Club Ride - 16th Feb 2008

[Sylv]

Glad i went out today, great weather to keep my bike nice and white and good ride with the nineteens. Toby made it first to Charlwood.

When it's cold like this i enjoy riding without a windbreaker but a second jersey underneath, like the feel of the cold air passing through the fabric and find it invigorating. But i'm no way as hard as mr short sleeves today! did he really have no gloves i had two pairs on.

Matt you were right, the noise was coming from my pedals. Looking forward to a silent ride next time.

just had a look at the calendar and my next time with the training group will probably not be until Easter!

[Antloony]

Well what a beautiful day it was, sun shining, dry roads, a little nippy but fine once going, all great for taking it easy so what do I do, go and throw myself in amongst the 19's for the first time. I really struggled with my breathing for the first 5 miles and thought 'I cant do this' but I dug deep and stuck with it and soon got into comfort mode and started to go quite well, doing a reasonable amount of work on the front, all good for the training. Had a great through and off (is that what you call it?) up the dual carriage way, my first time at this and it worked really well, nice and smooth. Felt a bit rough towards the cafe though, thoughts of wednesday started crossing my mind but a nice cuppa, a big slice of cake and some great company and a laugh (nice to meet you to Seanieh) and I was set for the journey home which ended up a pretty good paced ride. Was well looked after in the group, cheers guys, same again next week.

For all those people who just stick to the same group week in week out try just moving up a group and see how you get on, its a really good feeling to know you've managed a faster pace and given yourself a better workout. I know we all dont want to be racing along like the loons in the training group but just that little bit of extra effort can make a difference to your confidence and ability. Sorry if I sound like Im preaching but it worked for me, felt so great when I got home Mrs Loony thought I'd lost the plot and ordered me to go sit in the shed till I'd calmed down.

[Steve B]

After last weeks first club run back post op (yeah ok, I know, knee blah blah knee blah blah knee, but I'll tell you anyway), I had a few days where I really thought my knee may not even get back to how it was before, let alone be better . I was suffering with a terrible achy pain in the outside part of the joint until wednesday when I went to see Alan, who was back from his trip to Florida. As I took a step out of his house, my knee gave way for a fraction of a second and went click with a horrible sharp pain right in the middle of the joint. All of a sudden the pain had gone and the whole knee felt quite good . The rest of the week was good too and I was looking forward to today's club run, until last night when a few clicks and cracks reappeared when planting the foot while walking .Not good.

Went with the 16s again this week, not wanting to push my luck too much, which was the correct decision. I may try the 17s next week - fingers crossed.
We had a good size group, but fair to say it was not the best drilled group ever to grace the surrey country side. Riders hanging off the front, riders hanging off the rear, huge gaps being left in the middle of the group, people talking too much and not looking what was happening, no communication, people not rotating, and that was before we had even left Coulsdon
I'm not totally in favour of the very strict regimented group where everyone has to stay perfectly in line for the whole ride, but some are and that's fine. I think that in all groups you are going to get different abilities and I think that on all the drags and climbs everyone should be able to push themselves as hard as they want to, and then regroup on the flat sections. I think this works well, but today, regrouping wasn't a word that anyone seemed to understand .
Anyway, no one got left behind - I think! A group turned off at Partridge, leaving about 8 or so to carry on to the cafe via the Lambs green turn off. Sean seemed to sneekily make his way off the front of the group as we approached the plane spotters area, gaining about 80m before anyone really noticed he had gone. I looked up and realising no one was chasing him, I decided to give it a go myself - seated mind you, no out of the saddle stuff yet. I was really pleased as my powertap read 800w as I caught Sean shortly before the sign - sorry Sean .

Tea, cake and a T-shirt, and it was back out in to the cold. Where did everyone go . I'd missed the boat again So me, Matt D and Sean set off with a few others on a 'chase' to see if we could catch any of the riders in front. Matt and me did most of the front running, with Sean taking over my spot a couple of times. Matt looked pretty strong and was probably riding well within himself, whereas me and sean were pretty much sh*gged by the time we got to the church, where the main group were waiting.
So on to the Merstham drag. Sylv, Matt and Phil (riding really really strong) pulled out a gap. My knee was feeling ok but my lack of fitness was telling. I made a conscious decision to go with them for as long as possible and then drop back, but two thirds up I was still there but well into the red. Can I hold them to the top. My heart rate was now 186 (my max is 188) so it would only be a matter of seconds before the inevitable. I held on by the skinniest skin of my teeth and managed to drop the HR a bit once over the top . This effort took its toll halfway down the run in to Coulsdon as I watched the others riding off into the distance

Good ride and pleased with my knee (I'll know tomorrow if it's really making progress)

Roll on next week

Steve

[Will]

[quote="Del"]We had the world's hardest cyclist in our group today, wearing a short sleeved Pearl Izumi top with no gloves, which made me feel a little over dressed with my 2 pairs of gloves!

[Andrew G]

You should always wear at least track mitts. If you're unlucky enough to come off you'll rip all the skin off your palm when you put your hand down. Very painful and doesn't heal well or quickly.

[Ivor]

Agreed, can't imagine what state my hands would have been in if I hadn't been wearing gloves when I last went over my handlebars (pothole in the dark) and put my hands out to make sure my face didn't hit the rapidly approaching tarmac before sliding some distance along on hands, elbows and knees (winter waterproofs on)! Afterwards, very badly bruised and shaken and shredded jacket, grit embedded in gloves but amazed didn't have a scratch on me!

[Ray Pepe]

The club run today was a bit of a challenge, no problems with speed, just stopping. After bruising my thumb from sliding of on the club run last week its been a little painful pulling on the back brake (patches of rough road surface don't help either). Fortunately the 19's group kept it smooth and little back brake breaking was required.

The hilly 50 would have been suicide!

[Alan M]

18s was a tidy ride and ended up around 19mph which I just about managed with a few disconnected periods. A long lead out by A N Other left me gasping to stay in contact with the front group and the pack became fragmented; by the sprint but 3 or 4 contested it with a win from Phil who claims his Brompton cycle training regime as the secret of his new found success. He is certainly going well this year but I am on his case!

[Dombo]

[quote="Antloony"]
For all those people who just stick to the same group week in week out try just moving up a group and see how you get on, its a really good feeling to know you've managed a faster pace and given yourself a better workout.

[Andrew G]

Nice one Dombo, sounds like a good ride.