CTC Hilly 50 - Saturday 16th Feb

[Grahame]

[quote="marco"]Our members have grown considerably

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]Our members have grown considerably

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]And the Oscar for channelling Bennny Hill into a forum post goes to Marco

[Jon H]

[quote="marco"]Our members have grown considerably

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

I seem to recall it was all about being miserable and hands in places unmentionable

[Robert]

I`ll bring your tool down on Saturday when we all meet at CSS. Is that okay. Thanks for the loan the pinnie is now purring along.

[quote="orv"][quote="EdO"]and she thought we could could warmup in the car with the heating on instead

[Hal]

I might join you if I don't do do much carbo loading in the pub tonight.

H

[Dominic]

Another no show I am afraid. Been up since 3.30am with a sore throat and blocked nose which I need to get rid of for a week on Sunday (Redhill Sporting TT). Hope you all have a safe ride, it look like it mights be a bit nippy out there.

[Snoop Doug]

Oooops No virus here - just slept in a bit...

Oh well, turbo for me, looks pretty damn cold outside @ the mo hope we get some good write ups and no slide downs

Snoop


PS - later......

Just done a 3x20 to assuage some of my guilt @ not turning out this morning. Boy - I ache!!! Hope it's going well

[carl f]

another no show i'm afraid,hope you had a good ride
Carl

[George]

Lovely bright day today although it was absoloutly freezing cold in the early morning, boy I was glad of the balaclava and gore tex jacket.

Real fast pace ride up to Rykas with Toks, Marek and Paul H, and we decided to have a decent cup of coffee at the top firstm, anything from Rykas is RANK

Set off about 10 past 10 with the fast boys group, up Ranmore I pulled away with 2 strong Paragons, then Marek caught us on the blast down into Dorking, was feeling really good and up leith it was just me and one guy left then on the way down my bottle fell out so I had to go back and pick it up, Marek and the 2 Paragons whizzed past then, I tried hard on my own for the next 30 min to catch them back up but they were offski.

I picked up loads of Agreeable on the route but it was just Hal who came with, we then caught a bunch of 4 quick riders from 316 racing team so I rode the rest of the route with them.

My gears made a loud clonk and one of the boys cheekily said "thats sh1t shimano for ya!" So I then dropped them all on the hill I felt like saying " thats sh1t legs for ya"

I let them catch me up on the downhills and flats then pulled away on each climb which was great fun, then up Box one of them thought he had the better of me, so I showed him the Box Hill King in action and big ringed up to the finish

Finished in 4th with 1.51 just after Doddy and the 2 Paragon boys, found out they had dispatched Marek up one of the climbs then Marek took a wrong turn to get some more hill training in

[Marek]

Left the house at 7.30am this morning to get up to CSS in time for the early morning ride to Rykas. When I left EG it was freezing, I had decided not to go too overdressed as I tend to overheat on these hilly rides. Whata mistaka to makea, I was freezing nearly all day.

Anyway after having a nice tow down to CSS behind a big Excavator which was going at a nice steady 50kmph, kept me warm, I was greeted by a group of at least 20 or 30 ACCers ready to make the trip over to Rykas.

Nice run over to Rykas, Paul H could not help but up the pace when the road went upwards and before long it was just Paul H, Toks, George and myself left. We upped the pace and hammered it to the top of Box Hill where we then had a very good cuppa.

After a chilly descent down to Rykas with Paul Tunnell and George we hung around waiting for the action to start. George was intent on winding up the Norwood guys by asking when the race started. Well, it started pretty much as soon as the road went upwards. Onto Ranmore and George and two other Norwood riders pulled a small gap on Paul H and myself, we were a bit blocked by a number of weaving riders. Then we managed to get onto the back of George at the top. On the descent I decided to go to the front and wind it up a bit, we were bombing it down and I think this is where we lost Paul. Paul left his bottle (metaphorically) at home, whereas on the next descent George lost his (literally), I nearly ran it over. This was a shame as George was going really well. Through the lanes after Coldharbour and it is really dodgy roads. Went past Mr Tunnell and was now riding with the two speedy Norwood guys.

