With all this macho talk of high speeds and hill climbing in this thread, started by son Andrew, it's time for a note about the more gentle end of the clubrun ...
With our trusty leader for the 15s group, about a dozen of us headed for Box Hill up Chipstead Valley, then a neat cut-through of lanes in so-called ‘Little Switzerland’, through Tadworth, to drop down to Mickleham, then up Zig Zag Hill.
I was impressed by a guy on fixed, about 75-inch gear, then some solid climbing by a newbie lady, Sarah, on a mountain bike.
Nice phone photo taken by John (do post it, J) of the group at the cafe, enlarged by about another 10, and good to see someone even older than me there, good on you, Jim! The fine weather (turned a bit moody later) lulled us into a more ambitious ride back than intended. Graham took us on a route down Zig Zag (enjoyable!), then left at Denbie vinyard roundabout and through via Newdigate and Rusper to Charlwood. Briefly, there must have been about 30 ACCs together as we crossed the fast group headed for Box Hill.
Shortly after, a certain Robin put an end to my main group contact, by yelling out “wind it up at the front there, ladsâ€. Gentle sex indeeed …
As ever, the kindly sheepdog role of John looked after we tail-enders: self, with Sarah and friend Michelle, and Belgian Christophe (nice bit of reminiscing with him about the Merckx era). An a final note of high respect for the two ladies, both newcomers, as really dedicated ACC clubrun supporters. They live at Brighton, had trained up early to East Croydon, missed the CSS link train, so took a taxi to make the run in time.
Whether I go OK or suffer, these runs are always superb – thanks, folks