Club Run 15th December 2007

[Andrew G]

A good spin out to the cafe without the driving rain today. Near the end Mike and I went for long ones knowing we can't contest sprints on our fixed, but it does string the line out nicely and keeps it safe for others without any four abreast rot round blind corners.

Came back via Box Hill with a small group. Stu and George came past almost immediately and most jumped on their wheel. I did wonder if they realised what they were doing, apparently not and were shown just how strong those two are at the first hill after 5 minutes .

I eased back, but only a touch, to stay with Neil who didn't know the way over to Box Hill but was going well on his new fixed wheel bike. The others, post shedding, must have been just out of sight as when we dropped down to the main road just before Box they were in "puncture bus stop" and Hal was just starting to remove his tyre.

We started off together for the hill and regrouped at the top for the final run back.

Another good CR, and an enjoyable Box Hill run with Hal, Dombo, Neil, and a chap on a big ol' Raleigh with rack. I even managed to take advantage of the rack for madison style slingshots when he was putting in a dig along Chipstead Valley Road.

[Stu Merckx Man]

we had a new member in the training group today. dan- the man in black

he often went back, and easily kept up with any training group people going back via boxhill so i was not that suprised when he stayed comfortably with us the whole way, and took strong turns on the front. hopfully he will become a regular.

also in attendence were sylv, hal, keiren, george and myself.

we kept it steady today, not going ballistic but the pace was still high. as we got to rusper the attacks started, first with george, but we through and offed to get him back (right guys ).

the next attack was sylv, me and dan went with him and then dropped him...well he waited for the others ...me and dan started working together through rusper and down the other side, keeping a sizeable gap between ourselves and the rest. eventually we held them off to the end.

good through and off and the sprint was won by sylv, after some outrageous wheel sucking

went back via box hill, we passed andrews lot, and a few minutes later just me george and dan remained . we kept the pace high all the way to box hill, where i managed to take the victory from george by attacking just before the wooded bit on the last straight.

good ride back, although i was running low on energy so i didnt do as much work.

got home nackered but happy.

stu

[Keith]

With Stu's tales from the Training Group I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms

Hope to be back in a week or two. I don't intend doing this Hillingdon malarky every week.

[sid_day]

Good spin today.
Thanks to Steve for steadying the pace. We kept to a good 19mph average to the cafe in a fairly tight group of 6.
Good to see Brian Nolan again.
Blistering pace back from the cafe left me gasping at Merstham!

Still, good workout.

[Sylv]

I thought the training group which looked like just Stu and George had gone and it was the 19mph group that had just left as I was talking to Simon, when I thought I might as well go with them (well that's what Alex's announcement sounded like).

I hammered to get back to them before the bypass roundabout, and who do i see in the group, George Stu Dan Kieran an Hal. Aaaah nooooo that was the training group!! ! I had some Xmas party side effects to get rid off which meant I'd had no intention to join them this week.

As Stu said it was ok in the end, nice tailwind which helped. Dan put some big digs when coming to the front and I could hear him breathe real hard. I had the bad idea of gulping on a banana just before the dual carriageway and five minutes later it seemed to have made its way back up my throat and menacing to self-eject, not helped by the heavy rhythm. Kieran got a cramp and rejoined us later at some red lights.

Some got stuck behind traffic and whilst soft-pedalling waiting for them I saw it was just Dan coming through, so we did a bit of work but it was hard into the wind so i knid of gave up and eased off a bit. Into the forest and George came through for a big turn, the rest of the group on his wheel. George flicked the elbow but I was not recovered yet and couldn't oblige, then Hal attacked with Stu on his wheel, by the time I bridged the gap Stu was coming to the front so I took his wheel, and cheekily followed it most of the way, making sure it was just the two of us remaining, came through not too close to the sign though to give him a (small) chance but made it there first.

I couldn't eat or drink anything for a while but then forced myself to a bun and tea with loaaads of sugar, just as well as the way back into the wind was real fast, with Kevin and Adam helping maintaining the pace. Kevin and I (again) cheekily watched Adam suffer up Merstham from behind his wheel . No idea what riding time was as I once again had inadvertently stopped the stupid Shimano flightdeck for most of the ride.

[Steve B]

Yes, a good ride today, I really enjoyed it

I was ready to take, or join, an 18 group this morning, but as I pulled in to CSS Monty asked if I would take a 19 group, as there were already 2 18's vc's.

