Great to be back
At 8am the plan was to join the training group bro's; however by the time I got to Elephant and Castle - twenty mins ride time from from Highbury - it was clear I needed a plan B. Hardish efforts in cold weather and ex asmatics like myself don't tend to go too well together. By the time I cruised into CS an hour later my mind was made up.
Ian. M gave me a heads up on my arrival;
so with such exposure i couldn't sneak on to the back of any group unnoticed...I decided to come clean and tell the TG boys it couldn't join them.
Hal led out a group of approx fifteen of us in the 19's and away we went. We managed to stay organised and together despite lots of strong riders - Adam, Keith, Hal, Simon, two Neils, RobH, and various others. Just before Reigate we swept up Mr Tunnel
, white shorts n'all. With lots of people willing to take turns on the front the pace was good. I don't think anyone got dropped. In fact anyone lacking watts in the threshold dept could easily have sat on. At the dual carriage way we picked up a rather dejected looking Sylvain who'd obviously bid the TG group farewell.
The thru and off was very steady but certainly not taxing. However with such a large group confusion reigned on the last roundabout and some of us turned the wrong way
One big effort and the slowing of the main group mean't that we were all soon back on. Naturally the pace rose as the Charlwood sign approached; there were clearly too many bodies in the mix for a last minute flyer so it was perfect for a sprinter. When Adam switched into "extra watts please!" mode and transported himself 15 metres in front of everyone else there were no surprises. The remaining two podium spots i believe went to Sylv and Keith. A message to myself
- remember to sprint mate you're not Fabian Cancellara
Cheese on toast, lots of pleasantries, good banter at the cafe
then slightly warmer weather and assurances that they would take it steady and I decided to join the TG (George and Stu) boys on a trip to Surrey's own Alpe D'uez. The ride to Box Hill was brisk but again not overly taxing. Lesson's learnt from the Ajay's school of wheel sucking mean't that the best spot in a fast moving train is ideally not directly behind Stu or George. Indeed myself and Neil arranged things so that when I did take a turn I'd quickly find a place 4 or 5 places back in front of his wheel.
By the time we swung off the A25 near Dorking the race antics began. Nobody seemed to want to lead up to the beginning of the BH climb. Eventually we all lined up behind Hal and it was game on. George engaged big gears stomped on the pedals and quickly bought himself 30-40 metres. Stu and PaulH began to duke it out just behind the big fella and I stayed conservatively some metres back. Behind me Hal suffering with a cold and not quite in TOBM form signed off for an at-your-own-pace-ride and behind him Neil clearly didn't fancy a VO2 max workout at all.
So the six minute+ hilly time trial was in full swing. After a few minutes I still needed 30 metres if realistically I was to catch up with Stu and Paul. Too late Stu,
unimpressed with the Gradient Master's, shirking his turn's jumped away. I did a Jan Ulrich
(thats the move he used to do when he was absolutely on the limit and tried to climb out of the saddle. It usually lasted two revoultions before he sat down and accepted that the American bloke up ahead was just too strong)
Having recovered from my clumsy looking honking effort I settled down again. Then on the fairly long straight bit I made a serious bid to close the gap between myself and Paul. After a short while the 20 metre gap looked bridgable. Just after the final hairpin a last anaerobic effort and I'd got his wheel. I watched as he inevitably changed up a couple of gears to get away. I matched his gear changed and burnt my last match. 3rd spot overall and Yes I'd won the battle of the oldies.
The ride back was fast and fun and the whole club run was topped off nicely by the excellent ACC Dinner in the evening