smallish training group today only 5 of us. i felt ok, but my guts still felt full from christmas.
before we set off we agreed to be dissaplined and share the work a bit and john would not kill us all....this lasted up the deul carriage way and no further
as soon as we hit the big hill bit john was off the front, george went after him and i went after george, at this point we dropped ray and simon hulk legs. i pushed my self as hard as i could going up and was not to far behind george when we got to the top. as we got to the lights at reigate john got a puncture (yes!). was a welcome break.
the 19s came after about 5 minutes and then came the 17s. puncture fixed and we started chasing. we got the 17s after reigate up the drag. we wernt sure if woudl would catch the 19s but we gave it a go, mainly lead by goerge and john. i shelterd in the middle of the group through the lains, hoping john and george would blow by the sprint.
up by the rusper golf club drag bit the pace slowed, i think john was trying to be dissaplined. so came round and did my only turn on the front for a bit, but realized we were coming up to the hills before rusper and i would be dropped, so i quickly went to the back.
sure enough as we got to the wooded hill bit before rusper john wound up the pace, simon and ray started to drop back, so i had to nip past them and do a tiny bit of chasing to grab georges wheel. i had to just stair at where the seat stays meet and jus keep a rythem going to take my mind off the fact i could not feel my legs.
we got to rusper and i had a quick swig of water knowing i was in for a hellish ride on the through and off. as we got the hills before the carriage way john was off the front again and goerge and i were out the saddle going for all we were worth, john still looked like he was having a pleasurely ride through the country side! George was on the verge of giving up when john said he cought a glimps of them !!
we carried on chasing and up ahead of us on the deul carriage way were to acc boys. john lead us at 30mph to them, where i was hoping the 2 riders ahead would not stick with us, and i could rest with them. unfortunatly one of the riders was rob so i new i would have to carry on... still lead by john blasting away i was on the verge of dropping but i managed to carry on.
into the lanes again and i was in my own world when george ran through a puddle which was rather refreshing and snapped me back to reality..he started looking around and i new he was going to go, so i pulled out just before him to make sure i could stick with him, sure enough he went (this time silently) and i went with him, we raced past john and i think took him by suprise...i thought we had lost him!! but as we came round the last bend he cruised past me on the right, i then pulled out from behind george and edged past him to get ANOTHER 2nd (about the 4th week in a row!)
we all set off from the cafe in the big group which was rather relaxing, but i new in the back of my head john could not stay at this pace the hole way. as soon as we hit some hills i heard a strange buzzing sound behind me and john bommed past. i gave frantic chase and grabbed his wheel, i stuck with him up the hill where the church is on the right, but got dropped as we started to decend. i was 2nd to the church stop so i was happy still.
we set off again and i new there would be some action, adam seamed up for a crack and i new john would go again. he restrained himself untill mid way up the drag when he did a sneeky one from the inside, thankfully i think simon pointed it out and so i was able to go with out having to chase his wheel. simon and adam left it a bit too late and couldnt quite grab my wheel. i focussed again where the seat stays meet and got into a rythem, and the drag didn't seem too bad. i stuck with john most of the way when he put in sprint, but i managed to cling on, then he looked round saw i was still there and put in another one....i was dropped!!
eventually simon cought me and lead me into coulsdon at a good pace.
nice ride today cheers lads!
stu