club ride....'FROST BIKE'....

[Stu Merckx Man]

very very cold today!

fastest ride for me so far 22.7mph to charlswood, and i club record for the most people out...93!!!

at coulsdon south it looked like a fairly bulky training group,we set off lead by john (man in green/black), fairly good pace, just before mestham, a couple of people dropped out, i think they were annoyed we were not doing a through an off all the way or something, but im not sure !

we were mainly lead through the lanes by john, and the only rotation was between me, simon(the one on the specialized tarmac) and i think ian..(please correct me on names)...but that rotaion was for the person who had the joy of sitting on johns wheel!

we got to the duel carriage way and i felt realy fit and good today, probably the best ive ever felt!...we stood there talking a bit when hulk leg simon turned up, closely followed by i think a 19 group though im not sure, they must have been doing more than 19 though they wernt to far behind us...

anyways on the through and off , john and i broke away at a blistering pace...i pulled next to him and said we should work together to stay ahead of the pack...by working together i ment john take the lead and me follow ...we wernt doing a through and off more just taking the front and then the other person comming up when they recovered, we seamed to get away fromt he bulk of the group, but ian and hulk leg simon just managed to catch us as we got the very last round about.

screaming through the lanes we were nearly at sprinting speed, i felt absolutely on form, and as we approached the sign john made a break from the front and mullered us!!...but the real fight was between me and hulk leg simon, i put everything into it and i found my self slowly over taking him...but i had to push as hard as i could and i started making growling sounds !! anwyays i pinched second! (miles behind john, but just infront of simon)

good ride back a little group of us manged to get away, alan, simon specialized one, and a chap with longish hair), tom and josh, that was a pretty nice pace, unfortunatly tom and josh got dropped. we reached the church well ahead of the rest.

setting off from the church i lead out, thought i would wait for john and go into coulsdon with him, instead he bomed past me with a smile and it was the last i saw of him!...i was closely followed by a tall chap who over took me but i had him in sight...i sorted my self out and got into a rythm, slowly just at the top of the mestrem drag i caught him....only to have sylvain, hulk leg simon and simon whizz past!!...after some frantic chasing i managed to tag a wheel!!

racing into coulsdon it was anyones ride, simon hulk, sylvain,longish haird chap from earlier and simon specialized and i..it was incredibley fast!... i pushed my self as hard as i could but couldnt grab a wheel on the sprint just after the first round about...not sure who won it...sylvain, hulk leg simon and longish hair chap were in a tight bunch...i finished 4th

best ive ever felt though, at no point on the ride for the first time did i feel like dropping out WOOHOOO!

avs when i got home 21.9

cheers,
stu...

[Andrew G]

Good 18s run today, and it was nice to see Terry out now he's finished bombing up and down dual carriageways for this year. Don't know if there was a sprint for the sign as I was towards the back of the group when we met one of Marek's infamous Surrey horses. The horse got a bit frightened and backed in to the road a bit, we all braked and slowly made our way round. It was at this point I spotted someone had been a bit cheeky, taken advantage of the split, and gone for a long one - a very long one. Started to try and jump across the gap but Steve "Shadow" was still a fair bit up the road and seeing how long it was taking him to bridge realised I'd never make it or die trying, so sat up and spun in. When we got to the cafe it turned out it was Alan who'd been the cunning fox, which explained why it was taking so long for anyone to try and get across to him. Did they make it? was there a sprint?

[Paul H]

Hi Stu - my name is Paul not Ian. Well done on your ride today you seem to be making massive improvements every week.

John killed me today. Not only is he so strong, he is really aerodynamic so you get even less a drafting affect than following Sylvain.

[Stu Merckx Man]

ah sorry about about the name paul! i new i had it wrong, but i just couldnt pin it, paul was one of the ones that crossed my mind..it was a toss between ian and paul ...im slowly getting to know the names...

your right about john, hes like a tear drop shape...his slip stream seams to close up around him before it reaches the person behind! ...its probably easier for him bieng in the front of the pack than at the back!...infact i recon a head wind would make him faster!!

cheers,
stu..

