Club Run +

[-Adam-]

irony, sarcasm stu!?

[Marek]

Glad you all like my go faster legs, although they did not have quite enough left in them today for the sprint after having to chase down that pesky Stu.

Really enjoyed the ride today, was not feeling too perky due to the mammoth ride the day before, so was in two minds about going with the faster group or the slower group.

I therefore probably spent too much energy on going with the faster group, then deciding to go with the slightly slower group, and then having to chase down the faster group after changing my mind and doing this on a few occasions.

Alan, you were going very well indeed today, when we went past the partridge lane sign and we had been really giving it some I was surprised to see you come wheezing past me up the drag, where Paul Tunnell decided it was a sprint point without telling anyone and he gave it some welly up the hill.

Good fun to ride in a slightly larger group, I think you lot should try riding in with the faster group now and then it will do you good...... or kill you.

Cheers

Marek....

[Alan M]

I presume its a comment on the non-metric units

I have included a reference for your illumination Adam and I am thinking of offering your sponsorship in florins - but you need to be able to work out their value first!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_u ... _of_length

[Alan M]

Thanks Marek - yes I think you are right on the group choice, often noticing myself and probably others opting for a more comfortable ride than we could readily manage

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Turned back early, before Boxhill, as only a short pass today, but doing 1 1/2 hours before the clubrun meant I ended up with 75 miles, average 19.1mph.

Marek, a sign is a sign, defacto sprint point - aren't you being a sore loser beause I beat you to it??

Aiming for a steady ride tomorrow, the last 2 days have been quite quick, to see Stuart and Adam at Dunsfold if anyone would care to join me. 8:00am at CSS??

Paul

[-Adam-]

Well alan, indeed i was refering to the imperial nature of your measurment.

With regards my sponsorship: Are you refering to the Italian, English, German, Austrian, Australian or Irish Florin?

If i am to assume english florin, then that would equate to 6 shillings:

The Florin or Double Leopard was an attempt by English king Edward III to produce a gold coinage suitable for use in Europe as well as in England (see also Half Florin or Leopard and Quarter Florin or Helm). The florin, based on a French coin and ultimately on coins issued in Florence, Italy, in 1252, was a standard coin widely used internationally, with a value of six shillings. Unfortunately the gold used to strike the coins was overvalued, resulting in the coins being unacceptable to merchants, and the coins were withdrawn after only a few months in circulation, in August 1344, to be melted down to produce the more popular gold Noble. This is unfortunate as few specimens survived of what is often regarded as one of the most beautiful medieval English coins ever produced.

As such these coins are very rare, and one recently sold for £460,000. Thats mighty genorous for a pensioner!

Or could you mean the later florin of the nineteen and twentieth centuries? This florin was worth one tenth of a pound, and was superseded in 1971 by the ten pence piece, which initially had the same size and weight.

This makes more sense finacially i believe, so that will be one florin per mile. which means 300 florins, which means a total pledge of £30. Why thank you very much Mr Malarky. Action Medical Research and I are very grateful for you generosity!

[Alan M]

nobody likes a smart student

[Steve B]

Good ride yesterday, easily my fastest ride for a long time, but as each year, as soon as the warmer weather comes along so does the performance. Its great, its like a switch being turned on.

The group Paul and I lead out was suppose to be an 18ish group, and seeing as the training boys had gone before us, that was the intension. But when Paul came along side me and the pace picked up, 19 or 20 looked more likely to be average speed. Looking at the group, I thought that everyone was capable of that speed so didn't think too much of it. Then the training group came back to us and average speeds were anyones guess.

Really sorry to the couple of guys that dropped off, thankfully they picked up the next group.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to keep groups roughly at the speed that is quoted at the beginning, so people can move up to a faster group without the fear of being blown to bits 2 miles up the road - perhaps this should be discussed in another thread?

Anyway, with the group now bombing along at a fair old lick, my legs started to feel the pace and so I dropped back slightly at Rusper, just to get the heart rate back below 90%, and joined the group again for the thru -n- off. Fairly decent pace, but thought it would be faster, we came to the bit through the tree's and the pace slowed instead of increased. Stu took his chance to make a break. No one wanted to go with him as it was too early, but Jim and Marek jumped after giving Stu about 40m. I was behind George, thinking this was probably the best position, but he didn't go. We both found oursleves being towed along by 'yellow giant', sorry don't know your name, 30m behind Marek and Jim and a further 40 behind Stu.
They weren't pulling away any further so decided to bury myself and see how close I could get. Past George, then amazingly I was catching Marek. Past Marek then Stu and just pipped Jim on the line. From where I was I couldn't believe it. Then I remembered they had all done a mega ride the day before and I'm sure if Jim knew I was catching him he could have put a spurt on. Anyhow, I'll take it.
Looking at my HRM as I passed the charlwood sign I was within 1 or 2 beats of maximum. No wonder I felt rough afterwards, quickly taking in some lucozade sport at the shop.

The ride back was pretty quick too and by the time I got to the first hairpin on Box hill, I knew there was absolutely nothing left in the legs, and even just turning the pedals was tough. Finally made it to the top for a well earned tea & cake stop.

Alan towed the remainder of the group, in his relentless powerful way, most of the way back to the A217, , where I turned for home to recover.

Thanks for the ride guys

Steve

[Roy Green]

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, lads”. 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

[Dombo]

Excellent ride on Saturday, initially with the first 17-18s (pah!). Could the moderator please remove any reference I may have made in the past about wanting to try racing?

Having set off with the first 18mph group I realised I was in trouble when my average speed started going UP (normally the 40 mph descent from Caterham means my average by CSS is as high as it gets). That and the difficulty of having a normal conversation indicated the kind of ride in store.

Still, I hung on like a tin can tied to a bumper before being spat out like a watermelon pip just after the left turn beyond Reigate. Watching the peloton disappear up the road I sat up, enjoyed the view and made my own way to Box Hill where a bunch of Agreeables were already waiting.

Joined them for the journey back and am afraid to say lost them too, this time by disappearing off the front with Alex. Eventually made our way back to Reigate at which point I ran out of fuel and made my excuses, slowing to check gears etc at Wray Green to save face as he disappeared up the road.

Overall a great day and apologies due to my first group for not keeping up, and my second for losing you.

Spent today hacking around excellent single track on the mtb, the Dragon Ride and Etape Anglais looming horrifyingly large on my horizon.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

I started in a 17mph group which I take to mean AVERAGE speed over the whole ride. It seemed to be a bit sluggish to start with, (compared to the day before ) so I moved to the front and riding steady the speed seemed to creep up, then I got dropped over Gatton as usual, thanks for waiting at the lights guys. Over Regate Heath, Marek pushed hard and I could guess what was going to happen now. I bridges the gap, then slowed it down a bit to regroup. Steady now to Newdigate. My lead out man (AJ) had a bad patch, dropped back to check and he was OK. Watched as George, then Marek led up to Rusper, then kicked hard for the summit. Passed the Rusper sign first, with Marek hot on my heels.
Then another slight pause, before a break at the bottom of Faygate.
Steady along the dual carriageway, then hard work into headwind up to Charlwood, when Stuart hurtled past. Couldn't react to that so let him go. Trundled along to Charlwood and checked average - couldn't believe it was nearly 20mph, but if I was in a small way to blame, I apologise, as I have not been out very often recently.
Paul

[Forbes]

Hi Dombo, thanks for the navigational advice and conversation on the ride, sorry if I was a bit too keen on the hills!

Hope to see you on the CR in the summer.