At the start it looked like we were going to be the magnificient seven. Sadly, Owen, the Jamaican sprint king, got cold feet when I told him that not only does Simon H still eat raw badger lungs to boost his speed-endurance but occassionally he does circuits of the M25 between 2 and 5 in the morning when police presence is at a minimum.
So the scene was set for a skinny newbie second cat, who loves 'larging it up' on the forum, to find out what ACC training rides are all about. Including Simon there were three third cats in total: Matt "cool-understated-dude-on-a-bike" Ives who has apparently turned down the role of James Bond three times now. Shame I don't think Connery, More or Dalton could make 25mph on a road bike look so cool. Also Simon, boy band member, soon to rival me as ACC's Training Guru, proudly sporting brand new Kysriums, and some possible latent anger for us not recognising his undeniable cycling talent in recent 3rd cat Road Race reports.
In addition, we were also joined by possibly the clubs strongest 4th cat Paul AKA the junior Proffessor of Philosophy, Uphill gradient master and king of urban-chic-on-two-wheels. Then last but by know means least I still can't decide whether Stu-Bianchi is a baby face, former ex world champion of the nineties Banesto squad who fetched water for Indurain in his pomp or is a really classy youth rider who will be riding Premier Calender Races, if progress continues, before his out of his teens.
Anyway Matt has done a great job of summing up the flesh and bones of the ride so I won't ramble on too much more. The fellas definitely gave me a 'training day' to remember; and at one point I got dropped when Paul jumped for some dubious Marek sprint point that I was unaware of
. Thru n' off att 30mph was great fun
and when Simon (X Factor Boy) blasted away with a couple of miles to go he took the most impressive Charwood sign Gallop I've ever witnessed. I managed to leave with my dignity slightly intact by winning the bunch sprint. But take this as a warning. Don't even think about riding with these guys unless you're seriously up for it
PS It was great to be out on a club run after more than three months: Big agreeable high fives to Sean, Huw, Andrew, Owen, Connor, Tim, Mark, Jim, Danny, Monty, Keith, Paul.D and the rest of the ACC gang.