Trouble and Strife

[Marek]

Well today I decided to go out after yesterdays down pour and half the club making me jealous with the fact they had such good rides in the wind and rain.

Went over to the Feathers to meet up with the Sunday group. Were quite a few people out, including Steve Bayliss, John Ibbo, Steve C, Simon R and some others that I did not recognise. Anyway we shifted ourselves pretty quickly down to Dorking to meet up with another bunch of riders who I have not seen before, but the picture was that most of these guys were pretty damn quick.

Not to be put off by this group I managed to stay with them pretty comfortably for about 60km. Problem being that I had to get back home for around 1ish, (last week was out a bit too long so had to gain brownie points). So I split from the group about 10miles West of Horsham and made my way over to Horsham with the thought in mind that I would go to EG and get my Wife to come and meet me at my parents house.

Now when you are sheltering behind all these top dollar riders you don't really realise how strong the wind is, and it was still reasonably strong today. When I split from the group I tried to keep my average speed up and was doing ok until I got just past Handcross when I started to feel pretty weak. Not to be put off I tried to keep my pace up and got to EG with sore legs but felt happy had got there for 1pm.

Phoned the misses and she didn't fancy coming to EG. Ended up having a cuppa with me mum and dad and then having to cycle back to EG. I had already got 110km on my clock when I left EG, but as I was refreshed and the wind was behind me I thought I would be ok.

Managed to keep up around 40kmph on the A22 and then turned to go up Tilburstow Hill (pot hole region). As I worked my way up the gentle slope before the hill really kicks in, BONK. It just hit me from nowhere, I had felt pretty good, but now the lactic acid in my legs was absolutely killing me. I don't think I have ridden with that much pain before. After crawling up Tilburstow Hill had the downhill section. Everytime I stopped pedalling to coast my legs would scream at me.

I kept on drinking the whole ride and actually by the time I got to Merstham at snails pace I felt a bit better.

Got home at about 3pm with 140km on the clock, same as I did last Saturday, although less climbing today than last week. Looking back I should probably have stayed with the group and sat behind them the whole ride as I would probably have gotten home earlier than I did.

Anyone else had that Lactate pain in their legs before?

[steve c]

hi marek
if you had stayed with us you would have enjoyed a cafe stop in petworth
and then suffered like a dog as i did.
don't know what was in the tea but things got a bit interesting after leaving
petworth for the return.
and it was all i could do to keep up with attacks going off every five minutes and the pace was akin to any rr ive been in last year.
all credit to them for letting me get back on a couple of times and at about
ockley i admitted the game was up and then made a stupid mistake and instead of going to charlwood i went to leigh then did a u turn back to norwood hill hookwood horley then i was home and dry (bonus).
most of the return journey we had a tail wind and it should of made it easier for me to hang on but its all relative as thats why the pace was so
mad that and the company i was keeping.
hard hard day but on the up side an enjoyable one i wouldn't a missed
and i must have made some gain as i too definitly felt some pain
and the last half hour everytime i got out the saddle my thighs felt like they were going to cramp and i had to remain seated which was a new experience in itself.
glad to hear you made it home and i hope your dinner wasn't in the bin or the dog...
can't wait to do it all again soon.
and after yesterdays rain today was bliss really.
cheers
stevie c

[Dan B]

Lactate burn (my story):

I ran a cross-country race (yes, on foot) when I was in 10th grade - everybody left me behind at the beginning, but by 200m to go I had passed the last group of six runners and was in the clear at the beginning of the sprint!

Unfortunately that was where the bear jumped on my back.

I managed to keep my legs turning but my quads were so completely deep fried I practically had to lift my legs with my hands. I ended up third behind two of my teammates and on the bus home I thought, That will make a great story someday.

Well, here it is, someday ...

Once were warriors,

D