The sun was out
and it was a Wednesday. Time to check the Addiscombe mid week training ride ! Glad to see that there was no sign of Huw 'Titanium lover' Williams or Marek 'The Pole Dancer': 10 riders in ACC gear outside Butlers led off by Nigel 'The moustachioued cadence machine', waved off by George from GBs! Nice drag upto Selsdon where we picked up a few more riders -including George 'On a borrowed bike!' and Phil Lambert who is a veteran, having ridden the route every week from the beginning. I also remember Geraldine, who had just come back from a holiday in Mallorca (she complained the climbs were too short in Surrey because it took her 3 km to warm up!). And of course no ACC ride is complete with the Patron Alan 'The EPO' ready to strut his stuff on the Huw-sourced climbs.
After that it was pretty much a blur but I remember a lot of very very steep country lanes. It was a bit like flanders land without the cobbles. One of those climbs was just like the Koppenberg I swear ! I had to close my eyes on some of the climbs because of the sweat pouring into my eyes and ride blind. One of my highlights was a female motorist stopping on her descent and encouraging me 'Come on you can do it - you're a hero!' Home by 8.30 - I must say that this was a piece of quality training and riding! Thanks for the pushes up the hill to Andrew (on moutain bike) and George. It looks like after many false starts over the last few years the mid week Addiscombe training ride is now here to stay !