set the pace up the hill and then I attacked him at the top. I then bombed it down the other side and got through the lights. The others got caught so I decided to keep turning the pedals over to get a gap and give them something to chase.

Got past Reigate and into the lanes and after the bridge the guys caught me up and normal duties resumed. All of us were taking strong pulls on the front and the average speed was ticking along at a very fast pace. We had a few attacks along the way, the top of the hill after partridge lane turn off Toby gave it some and won the sprint to the top of the hill, and then I went around him and took the Rusper sprint.

Onto the hill before the dual carriageway and Andrew led us to the base, then Stu went past and I sat on his wheel, we dropped the rest of the group and then I went around Stu to get the hill.

Dual carriageway was hard and fast and Stu was now really struggling from his hard week of training and could not come through. The rest of us were doing good pulls and then we hit the hill after the garden centre, I put my foot down here and we started to get the speed up, then down past the first set of lights I was hammering it, the lights started to change and then I went through but the others were just that bit behind that they got caught.

I kept going but slowed up to wait and then onto the Ifield road towards Charlwood and I got caught, now we started to up the pace and George and Stu were giving us a good lead out. I sat in and bided my time with the knowledge that Sylv was stuck to my wheel. I left the sprint till just before the last kink in the road and then opened up the cylinders and came past Stu and George I kept the sprint going as hard as I could to keep Sylv who was stuck to me like glue just at bay.

Average speed to the cafe according to Sylv was 24.9mph, think that is my fastest ever.

Good run back to Merstham putting in a few digs now and then with Fred (who have not seen for a while) stuck to my wheel.

Had a good run back into EG, home by 1.30pm, all in all a great ride.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Snoop Doug]

Sounds like an excellent ride Marek - lovely write up, thanks for sharing it.

Snoop

[Steve B]

Another fantastic turnout today, and another great club run - I'm knackered

As usual, my plans changed once at Coulsdon, opting to go in the 'B' training group rather than the 19's. I'm always doing that, I shouldn't really make plans eh!

Anyway, we set off as a group with everyone being of similar ability and this made for a great run down to the cafe with an ave speed of 21.6 . The group was tight, well drilled and well paced at all times, and if anyone wanted to blast off the front on a hill or anywhere else for that matter, they either eased back at the top or got chased down by the pack It was good stuff.

The best part of the ride was the thru&off (actually the best thru&off for a long time). A quick chat at the layby to run by the basics again, and to nail the 'all on' shout after roundabouts did the trick. It was super slick, super smooth and really good to be a part of. If only all thru&off's were the same . The pace was easy to start but picked up once everyone felt the confidence flowing through the group. It was great, we weren't trying that hard but the speed kept rising. Because of this I gave a shout to keep it going as long as possible, and we thru&offed right up to the plane spotter area - none of this tactical stuff, leaving someone on the front for the last 2 miles. As it happened , I found myself sitting on Ant's wheel as he went to the front just before the bend- perfect, couldn't have placed myself any better. I knew he would be the most dangerous in the sprint and seeing as he beat me the only other time we've been on that bit of tarmac together, I was eager to even the score. With a huge stamp on the pedals, I made my move. Ant was quick to respond but I had the initiative, and I wasn't letting it go - it was job done

Cafe stop was nice sitting out back, shame its not a bigger area. So, tea stop no. 1

Huge group back via Boxhill. I, along with a few others (Alan, Brian, Matt and others) cautiously set off with the insane group - sorry, fast group. Bl**dy hell, I was right in the first place, it was insane . You've got 3 good 2nd cat racers (Paul Stu Sylv) tanking along at the front and then you've got the rest of us trying to hang on . Some did, some didn't. There were riders being shelled out the back like, well, like riders being shelled out the back - sorry cant think of an analogy, or should that be a simily - Alan, one for you

So Stu gets a mechanical and we pull over to wait. Now why the hell did we, the few that did hang on, pull over to wait so that we could get our arses kicked 10 minutes later. We quickly saw sense and legged it up the road to chase down everyone else who hadn't hung on, but had now shot passed while we waited for a good kicking

We regrouped, minus stu sylv paul and another (sorry don't know name), and pushed on as hard as we could to stay in front. I felt strong and did a fair bit of work, tapping out a good pace, with others chipping in to help. My legs were good today . At the bottom of Boxhill a Pearson rider went passed us and turned to go up the climb. Alan said to someone "chase him" or something like that, but no one did. He had about 15m on us and I then thought I'd give it a go to see if I could catch him and stay with him. I caught him quickly enough but he was strong and pushed a bit more when he saw me. I looked back and we were on our own - still no sign of Stu & co. I dug in, sat on the guy's wheel and tried to relax, as much as you ever can when you're blowing out you're ar$e . This worked, and as we rounded the second hairpin, I passed him and dropped him . I didn't want to look back so kept pushing. I then hear breathing and I thought it was the Pearson guy coming back at me, but oh no, it was much worse than that, it was Stu, Paul, the other guy and someone else they'ed picked up. I jumped on the back but it was fast, very fast, too fast and I lost the wheel. The other two dropped off too and I passed them both, keeping a constant 10-15m gap to Paul and Stu. Really happy with that

A well earned cup of tea at tea stop no. 2

As we set off for home Alans cleat broke, but he made it to Dauphins to get new ones.

