CR 22nd

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CR 22nd

Postby Andrew G » Sat Sep 22, 2007 2:12 pm

No bike all week due to having people visiting at work, so legs were somewhat dead today. They just never seemed to get going, but they feel great now.

Felt like a steady one so went in the 19s. Somewhat ragged at times and the through and off was disasterous, no rhythm so instead of smooth flowing lines people kept accelerating when they came to the front. If we had been chasing a break they'd have been laughing.

Ian, Mark, Paul, and I sat up towards the end and did our own little rotate to the cafe, which was nice.

Good run back with the usual blast off the drag, and all in a fine day, a pleasure to straddle my machine again.

We had a new bloke with us today, Dave - looked like Jesus, who was a good strong rider and seemed to enjoy himself. He usually rode with Twickenham but had seen the website so gave us a go today, hope he comes back.

As mentioned outside the cafe, a few of us are riding up to London tomorrow to ponce about a bit on the closed roads of the Hovis Freewheel. If you want to join us we are meeting outside East Croydon Station at 9:30am. Won't be a racing type ride as I'll be on fixed, as I think will PVT. Also we should respect the organisers of the event as we will be piggy-backing it.
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Postby Stu Merckx Man » Sat Sep 22, 2007 3:09 pm

brilliant club run today.

i massive training group with all the old faces including broken arm simon. also marek rolled up today with something to prove, so it was bound to be a fast day out.

we stormed out of coulsdon south and over the hills into reigate...we also stormed out of reigate and stormed our way through the lanes.

everyone was sharing the work well and it was good fun with people riding off the front and chasing them down.

i though paul was going to attack up the hills just before rusper so tucked myself behind him.
as we got the last hill just after partridge paul still hadnt attacked so i went instead with a little call for him to follow...
we managed to get a little gap going and i could see marek trying bridge it. he got over to us and then things seamed to slow down and we were bought back in by the rest of the training group.

we had a good through and off, and pretty smooth considering the amount of people there were.

as we neared the sprint i sat on the back and could see rob was twitching to go....and go he did, but i was sheltered nicely behind him. with a couple of corners left i pulled out from behind him and hammered it in the saddle cancallera style....last corner and i had about 20m on marek and paul who were hot behind me. last 15m or so and they nip round me, marek taking the win.

to charlswood we had an average of 23.5- one of the fasted ive done, and a good show by the whole group, considering we are minus a george brent engine at the moment.

went back the box hill way and sat in most of the way as i was feeling it from the ride to charlswood. most of the work was probably done by hal, although evryone chipped in a bit.

as we got to the hill before dropping down the main road marek came to the front and paced us up the climb and over the top... afterwards he admitted he was actually sprinting to get to the top first.

we got to the bottom of box hill and i felt ok. i came to the front happy to do the first section. by the first hairpin there were 4 of us left. paul on my wheel, marek behind and then i couldnt see the 4th person, was it hal?
i said we were like contador, rasmussed, evans and lipheimer but no one replied :lol:

round the corner and i pulled aside to let paul take a turn up front. my plan was to go behind marek to get some shelter but he let go of pauls wheel. i thought he was teasing me to chase back onto paul, but when i passed him i saw the power shower coming off his face, and realised he was just suffering.

paul and i did a couple of turns up the straight to next hairpin and then marek came to the front. trouble was, i wanted to be behind paul, and he wanted to be behind me so marek got himself a 50m gap. niether paul or i wanted to budge but eventually i went. we went passed marek and i eased up. still paul refused to come round so i stayed on the front. as we got to the wooded bit i put in an attack to test the water with paul. he was sharply back onto my wheel so i new it was pointless trying it again.

round the last hair pin paul attacked and i grabbed onto his wheel, but i couldnt get round him in time and he beat me by a bike length...although i fell i got the moral victory for being on the front most of the way up 8) :lol:

nice fast ride back home with evryone doing some work.

im still a bit tired so i know it was a good hard day today

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Postby -Adam- » Sat Sep 22, 2007 4:07 pm

Well to be honest, it was just nice to be back.

And I didn't feel as bad as i thought i might have, which is nice! Was a fairly average ride to the cafe, until Richard said to me 'isn't it funny how more people appear at the front the closer you get to the cafe!?'

I agreed, as did Jo. However, i had a plan...

As soon as we were on the long straight bit before the last right hander i was gonna do a long one. The trouble was i already said to Richard 'I may not be able to sprint, but that don't mean im not getting there first :wink: '

And so as soon as i moved he was stuck to my wheel like glue. Fair play to him. So i gave him an armchair tow (at 30mph) to the finish. We did indeed blow out all the afore mentioned wheel suckers 8) Job Done!

