club run...

[Stu Merckx Man]

verrry annoyed today.

beautiful weather, and plans to do the hilly ride thing. going up the deul carriage way my fears were realized as i found my saddle slowly getting lower and lower...i new why, it was because this morning i was a bit careless when tightening the bolt, and i smoothed it out by mistake before properly tightening it enough to secure the seat post...

anyway i carried on, and up that big hill before reigate i felt fantastic!....which in a way made it all the more dissapointing when i had to turn back after reigate. so i limped on towards leigh and called for a lift from the telephone box... even more annoying is that i can't get out on my steel bike today as im having the wheel trued

cheers
stu

[Stu Merckx Man]

sean it gets worse..

to rub my face in it i saw a bunch of them coming back through chipstead when i was going to get the new bolt for my bike!

[George]

Big group of us set off for the hilly 50 k this morning, I was a bit late leaving the station and saw away upfront a group with all the fast boy’s in it so chased them and jumped on.
After Reigate Stu went home with saddle trouble (old excuse that has been worn out by Marek!)I started pulling on the front and Paul and I went away, but we had to wait a long time for the guy’s to catch us up due to 3 punctures.

We had a large group now including Graham O, Paul H, Ray, Marek, Hal, Adrian, Matt D sorry if I forgot anyone. Ontop of Ranmore common I waited to turn left down into Dorking but everyone else went right, I thought we were going to ride the hilly 50K route but in the end we decided another 50k route.

Did a nice loop that Ray suggested before lunch at Shere, a lovely gradual climb with beautiful views and bright sunshine and also lots of other riders out and about. Started to pull ahead up the long drag and eventually caught up with a London Dynamo guy, so dragged him up to the top.

After lunch we attacked Whitedown hill this is 18% and very steep it just seems to go on and on after the turn. Paul and I were in the lead then out of nowhere Hal flew past with a tremendous effort he got a few bike lengths but towards the top couldn’t quite sustain near the top, still Paul and I were having a good ding dong up the steep bits.

Back over Ranmore another breakaway with Paul and I, then finally Box hill. I was feeling strong for the first 2 legs then finally Paul the good climber he is pulled away to the top, Marek wasn’t too far behind, he looked shagged at the top but he’s slowly reeling back into his racing form.

A lovely day nice ride and also some exciting attacks and breakaways all the way home.

Cheers George

[Stu Merckx Man]

ray can back me up on how loose it was george

[-Adam-]

Well stu, i cant say i had saddle trouble today, but i did have one grievance.

The forecast up here was supposed to be pretty much the same as down there, bright blue sky, sunshine, and almost no wind. Which believe me is a very rare condition up here! So that was all the incentive i needed to drag my student ass out of bed.

Having done 45miles yesterday in the sun too, i wasnt sure how id feel, but what the hell. So i left my flat at 11.15 (nice and leisurely time, i was reading something about pro training camps not riding til 10, so i thought why get uo early!) Anyway, so i rolled out, in the sun, as predicted.

Until... I got to Kirkdale, which is just the other side of the stadiums to the city (doesnt sound like i missed a particularly exciting merseyside derby anyway!) and the fog was as thick as it was at home round christmas time. I was disgusted, and to add insult to injury there was a stiff breeze too. Not as strong as yesterday, nor as strong as it was a couple of weeks back, but strong enough to be annoying. So i spent the next few hours forgetting what the end of my nose looked like.

Anyway, made it home, 55miles managed to sustain 17.5mph, but id like to see anyone go much faster than that on there own up here! The thing that kills it is 20 miles of that is on the A59, which on the long straight bits is great as you can pick up the speed if the wind is with you. But if not. your stuffed. Also, its a good 6miles of crappy road surfaces and traffic lights every 100m sometimes, so that buggers up your rythm, and your av speed with it!

Anyway, good ride, the form is coming, feeling stronger everyweek atm. On my local circuit for short rides, ive managed to take a minute of my lap time since the beginning of december... So bring on the 31st march and the addiscombe surrey league race!

cheers,

adam

[George]

Oh yeah Kevin was in there as well

Cheers George

[Marek]

I would say it was good today but it was hard work. Blimey George and Paul are absolutely flying. I was feeling really confident this morning until we got past Reigate. I did a longish turn on the front and then George jumped me. Then Paul managed to get away and as I had just done a turn I was left to fry.

We started a through and off and were gradually pulling them back when Ray went over, or more precisely into, a bliming great pot hole. Well, a few seconds later and psss or his tyre and that was that.

We stopped and I helped him out with my mega mini track pump. As we were fixing it Graham and a couple of others went past. Then we went to chase them and around the corner they were mending a puncture as well.

After that we met up with George, Paul and co and headed over to Ranmore. As I am now getting used to it, Paul and George blasted over the top, Hal was not far behind and I was just after him. The others arrived in various states of exhaustion.

The rest of the ride was much the same, a few stops for me to sort my bliming saddle post out, but apart from that everything was great. The coffee and toast went down very well in Shere.

Then over a Whitedown, ouch and then Box Hill. I really struggled up the first part, seeing Paul and George go off in the distance was a bit soul destroying. But I thought I need to get quicker so sod it I will just kill myself and put everything in. Well I went for it and I certainly was shagged at the top, in fact I thought I was going to fall over when I arrived, how George and Paul kept a straight face I do not know. I sounded like a thirsty labrador the way I was panting.

Good blast back over to Chipstead with a few attacks and a bit of sprinting now and then, all good training I hope.

Cheers

Marek...

[Andrew G]

Fantastic day
A bigish group of us set off for the hilly 50k although Marek, George et al set off like there arses were on fire so the rest of us rode at a more normal (for us) CR pace.