A nice steady pace back to Coulsdon for tea stop no.3 (well coffee this time actually)

Fantastic day - thanks everyone

Steve

[Alan M]

Good write ups guys. Thanks

I felt OK and opted for the steady 19. We mainly stayed together but there were some of us making the transition from the 18s so the group needed occasional steadying by Bryan. Richard was very strong and did many turns on the front and kicked hard at the incline before the longer through and off - myself Bryan and Mark managed to stay with the pace but only just for me. I had a very fast descent at over 40mph.

The dual carriageway work was curate's eggish, good in parts, and we were disrupted by traffic and the group split at 2 roundabouts. Richard suggested that he and I go for a 'long one' to the finish once back in the lanes. I tried to get a gap just as we rose through the woods - Richard took over but in truth had to steady off to keep me on his wheel, and then I went to the front again. Eventually Bryan chased it down with some others and was kind enough to go to the front. After the bend and on the final sprint we were 3 abreast with oncoming cars flashing us so I eased off and Mark squeezed through to take the win and all others were boxed in. We had 20.7 average.

On the way back to Box Hill early indecision (or self preservation) led to me quickly loosing contact with the Stuart and friends - . However, myself Kasper and Phil teamed up and eventually we passed them all dealing with mechanical problems. Steve and Bryan caught us up and we proceeded to Box hill, before which Bryan had one of his 'my legs have dropped off' moments and we left him to his devices.

As you may have read, on the Hill Steve flew after the very confident team Pearson man and duly caught him and I managed to lead our little group to the top, overhauling my companions on the less steep part, and feeling quite pleased with the effort.

Leaving Box Hill my right cleat failed to function and I made a cashless purchase Cycle Dauphin with a promise to pay when I got home. Stuart fitted the new cleats having offered an unprintable description of my old ones! So I had a steady solo ride back to the cafe meeting up with Steve, Bridget et al.

A great day out.

Alan

[Antloony]

Great club run with the 19's training, one of the best club runs Ive had to date, good pace, good riding and everyone doing their turns on the front. Thru and off was excellent, smooth, fast and well disciplined....all we have to do is to get Ben to go around the roundabouts a little quicker and it'll be even smoother

I had planned to take it easy as my left knee's still giving me some grief after my TT last tuesday but like Steve B I shouldn't really make plans. The only time it really played me up was in the sprint, as soon as I started to hammer it it just hurt way to much so I eased up but to be fair to Steve he would have beat me anyway as his tatics paid off , I had a feeling he'd be stalking me, I missed out and found my self on the front way to early. Having not ridden with him for a while he's turned into really strong rider.

Back home via Box Hill. Had a p*ncture on the way there, was left with Lockey to chase down the main group who'd carried on, didnt quite catch them after making a pit stop for Lockey to sort out his front brake. Quick stop then onwards to home for afternoon tea and a good rest.

[Phil L]

Very enjoyable club run for me and probably my best for a long while. Felt very strong with my extra "training" seeming to pay off even though I felt very tired most of the week. Joined Steve's B training group along with Nigel (who seems to be flying at the moment), Anthony, Jon (also looking strong and ready for a Crystal Palace), Andrew (who I work with), Andrew's brother in-law (I should be rembering his name by now), and others I should know by now - got to start remembering people's names . For once, I didn't feel that I was hanging on for grim death at every upward gradient and felt comfortable at our 21.8mph pace, though I can't ever imagine getting anywhere near the 24.9mph of the A training group, and living to tell the tale. Still managed a second place in the sprint to Steve's first, though I suspect everyone eased off when they saw Steve shoot off into the distance on his own leaving us in a cloud of dust.

A large group assembled for a return home via Box Hill. Watched all the fast boys go first, then various others followed, who I carefully eyed for a match, and to pick my moment to leave. Somehow, I ended up forming a mini-group with Alan and Casper, rather than loosing myself in a large group. In theory that meant 33% of the time at the front, but Alan built up a blistering pace, with me and Casper neatly tucked in behind - a great tow all the way to Newdigate. Felt guilty that I hadn't offered to take a turn, but I was barely hanging on and Casper had already dropped off - where does he get it from? - it's certainly something genetic as daughter Bridgette is showing some very impressive progress and starting to frighten the other ladies. Alan for some reason tried to encourage me to chase the Pearson guy up Box Hill - as if (hills are definately not my strong point) - so it was just a case of settling into a steady pace, but managed a personal best of 11.4mph average (the wonders of the Garmin - your life's cycling recorded in detail, all there waiting to show your grandchildren). Another blistering pace back to Coulsdon set by another elder agreeable - Dave Dishman - I just hope I keep going as strong as them when I get to their age - incredible .

][quote="Phil L"]and felt comfortable at our 21.8mph pace, though I can't ever imagine getting anywhere near the 24.9mph of the A training group, and living to tell the tale

[Alan M]

Please don't - it just guilt trips me!