Onto the main road and I attacked the Norwood guys up the hill, I think they were a bit surprised but I was just messing about as I knew what was to come around the corner. We got onto the steeper section and they gradually moved away from me. I could see them not too far ahead but then the road got a bit bendy and I could not see them. I cycled all the way to the top of this really long hill and could not see anyone. Waited for about 5 minutes but no one came up. I had missed Friday Street. AHHHHH. All the way back down and then saw some of the slower riders. I had now not only lost my Paragon tow, but also missed most of the ACC posse. The chase was on, but there was no way I was going to catch the faster guys on my own.

Managed to keep my speed at a reasonable level for the rest of the ride and felt really good on Whitedown where I overtook loads of people who looked like they were struggling.

Onto Box Hill and it was all over, had 110km on the clock so had a couple of pieces of cake and another coffee. Then decided to ride back to Merstham with Simon H and one other and then I had a steady ride back to East Grinstead on my tod. 150km on the clock when I walked into the house at 2.30pm.

Good fun day out, shame did not manage to ride with the speedy group, but I know the way now, I think, so next year should be better.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Andrew G]

Marek always takes a wrong turn on this ride . Maybe he's been shown the way by Ian and his penchant for turning off Shere and heading towards Peaslake.

Good ride over with a big band of agreeables. I believe we had the biggest club turnout, only acf having more registered. ACF being a web forum which is used by a lot of audax riders who register under acf as I don't think a lot of them belong to clubs.

Set off in the 10 o'clock start and was aiming for a good steady training ride. I think it was just Mark McL, Paul D, and I initially but they soon pulled ahead on Ranmore and stayed ahead. The fast boys came past too on the next couple of hills. I was soon joined by Mark L who I rode the rest of the ride with. He's going really well and the improvement on the hills in the last few months is amazing, he just spins up them now. Needless to say I don't, hills not my forte.

Going down the worst descent on the ride just after the Coldharbour climb we saw George coming back up and guessed he'd dropped something, although being George maybe he wanted to do the hills twice?

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, but a good solid pace all the way round. Mark and I had a bit of a blast along the top of Ranmore and back to the bottom of Box Hill. On Box he pulled away a bit but I pulled him back right at the top to just nip past at the line with a "gotcha" as I went by .

Nice, if slightly suspicious sausage roll at the top with a lovely warming cupppa - Blimey it was cold today.

A good fairly quick ride off the top back to Coulsdon with Jon Avery going really well and looking strong again.

Now for the woops moment of the ride. Heading back in to Croydon there was four of us in a line, Jon on the front with Richard (sorry don't know surname - friend of Andy Spriggs) in second, Mark McL and I in third and fourth. Just going past the Fitness Centre the cars slowed, I think Richard had his head down a bit at this point. Mark shouted stop or slow, Jon slowed and nipped left around the car, but Richard couldn't stop in time and hit the back of the car on the left corner. he went down over the bars and his bike caught Jon bringing him down. Mark and I pulled in and started checking how they were. We were joined by a couple of very helpful women from the picture framers next door who also phoned for an ambulance.

I don't know if this is Richard's first crash, but think it might be as he seemed to have a little bit of shock and started getting a bit cold. The ladies had a space blanket and a cardigan which they put on him and helped nurse him and check he was okay. Jon was up but sore and holding his shoulder, he also had a crack in his helmet and said he'd blacked out for a second or two so must have hit his head as he landed.

Ambulance and Police in attendance and we were creating quite a spectacle . Boys in the back of the ambulance and a few statements for the Police and all was sorted at the scene. I checked the lady driving the car was okay as it made a very load bang and must have given her a bit of a shock. She was very calm and at ease with the situation, just happy no one was hurt badly.

The picture framers were king enough to hold the two bikes while we made our way home and Jon and Richard went to hospital. There is the one flaw in Ambulance design, they fill the thing up with so much medical equipment there's no room for bikes, fortunately my "new" car has a capacious boot so as I had to collect a bike from GBs I put there's in too and brought them home. If anyone wants a Carbon bike I could do you a good deal if you get in quick, don't appear to have any damage .

I've heard from Jon and the hospital has confirmed the paramedics diagnosis. A broken wrist for Richard, and a broken collar bone for Jon . Painful but luckily not too bad, breaks will heal and hopefully they'll both be back soon and can have a good second half to the season.

Edit: Now also heard from Richard as well who's also home now, sounds in reasonable spirits considering.

[George]

Sorry to hear about your crash guy's looks like a trip to DR LASER is in order for the both of ya, go up together and he'll do you both at the same time, book in today don't delay
[url]http://www.physioclinic.net/equip.html[/url]