Club run 05/08/06

[Nick]

After more time away from the club I found myself at the Hub of cycling in England......The Agreeables Club Run.

About 60+riders out on a glorious day...Sun Shining a light breeze and good company.

I had a fantastic day today I went out with the 17 group. Had a nice chat with Alex and some others. The sprint for the Cafe started quite early with a Guy on a blue Trek with blue tyres taking about a 50 metre gap I closed him down with about four or five others in tow. I then decided to go all the way and had a good run and felt very strong.

After the Cafe stop I made my way back with the main bunch back towards Coulsdon, I was still felling very strong and sat on the front most of the way 4 of us contested the run up to the church and then rode down the other side only for me to take advantage of the roundabout and gain a very good gap. I stopped at the meeting point by the church but didn't wait for all as I had other pressing matters at home . I said my goodbyes and left them, riding up and through Metisham I kept at a steedy 23mph only to be half way up the drag coasting at about 18 mph when the Blue Trek was there again! where did he come from? but from then on we worked well and in silence and had a great run right into and through Coulsdon.

Didn't catch the name guy on the Blue trek but thanks for the hard effort, made a good day even a better ride.

Nice to see all the regulars and a few new riders as well.

[Grahame]

It was good to see you back Nick!

I went out with the 19mph group so I could beat the queue to the cafe - I had to be home in Bromley before 1pm, or the consequences would be too painful to contemplate!

Anyway, I held on up the hill through to Reigate and even contributed some work at the front through the town, out the other side and into the lanes. We picked up some refugees from the training group just before Newdigate, then Connor and I turned off for the shortcut to the cafe.

I left the cafe at 11am for a solo run back home. I was feeling pretty strong, so made it back to CSS in 49 minutes and was home by 12:35pm to earn plenty of bonus points.

I even stayed awake during my wife's birthday treat trip to the theatre in the afternoon.

[Andrew G]

[quote]As I came out the Vibe bar in Brick Lane the promogirl for Tiger Beer came forward in a shimmering sheer blue dress and said, what would you like .....

[Marek]

I met up with Max in the morning, which meant a 10km uphill detour from East Grinstead over to Turners hill. We then blasted over to Merstham to make sure we did not miss the training ride going through.

Thankfully we were there with even time to top up our drinks at the petrol station, which was thankful as Max had not spotted a pot hole earlier which I went into and one of my bottles went flying and a car ran it over so I was down a bottle.

The training group came through and it was going pretty quick, Max and I quickly sprinted to get onto the back which we did just before the lights. As we went up Reigate Hill the pace started to hot up with Sylvain leading the charge up the hill. I went after him and managed to get past and then just as I was cresting the hill Matt came charging through.

A nice slow descent down the other side saw others catching us up before the lights (well OK maybe 35mph is not slow, but the lights were red so the others caught us up).

Into the lanes on the other side of Reigate and basically it was hell for leather all the way. I think we lost a couple of people on the way, but to be honest I did not notice as I was too busy concentrating on staying alive.

Through the trees just before Rusper and Sylvain again put the afterburners on with Matt close behind, I went after them and managed to get past before the top, but this then meant I was on the front before the little hill after the Charlwood turn off. Ah well, I survived and we carried on towards the dual carriageway. I really like the route towards the shorter dual carriageway run as the hill on the way over is my favourite, so I managed to cajole the lead riders to go straight on in Rusper.

On the hill and Max made his first appearance on the front giving a big pull on the lower part of the hill, I then went for it and Max managed to get my wheel. We dropped the rest of the group and then when we reached the flat bit towards the final hill I turned to Max and asked him if he wanted to race to the top. He said no, but I started to sprint and so did he and we basically sprinted up the final part and I managed to pip him by a half a wheel.

Onto the dual carriageway we had a fairly good order and things went ok. Into the run towards the sprint Matt got stuck on the front, later he said he thought everyone else had gone another direction. No one wanted to go through. I eventually decided that it would not be fair so did a small turn and then order resumed with others pulling. Into the sprint and the front guys soon faded and me and Aodan punched it out with Aodan managing to get it by a wheel. Apparently his first sprint win and a fine one it was too.

Went back via Merstham and had a good group which took it quite steady, bit of a blast past the Church and into Redhill. Out of Redhill Max and I applied the pressure with Richard M on our tails, as we were turning off before the hill I thought it would be amusing to pull at a fast rate so that when they got on the hill they would be tired, but they looked pretty good when they went through.

Max and I cycled back over to Turners Hill where we decided that doing a 2 up time trial in the afternoon would probably be a bit too much with 120km on fast riding already on the clock, so I headed home and Max cycled back over to Handcross to pick up his car for home.

Great ride.

Cheers

Marek...

[Dr Frigo]

You were doing over 38mph on that shallow downhill to Reigate Marek - that was my max speed for the day!

[siwickm]

I know, I was taking it easy, I will try harder next time.

Cheers

Marek...

[higg]

Mention should also go to Slyv for his climb up Box Hill. I went past me, at the first hairpin out of the saddle at around 18mph. Surely he's going to slow down later on I thought as I tried (unsuccessfully) to stay in touch, but no, he maintained near enough the same pace out of the saddle all the way to the top.