We had a good group out today on the "special" 19's.
I led out a wind assisted
group from the station and we soon made short work of the col de M23, Grant Barnes (welcome back) gave me a break at the top- he was spinning like crazy on the '39.
A quick regroup and a few feck me's and down the hill we went.
It was fairly well controlled up the lumps and into Reigate, I think a few riders managed to get back on and i was surprised at how big the group was.
Alan got caught at the lights- we thought there were more with him , so we waited at the green in Flanchford road, he soon came speeding round the corner- smiled and stomped off up the road leaving us standing.
A quick chase then ensued- he had about a 100 metres and it took everything i had to catch him by the sharp left corner down the hill, still he rode on and that left the group really strung out.
Easy up at the intersection and we were all back on- must be about 20/21 avg at this point.
On up thru the lanes to newdigate and we were flying along at a sensible pace for once. It got a bit streched on the run up to partridge, we had just broke the elastic with Sean and Yohan.
Yohan has been off the bike for a while (football
)and today he really felt it, he used to be a training group stalwart now he is a J4Funner
Any how the pace was going up again , so was the road
, a quick look around and i am the last rider-bu&&er!
A quick gear change will sort this out, yep sure did, chain off
, i tried to spin it back on but no luck this time.
I saw Sylv do the same effortlessy (is that a word- c'mon forum pedants)
and he got it back on.
The group sped off without me, i knew i would not get back on so i sat up and pootled to the cafe. I was first there.
Sean and Yohan came by fairly quickly so we had a good gas in the cafe.
I did not know the others had waited for me at the lambs green turn off so i could have got back on.
I think that as a group we should decide which route we will take a bit earlier on and if there will be a regroup place as well.
It will save hanging around for the main group and also keep the stragglers on the same route.
If i had carried on i would have gone down for the long thru and off and would have missed the bunch. I was the ride leader
Nice thrash thru the lanes on the way back, Alan was very strong and i felt good as well as i had not got the thru and off in my legs.
Done about 15 hours this week so a day off on sunday and hopefully a ride of sorts on monday.
Edit. Great to see Alex out on his new bike- getting an extra 2mph bonus as its new, he came racing up lane 2 on the way home at about 25mph- we were licking along behind Alan, bl00dy hell, or something like that he said, I am gonna have to go at the front!
Great cheers all round as he made it and took a pull. stirring stuff indeed
I felt pretty tired as I'd pushed myslef on the way out, planning the rest at the cafe, but what the heck, grabbed a brownie and joined the training group for the ride home via box hill. A good pace was set by George, Paul, Stu & others, me I stayed in shelter to recover for box hill. The group broke up just prior to box hill thanks to the traffic so I ended up chasing the 'three' up box hill. Glad to get to the top, then we had a fast chase home. By Croydon I was dead, no fuel left in the legs, I managed to twiddle up crystal palace hill and stopped at cafe st germain? for a hot choco and a pastry before the final remaining 1 mile journey home 
A big bowl of noodles later at Wagamamas refuelled my legs.
, great to see so many more bling bikes this year compared to previous years. Everybody must be richer this year for some reason? Or more likely their wives have finally capitulated after years of being given numerous fantastical reasons why they just have to have a new bike. Oh, or was that just me