Clubrun

[Marek]

Another superb club run, a bit different this week. With Dave Palmer coaxing us out of the blocks at Coulsdon South I headed out with the fast group. At CSS Darren had indicated that his front mech was in need of repair, so out of sympathy we all agreed to do the club run in the small ring so that we would all stay together. (although did see some cheating going on in places).

Out of CSS we were soon down to six riders in the fast group, not sure how many we started with but we were going a fair old pace as usual even though we were limited with the gears, there were a few legs spinning at rates they have not gone before, in particular mine.

After Newdigate we got the through and off going and managed to get a good run on the dual carriageway. Unfortunately my back wheel came out of line at the lights on the dual carriageway and the rest of the group went off. So Luke has asked me to mention that he won the sprint, although I wasn't there so cannot actually confirm this. I can confirm that I won the sprint against myself, I was flying and nobody came past me I was leading my sprint all the way.

At the Cafe my legs were certainly feeling the fact that we had been spinning all the way, my calves were somewhat tight. Good training though so would recommend it to those insane enough.

In the Cafe good atmosphere as usual. The amount of people in the Cafe was outrageous. We had been in the Cafe for 50mins and there were people still queuing when we were leaving. Monty mentioned splitting up and frequenting other Cafes which sounds like a good idea. I think in a few weeks we will be starting the winter training therefore some of us will be going off to a different watering hole anyhow.

On the way from Cafe we split into two groups. We waited for a while at Redhill and then headed off. I took three other riders off for a slightly more strenuous ride back to Coulsdon. We turned right in Merstham, then cycled through the estate and then turned left about a mile out of Merstham. This leads you onto Hilltop lane, this takes you up to Chaldon and is a very challenging and tough climb. We made it up and had an excellent descent down Farthing Down in Coulsdon. Unfortunately Max punctured at the top of FD and therefore I had to cycle back up to help him out. His spares were pretty useless, he broke the valve off his tube and then could not get any air into my spare. I cycled home and fetched the car, then ferried him back to mine. Advantage for me was that I got to descend Farthing Down twice, bummer for Max as he climbed the Hilltop climb and did not get to descend at all.

Anyone else fancy taking this detour next week then give me a shout and I will come with you.

Cheers

Marek....