Very scenic jaunt over to Ranmore for the fun to start. This seemed longer than I remember from my last trip up it but wasn't too bad. Then off to Coldharbour, where we got spit. At the top you do a hard right on the CTC route but Ian, Alan and some others hadn't seen us turn right and carried on.

The rest of us did the full CTC route which drags you up most of the steep hills in the area I think. We met up with the others at Peaslake and they all seemed to have had a fun time and thrown some other hills in to cover the odd one they may have missed before getting back on route.

Next up Whitedown which is a nasty bugger. Tried following Huw's wheel at the start as it's very smooth (he wasn't tanking it either, so no hard accelerations) but about a quarter of the way up he just spun away from me so I was forced in to S bending the rest of the way up.

Apologies to anyone I was close behind on any of the hills as it probably sounded like you had a dirty old man on your wheel with all the panting and grunting I was doing.

Finished up with a good blast off the top of Box. Had the good bike out after 2 months hibernation and it was so nice to take something light up those inclines. Felt great today and had a good hard training ride, went up the hills better than I thought and my legs didn't explode in an ugly mess on any of them .

After your comments last week Marek I gave it some welly today from start all the way back to Croydon. I'm not going to do any road racing early season but will do a few early TTs so the hard training was well worth while.

I echo your comments Sean that "everything felt right, went right, was right."

I'm even looking forward to the proper CTC ride now!

[Jim B]

Glad I missed the early break now.

Huw led us on a great route apparently over every hill in Surrey. Lots of new roads for me, some of which wouldn't have been out of place in Paris Roubaix. Luckily only one puncture for the whole group.

Thought I was in for an easy ride, but 110km later I've had to resort to the Red Bull already before I go out tonight.

Cheers Huw good call.

[Paul H]

Well done to Hew for suggesting that we do something different.

Glad to see Marek out who pushed the pace as soon as we left CSS which seemed to dictate the way the rest of the ride went.

[Ian A4size]

I was in the group that split off and went all the way up coldharbour , i knew we had to do a right but when i looked at the turn i thought naaa thats someones drive that is- it made tanhurst look smooth.
A quick rethink- map look- instructions look- blank looks and we set off down the otherside went down thru ockley and up coldharbour from the ewhurst road side, sort of on track we went over Holmbury hill ( i think), then up past the mssl, i have often seen this sign and thought it was a council tip or something , well its a space lab or something like that- yep we were that high , i thought that we had reached the top- but no -more climbing, a big lump like me really enjoys it doncha know?!
A nice descent with some really considerate motorists- not- and lo and behold there were the addiscombe massive- all congregated in Peaslake central browsing the oriental rug collections, i reckon all those skinny b'stards should have to carry an axminster to handicap 'em. Also we saw 2 coach loads of Japanese youths- are they peaslake carpet weavers? After mucho banter and a bull session and off we went heading down to whitedown - who designed Hoe lane? First time i've been uphill on a descent- more careful drivers made it soooo special. For some reason i find that whitedown is not that bad- not at my pace anyway and for the first time today i'm not last up . Jonathon had cramp on the hairpin- so i put me foot down and danced my way up - i think i was probably making more noise than you tho Andrew.
I wasn't last up box either so my day was complete.
By the time i was home i had run out of water and food so i was pretty shot, a tough ride for me being a big lump an all, legs wont stop twitching and i can't get comfortable no matter where i sit or lay.
Absolutely a superb ride- plenty of good people to chat to all took at a sensible pace with the better riders waiting at the top for the slower riders(me). Big thanks(?) to Alan for suggesting the route and for Huw giving it legs. Excellent day out, now where's the voddy..........

[John Czernobay]

Hey Sean, great to have you with us and what a morning it was, as you say everthing was spot on. Thanks for your help at the front, all you guys and girls did really well at the front end, it was a good steady pace allowing the group to keep it's shape . Everyone did really well and good to see you back with us Carol .

Great call Alex for taking us on that little "excursion", we all enjoyed that .

Have a great week .
John..

[Roy Green]

I'll echo what you say, John, a splendid and large J-F-F group. After little riding since pre-Christmas, my old bones gave it best on the worst drags, so thanks for being my watchful sheepdog, John. Have a great two weeks skiing with the family (forget that idea of doing next Saturday's run, then going to join them at Gatwick!)javascript:emoticon(':)')

[huw williams]

Now that was a great day out

Loads of climbs for sportive preperation and a Flatland thrash from Box hill back home at the end - I clocked 72 miles and my legs know all about it.

Jim B took the climbers prize - awsome form which he kept right through to the last thrash up Box Hill. Should be in for a good Tri season Jim.

Appologies for the lack of leadership on Coldharbour which split the group - I felt sure everyone was close enough to see that right turn. That road really doesn't look like you should go down there I guess.

Anyway you know the route now if you fancy doing it in a fortnight - be warned though... because its quite short a load of racers will be out and they DO like to go round it FAST.

[Phil L]

In case you missed the ride or got completely disorientated like myself I have "googled mapped" my GPS data:

[url]http://www.the-lamberts.co.uk/cycling/addiscombe-tosh-2007-02-03.html[/url]

This is the route Huw took and confirms the 72 miles from South Croydon area. I was the last to keep sight of people turning off Coldharbour Lane - which in some respects I regretted because it made me the weakest and probably hardest pushed rider in the group - a very tough ride considering I haven't done anything more than the shorter club run since before the summer hols. A second wind from Box Hill kept me on the tale of the main pack until I hit a very annoying puncture at Chipstead. I must thank Nigel for stopping and helping me change my tube twice, the first was an already punctured tube(!!??) - unless I pinched it with the leaver on that very last heave to get the tyre on.

A painful but very satisfying ride - thanks Huw.