[Toks]

Well done Stu! It looks like your threshold power is coming along nicely. Boy!! we're all gonna be in trouble come spring next year

[Stu Merckx Man]

cheers toks,

by the way i think i felt so good because i tried out your 2x20 on thursday ...but my god does it hurts like a worse word than excrement!

stu..

[Alan M]

Yes I took a bit of a liberty going past the horse - I had in fact taken position and already decided to lead the group out. The pace had been too comfortable up to that point and I like to tire Steve so he doesn't have too much left for his habitual win on the line.

Since I realised that the lucky combination of a slightly spooked horse and silly oncoming vehicle would mean that I could get through and away I thought that I would give it a go. At first I believed that I was completely on my own and I think I achived a good gap but dared not look round - but as I delved into oxygen deficit the morning sunshine played a long dark shadow just to my right - Guess who?

So, game up I thought, but just like an absolute gentleman Steve came past and allowed me to recover on his wheel. I saw the road marker in the distance and could feel Steve dying in the saddle but thought I would bide my time - but alas for too long. Mark (tester) M had been bridging the gap and dragging Robin with him who played the most tactical card, passing first me then Mark for the win at the finish.

The return ride was too crowded for comfort so I tried, and just about held on to Stu, Rich et al for the first part of the journey back and after the church got on the back of Steve and some others for a swiftish return, but quickly hampered by Christmas shoppers which was my own fate later in the afternoon!

All good fun and I'll miss you all for the next 5 Saturdays

93 out - - almost a sportive

Hasta luego

Alan

[Stu Merckx Man]

where are you for the next 5 saturdays alan?

stu..

[Alan M]

Guatemala

[Toks]

[quote]but i had to push as hard as i could and i started making growling sounds

[Stu Merckx Man]

well im not going to be singing nursery rhymes!!

[Stu Merckx Man]

oh and alan that sounds nice!

[Toks]

[quote]by the way i think i felt so good because i tried out your 2x20 on thursday ...but my god does it hurts like a worse word than excrement!

[mark mclaughlin]

Great ride today, Yes that was an OUTRAGEUOS attack by Alan, can't remember such a crafty one with Steve just getting on his wheel. Hadn't really wanted to do Treshhold training but just couldn't let Mr Malarky get away with that! Now we know the other sprinter in the Pack, Yes Robin toed him twice in 2weeks to the line, have to put him on the front of club run me thinks!
Made mistake Leaving late from cafe, always so much harder trying to catch group.Time the Merstham drag was on us just managed to latch on with Shadow and Big guy(don't Know you name?) but great run in even though legs where tying up as Alan joined us.
Great to see Terry out and Was Elvis in the House??
Have a great trip Alan.

[Marek]

Yesterday I went for a ride with a couple of guys from my office. They wanted to cycle down to Brighton and one of them wanted to cycle back so I was to be there guide.

I cycled up from EG to meet them at CSS for 8am, blimey it was cold leaving my place at 7am.

The pace was fantastically slow, one of the guys has not done much cycling before and he was crawling. I was soft pedalling on the flats and he was still struggling to keep up. It took us about 4 hours to get to Brighton. I raced up Ditchling, one of the guys came up 2 minutes behind me, the slow one got up another 15 minutes later.

In Brighton we did the Regency, unfortunately the breakfast menu was off because we were so late, so we had a pasta lunch.

The slow guy got the train home and then me and the other guy who is reasonably fit started the cycle back. Unfortunately my mate hit something on the road and it buggered up his tyre. As we were just out of Brighton he hobbled back to the train station. Leaving me on my own to get home.

Well, I decided to try and go home a different route to the way into Brighton and I got lost. I was zig zagging across the whole of Sussex. Eventually I stumbled onto Burgess Hill, then went over to Cuckfield, Staplefield into Handcross and then back home via Turners Hill.

The climb from Staplefied to Handcross was painful to say the least. Had 150km on the clock, in 9 hours of being out. A ridiculously slow average speed. But I have to say that I think just being on the bike for that long killed me as I was knackered and am still feeling it today.

Cheers

Marek....