by ThePinkDreamMachine » Thu Jun 25, 2009 1:31 pm
now for a proper race report...
My first choice of the lovely Dave Kennett was taken, George was away working and Huw’s legendary distaste for anything featuring pointy hats means he can’t go anywhere near the A24 without “one of his heads coming on,†so I found myself a little restricted when looking for a speedy enough partner.
Until that is I bumped into the nicest chap in time trialling, Ben Instone, at a race a few weeks previously. Ben is a TT legend who recently broke all sorts of records on various sporting courses. “Now wait a minute†I hear you say “how did she manage that? Is this not the equivalent of Andrew Green doing a two up with Bradley Wiggins?†Well it took a cake, a very large cake, and a promise to pedal as hard as I could as he tells me his legs are physiologically incapable of propelling him at anything less than 24mph… even a on a rest day.
So we rocked up to the G10/42, I completed my part of the bargain and handed over a huge cake, and despite having just 30 mins before our start time the 6’6†giant, still in his flip flops and daywear, proceeded to sample a brick-sized slice of this hefty carrot cake, just to check it was worth turning up and riding for. Just as well we were doing this for a laugh as he was now probably a stone heavier. So, riding his ‘winter’ bike which was probably still worth more than all the bikes in our house put together, we rolled over to the start line.
Note: Ben has no warm-up, he’s ready to roll.
His last tip before we headed off was to never touch my breaks and to “scream if you want to go faster.†The next 23min 54 seconds was a heart-pounding blur of dual carnage way, sorry ‘carriage’ way. Twice I had to shout “Oi Ben come back! ... Please.†There was no need for the drops in this race, with Ben being almost a metre taller than me I could practically ride sitting upright and not feel any wind resistance. At the half way turn Ben underestimated my newly found cornering skills and I nearly went flying into the back of him (well the back of his knees anyway) hitting the brakes and screaming.
Re-composing myself we were off again, homeward bound with Ben shouting at me, telling me to hurry up and not be so lazy. I’m sure I heard “call your self a 2nd cat†or maybe that was just Huw in my head screaming at me all the way from Dunsfold.’
He lies does Ben Instone! Digging deep up the hill to the petrol station on the right, he shouted “this is the last hill†but as we rolled over the top I could see Kate in the distance going up ANOTHER HILL, shouting at her dad to “go fasterâ€.
I also noticed Ben waving to the competition on the other side of the road!!! Powered by a desperate need to just get off my bike, I got my lazy arse in gear and we floored it up and down the last hill, just catching Kate in time for a nice little chat as we crossed the line together.
In the car park I produced another big cake and shared it round with my lovely fellow Addsicombers. By now Ben was on his 4th piece, and I distributed the rest of the cake, saving one bit for President Joyce. Stupidly I handed Ben the tin to hold for a moment while I changed my shoes and in a split second the saved cake was on route to his mouth. Luckily there’s a good 3 feet from Ben’s hand to his mouth so there was time to jump in and save it.
lots of fun all round
chloe
Chloe
The Pink Dream Machine Phase 2