So after a rather tasty bacon sandwich, why not!? I headed back the normal way. Which was rather sedate until, we got split at the 217 crossing. So the Munnery group at le tete de course well and truly put the hammer down. Then followed a mad chase by, Steve, Graham, New man with beard (sorry), Andrew, Mark and myself (sorry if i missed anyone!). We got on just before the climb to the Church. Where we reminded Mr Munnery that despite his Alpine miles, he still cannot climb :wink:

He even had the cheek to label us feckin' wheel suckers, er, that was a hard chase thank you very much! :shock:

Anyhow, the climb to the church was over, we waited for the Merstham drag... I rode ok up it, until Steve decided to attack. There was no way i could follow, but i didn't need to, i was with a group of 15 thru'n'off'in chasing him! We then got caught at the Hooly lights, so i sneked through just as they changed, got across to Steve and said c'mon lets go!!

Only, my legs decided they'd had enough by that point, so i grovelled my way to Regalino's for one of them blackcurrant nectar thingy's that Sean raves about. It was quite nice! Then just span home in desperate need of a BIG lunch. Which ive now had, lovely.

Cheers everyone,

Adam
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Postby Ian A4size » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:21 pm

I had a good day on the club run, my first for a couple of weeks as I have been away.
The 19 group started out fairly briskly and was a tad untidy from the off.

Quite a mixed motely bunch- a couple who should have gone in the training group, a lot of slackers :wink: who by their reluctance to do a turn must have all been new to the CR.

By the time we got to the Surrey Oaks pub Mark Mc turned to me and said blimey we have got a big group, i thought there was only 6 of us!

We seemed to go really fast, then at CTC pace- after having ridden in the alps for a couple of weeks it was good to find some flattish terrain and I felt really strong. ( this was not to last all day tho)

I did struggle a bit up the drag to partridge- I'd done a little too much chasing Graham O, but by the time we got to the hill at rusper i had recovered.
A storming descent down and a group split off the front , Graham, Mark Mc, Dave- the new guy with the beard ( he could shift a bit) and myself.
I held on for most of the climb up to the thru and off, but the elastic stretched and finally broke on the final quarter. My HR was showing a healthy 186 at this point.
We met a few of the others at the layby and against better judgement went off in one group.

Thru and off was awful-$h!te, any rider out there today on that group should know better.
The same people bust it up every time they attend. Its not rocket science, when its smooth its so easy, suffice to say it was just crap :cry:
It was however a reasonably fast ride out.

I called for a split in the groups but it seemed to fall on deaf ears apart from 4 of us who let the group carry on, we then worked together and caught up.

Good buzz in the cafe, nice to see george working the room like a politician!

On the other hand the ride back was very enjoyable! No time for socialising- you can't when you're off the front.

I don't really know who was responsible for putting the hammer down, but it was fun, i went off first, then Alan M came thru like a rocket, lots of gasping behind ( that was Joanna, but she held on tho), Alex was riding hard and the group got fairly strung out.
I had another go off- i felt really great, then a young lad- sorry i don't know his name (blue alloy/carbon colnago) came past and left me for dead.
He did a massive turn, and it took quite an effort to bring him back.
By the time I got to Woodhatch I was mightily tired. Jo said she was also cooked, dont worry i said- just spin home and take it easy.
Just as we started the hill up by the church a whole crock of n'er do wells, wheel suckers, sit in experts and herberts came by, thanking me for the tow and brazenly went off leaving us to grovel home.
Shocking.
We caught a few of them a bit later tho.
Things I have learned today...

Don't have too large a group on the T&O

Sit in a bit more- but thats a bit boring

errr thats it.
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Postby Alan M » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:25 pm

Having stepped back up to the 19s I felt a bit worried about the pace but we were quite sedate for the first few miles and it stretched out a bit around Newdigate and beyond.

Today's ride out was notable for some rather iffy lane discipline, particularly on the dual carriageway which only added .2mph to the average. The final sprint went away from me and I was pleased to bring up the rear.

Notably Owen did a long turn on the front but his individual style did turn some heads.

On the way back the pace quickened from the off and I sat on the front for a while to cause a break in a rather large group behind and a secondary objective of leaving Steve to close the gap which he did, but probably at some cost.

On the drag, Steve launched himself from near the top and got a good break but was eventually tracked down. I think I had averages of around 20 mph in both directions so tomorrow's freewheeel round London should be a comfortable recovery spin.

great morning
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Postby Marek » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:39 pm

Great fun today, been a while since I was out with the training group and actually feeling good. Still haven't got enough to be able to get up the hills before Paul and Stu, but hopefully it will come. Had enough in the tank to do some work on the front and of course chase down Stu with his pathetic flat speed and whoop him in the sprint. Great to see George in the cafe telling us about all his turbo training sessions, he said that doctor laser said 'well you can't crash in your garage so go ahead get training'. So now George is doing two turbo sessions a day eeek.

Went back over Box Hill today and I probably did a few too many digs off the front before we arrived, I was pretty cooked after the first hair pin, just managed to get past Stu and Paul and then they just slowed up while I carried on. I looked around and had a big gap but I knew that they were just playing with me.

It was not long before Stu and Paul came past me as if I was standing still, I could not do anything to get onto their wheels so had to spin up at my own pace and watch them battle out for the win.

