the first section getting towards the main roads was not briliantly lit but mareks headlamp lead the way. as we hit the main duel carriage way A roads, and going through the towns we got a chance to realy dig in to the ride. with a strong head wind this was not easy. i left it to the others to do most of the work.
the big A road towards gatwick was fantastic. great smooth tarmac and we bommed down it at 30mph+
as we turned back i got a puncture and very quickly fixed it
(not). mareks track pump is great though!
on the way back there were some great drives up the hill , especialy on a long one where rob put in a big push, i only just clung on, low and behold marek comes up the outside and pushes it more !! paul got dropped a bit at this point but mainly because he had just done a long stretch approaching the climb.
at redhill marek set off back to bletchingly while the rest of us headed towards mesthrem. rob lead us to the mesthrem drag, where i did my longest turn taking us the way up, though to my peril as i nearly got dropped as i got spat out the back.
rob and i shared most of the work back into coulsdon, well into the 30+mph....i think paul was having a well deserved rest!
from bletchingly back to coulsdon it was 28 miles and at a good training group average speed of 22mph!!! not bad for the dark...
i hope this is the start of a regular ride as it was briliant training. im 100% up for it again!
cheers,
stu
ps, thanks marek for organising it