Me, Adam, Rob H, Simon, Paul D and Brian N set off in a nice little compact group, with all intentions of sticking to the said speed. Simon asked if we were going to stick to the steady pace and I assured him we would

That was until Paul had a puncture under the M25 bridge, where we were overtaken by all the remaining groups while fixing it.

So with half a dozen groups ahead of us we gave chase to try and regain our original position as 2nd group off. A tall order indeed . We didn't really push that hard but the average speed crept to 20. All but one group was in the bag and we were going along nicely with Rob H and Adam doing most of the work up front. I kept checking to see if everyone was happy to keep pushing on, as this was supposed to be a 19 group. A quick chat to Simon showed he was struggling a tad (heavy weight session the previous day), so I pulled the reigns in a touch, riding the rest of the way to the cafe at the 'correct' pace. Don't know what Rob was on today, he didn't like the thought of slowing so just rode of in to the distance. It was the last we saw of him. What happened Rob?

On the road through the trees before the left turn on to the sprint road, my head warmer slipped down and was partially covering my eyes. Not good I thought, especially when the speed picks up, so sitting up i had to take off one glove and glasses, and try to poke it back up behind my helmet - not easy but job done .

Paul did the honourable job of picking up the pace for the sprint. Adam was just in front of me. He left it late to make a push for the line, only sprinting at about the left kink in the road. I came alongside and we were neck and neck for about half way, but I was no match for Adam today as he pulled out a bike's length. I was quite pleased with that actually

Big queue in the cafe with most groups taking the Partridge turn and getting there before us. Tea and cake always good though.

Now this week I didn't leave the cafe last, so no TT'ing back to the group. Or so I thought . Small group 40m or so ahead but no problem, I'll catch them easily. B*ll*cks, Sylv, Kevin, Graham and others were all in that group, cracking out a really quick pace and I found myself in no mans land trying to get on. I wasn't making much ground so looked behind to see what was happening there. As it happened, for the last few minutes I had been towing a group of about 10, all strung out in a line, all trying to get back on the front group. Finally I managed to back on, I was knackered

The pace just kept on going with most doing a share on the front. It was really great to see Alex mixing it in the fast group, and he looked strong too until his hand came out of his glove and he had to stop.

I couldn't keep with the pace up through the golf course, my legs and lungs just weren't having it. But with a puff on the old ventolin inhaler at the church, I was ready for the Merstham drag, which turned out to be another fast paced all out affair with Sylv and Adam sharing the work up the drag and me chipping in with one effort on the way down the other side. Nice work guys

Really pleased with the ride today and even more pleased that my lungs haven't been suffering the rest of today Not sure why, but hey I'm not complaining

Steve

[Hal]

Another good club run. I got pursuaded into training group by geroge smiling saying it will be fairly easy... Keiren and I decided if you go I go, so we went.

It was good, I was on the limit a number of times but held a wheel. Dan was riding really strong for his first training group and making we want my old bike back, it seems to go faster when he rides it!

A nice steady ride back over box hill except for the puncture, thanks for the assistance guys.

See ya next week

H

[Sylv]

Oops yes forgot to mention Graham's and Alex's good work on the ride back.

[kieran]

Almost two firsts this winter for me, turned up on time and went in the training group. Anyway on the way down to CSS I saw a blue jersy ahead of me going quite fast but decided to try and catch up with them, couldn't, started to think maybe I should up my 'training'. Then bumped into Hal who had also been trying to catch this blue jerseyed speedster. Got to CSS and saw a few blue tops, Sylv was wearing one and I guessed it was him. It was and he'd been drafting a car at 30mph so didn't feel too bad about not catching him.

As Hal said, we did a 'if you will I will' thing and joined the training group of Stu, George and Dan(?). I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for but if I never try I'll never find out. Sylv joined us shortly afterwards. I Iike stu's [quote]we kept it steady today

[John Czernobay]

Great "posts" guys, sounds like there is some real consistant riding going on in the groups which is just the way it should be in a Club of this size, well done and keep it up, it's important .

It was pretty much business as usual in the Super 15's, holding a great steady pace with lots of chat and changes at the front. Had some on the way back as we saw a few of you when we turned the corner by the Church , but you were lucky as the lights changed and you got away from us .

Have a great week everyone and don't forget your tickets for the ACC "do", it's going to be the best ever, don't miss out .

Best wishes.
JohnCz..

[Toks]

[quote="John Czernobay"]It was pretty much business as usual in the Super 15's, [size=200]holding a great steady pace[/size]...JohnCz..