Ride back from Box was fast and furious as ever. If I race tomorrow I am now worried that I will be able to finish it, let alone get a result. Ah well, it was great fun today.

To have a group of 10 or so riders in the club that can maintain that 23.5mph pace to the cafe is pretty damn impressive. We were all kicking each other around today but it stayed together pretty well, even the through and off was pretty good with all doing their turns.

Ian, maybe you should come into the training group, sounds like you would enjoy the through and off and we all tend to take turns on the front.

Cheers

Marek.....
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Postby Andrew G » Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:59 pm

[quote="Ian Munnery"]I don't really know who was responsible for putting the hammer down, but it was fun, i went off first....

Looks like it was you then. :wink:
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Postby Graham O » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:18 pm

All,

Cheers for the ride. I have not been enjoying it so much recently, but today changed that. I had a great time...

Adam was right. That was quite a hard chase. I did as much as I could and was relieved when when ZZ Top and his pals cruised by...

I am now feeling a little more motivated for Victor (Ludorum) next week..

Hope to see some of you chaps on the Rode of the Falling Leaves...

Ta Ta,

Graham
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Postby Dominic » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:06 pm

Nice write up gents.

Mr Munnery it is nice to have your non contraversial writing style back or is that just a case of telling it how it is :wink:
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Postby Marek » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:10 pm

I think he is turning into one of those 'Grumpy Old Men', it won't be long before he starts whinging about the price of tea and cake.

Cheers

Marek....
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Postby Joanna » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:23 pm

He wont be moaning about the cost of the tea and cake, he always makes sure I get there first so that I buy it.

He has always been a "grumpy old Man"
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Postby Ian A4size » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:37 pm

[quote]Looks like it was you then.


I spotted that as soon as i had written it, don't worry i thought no one will pick up on it :wink: . How wrong i was. I suppose it's all out war as usual :lol:
I did not think I started it- it was that young geezer on the colnago- off like a bullet he was, straight out the cafe, no chance to warm up those tired legs...... mumble mumble moan moan.

Cont. P94



Nice to see Marek out, very slim as well, going great. Chapeau.





E&OE
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Postby Marek » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:21 pm

Cheers Sean, she has made a full recovery and is great. Good luck with yours.

Marek...
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Postby Kasper » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:24 pm

Yeah I am not fast enough to hang onto the training rides but the 19mph group that went out today was just that little bit too slow.

So when I saw two guys clear of the bunch riding shotgun I had to chase didn't I?

As I approached they were discussing avg speeds and decided on a round 20 being good. However to prove he had the legs and wasn't going to be caught Dan pulled away at a good 21.something just for good measure. As the sole chaser at this moment I sat up and said I've had enough of this. However after finding my own rhythym i was able to follow Rob C and Dan all the way to the through and off. Picking up a few stragglers from the training ride as well, who by this time were reluctant to do any work at the front. (Hello Ben!!).

Deciding to sit up and wait for the following pack for the through and off turned out to be a bad decision. As i was used to cranking out a good steady speed of around 20 the through and off was just too slow and large a group to be of any good. In the event i shot off on my own and misjudged the left turn for CHarlwood at the final roundabout.

Cue much cursing and swearing.
I thought riding in a big bunch like that was supposed to make you go quicker not slower!!!!!

Any way having caught up with the main group again and swerving around the stragglers, Hello Ian, Andrew and Paul! the sprint to the cafe was on.

Rob C was strong all day and took the honours at theCHarlwood sign ahead of our friend with the ZZTOPP locks!!! Not to be out done and sensing a lull in the group i sprinted to the junction and took the honours of being the first of our group to stop at the cafe !!!!! HURRAH!!!!

A good days ride after an easy ride back with Farid who is fasting as part of Ramadan and didn't want to drain the batterys too soon. Ended up have a good hammer down the drag.

All in all agood days riding but for the disastrous thru and off.
Cheers guys!!!
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Postby John Cochrane » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:55 pm

I must say how much I enjoy reading the events of the faster groups on their club rides but our little band in the 15's do things very differently.

No breakaways, KOM or sprint competitions for us. No, we go back to what club runs are really all about. Riding as a unified group for the pleasure of riding in company. In our club we are fortunate that we have a large enough turnout to incorporate a club run, training ride and, dare I say it, competitive riding all at the same time on the same day.

Today we were again brilliantly led by John, who kept the group together in a close compact "peleton", even on hills and over the crests..no elastic band effect with us. The pace remained smooth and on target. Discipline and precision evident with everyone in the group taking their turn at setting the pace with smooth changeovers on a call from John.

Certainly took me back some 50 years when clubs were proud to ride like this in a disciplined and highly proffessional manner. As a fellow rider said "This is what a club ride is all about."

So my thanks to John for his good work it is much appreciated.

Also my thanks to the two agreeables who towed me back from the cafe, unfortunately dropped a couple of times when I had to stop to answer my mobile..problems at work.

A great day, in great company, on a great ride. What more can one want.
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