Saturday 5th club run.

[Ian A4size]

It was good to see a varied bunch of riders opting for todays ride out to the cafe via chipstead- tadworth-langley vale-headley heath- box hill- betchworth- brockham -gadbrook-newdigate and finally to the cafe. It is a bit hilly but the ride went at a sensible pace and people waited at the top of the climbs for every one to regroup. It makes the box hill climb seem much faster as you have only been riding for an hour.
I think we had about 20 or so riders in tow, I seemed to spend quite a while on the front today so I was glad to see the cafe. Hopfully more riders will try something different as I am planning longer rides- some hilly and some longer and flatter but they will all have some hills ( if you know what I mean) they are quite difficult to plan around the weather so if the weather is good i will be going off piste as they say. If you are interested in longer rides make sure you have some food at least, but we are never that far away from a corner shop.
The pace of the rides will be 17ish avg- same as today, but that will decrease if the rides are hilly. ( cue sound of Rob Fallon LHAO- but I am 25 years older and probably more than 25lbs heavier )
Next year i would like to do some of the cyclosportives in the uk and perhaps abroad so that is my aim. Base mileage and endurance.. beer ...choccy....cake.....

[Rob]

actually ian i know how to train properly...and to be honest, now winters come...youll be lucky if you find me even going 17mph!!!!

[Yohan]

..agreed..it was a real nice ride yesterday..a nice mixture of hills and flats.....(an some more hills) Hitting Box hill pre-cafe def seems to make it feel a lil easier
One note tho, I feel due its popularity this ride seems to have a fair few numbers..it seemed to get a bit dicey as cars tying to pass were having a hard time as the peleton was so long...they inadvertantly got caught up half way up an had to merge with riders due to oncoming traffic..this happend more than once

..look forward to the rides you mention Ian....an well done for fighting that headwind for most of yesterdays ride!

[Conor Cormican]

Very good ride on Sat and thanks to Ian for both organising it and leading from the front. I hope to be able to go on these rides over the winter and like Ian participate in some cyclosportives next year.