Lovely club run !
Meet up with old cycling buddy Mark Mc on way down...and 300 rpm Nigel ! Always great to catch up with a few riders on the ride down before you enter the cycling stadium - I mean coulsdon south...with its 1000s of addiscombe members lined up. Was pretty cold, but I was convinced it would get warmer, so I took a gamble and stashed a kit with my DS. Bad move ? Looked at the assembled crowd and was the only man or woman in shorts
Still, I was convinced it would eventually get warmer. Marco warned me about Easter knee...when all the fluid in your knee jams up through spring leaving you hobbling by Easter...
Went out with 18 mph group. Mark Ingram was da man ! He was tapping out a steady high speed at the front pretty much all the way. On a FIXED. Man of steel award. His secret - a special porridge diet with extra honey and nuts and a gin and tonic when he gets home. I concentrated on keeping alive the much misunderstood art of wheel sucking. Turned for the cafe with Brian R - also riding a fixie, whilst the others did an extended ride. Brian's cut out the beer and biscuits and is looking a trim 72 kg ! So keep an eye out for that man. I remember a stonking ride back from Brighton he managed to pull out of the bag from nowhere last year ! He's planning a couple of rides at CP...so more power to the ACC race machine.
Caught up with Kevin R in the Charlwood garden...with one of Renata's finest coffees and egg on toast. Kevin was testing out body insulation qualities of his new bling Assos jacket, from GB. He was looking very cool as he sipped his tea
We set about important business of planning some training rides during our periods of upcoming paternity leave
Good to see Phil Kemp out - now relocated to sunny Reigate - he's another of ACC's finest wines (52) ...looking younger the Malcolm Eliot (47) and soon to be seen out in a new pair of ACC cycling shorts.
Was sweet talked into riding back via Box Hill and was well impressed with some power riding from Mallorcan team mate Tim Coales
I can see the ride back via BH is going to get bigger and bigger in the coming weeks.
Discussed with Kieran whether its better to shower first then eat when you get back from a ride or vice versa. We decided its better to do both together...and we are currently designing a food pipe that can pump a liquid lunch into the shower. Any ideas about waterproof foods that can be eaten in the shower welcome
Kieran is a mean rider...and he's just getting stronger.
Discussed the ups and downs of life as a rouleur with Chris Kay - winner of the ACC B Hillingdon road race 2006. He's planning to join me for some 4th cat action !
Just before we got to Box Hill saw cycling supremo George beep past in his big red team van. Was hoping to get a lift but he'd gone before I had the chance to jump in the back !
Crawled up Box Hill...That was a good reality check. Ouch.
But the best bit was I got some sun on my legs at the top as we basked in summery weather
Whilst everyone looked like they were having a sauna
Mark M helped out with some energy gel as we rode back to Croydon. The hunger knock was narrowly avoided
I put in a little fiendish dig which resulted in Tim getting caught by traffic, and cycling karma meant I got dropped too
Was reprimanded by the Slim Controller on several counts with my VC role hanging in the balance...but as Toks and Marek know...
ACC is club you can never leave...so I was sacked and re-instated at the Coulsdon cafe courts after buying some coffees to bring the jury around !
Buddha John was at the cafe (J4F) and his fame has spread so wide that he had a CRunner come all the way from Brighton to join his ride ! Fab
Got home and did a recovery spin with push chair in the park. Progress is being made !