Club Run 5th April 2008

[jon avery]

It was my first club run since my injury and I was happy to see the sun peaking out from behind the clouds.
It was good to see the same old faces plus a few new ones at CCS. I decided to play safe and follow my doctors orders not to push it too much by riding in Monty and Grahame's 17's group. Everything was going well until my rear gear selector cable broke. Luckly Glaze (new face) had a puncture but not lucky for him. This stop enabled Grahame to at least put my bike into a gear that would help me complete the ride.
After a welcome cup of tea and chocolate cake, myself, Grahame, Sylv and Antloony set off for the ride back, which for me was uneventful. On returning to Croydon Grahame very kindly purchased and repaired by broken cable for which I am very grateful. Overall, it was a good work out for me and the collarbone held up well. See you next week folks!

[Grahame]

All part of the service, John.

I've also added a rear gear cable to my saddlepack tool/spares kit.

As John said, I went out with a small and select 17s group today, and (unlike last week) managed to hold on, and even contribute my fair share at the front. My calf was starting to tighten up (I think the knee pain is caused by a calf problem, so I'm concentrating on sorting that out) so I took the left along Partridge Lane and got there before the queue . A reasonably paced ride back saw me making the pre-arranged redezvous with John and Sylv at GB's to buy a couple of cables and then set up my mechanics shop outside. 5 minutes later (a leasurely cable swap and natter) John was ready to go - did you get the guys in the shop to cut it to length, John? Then off to Sylv's where he swapped bikes to get some work done at Bromley Bike and a slightly more rapid ride home.

Calf is now feeling a little tight and sore, but nowhere near as bad as it has done after rides for the last month or so, so I hope it's properly on the mend but I'll leave the bike alone until Tuesday or Wednesday to make sure it gets some more rest.

[Ian A4size]

It was a mechanical nightmare out there today.

I had barely gone a few hundred yards when the wipperman link on my chain snapped. It is not the first time this has happened. The last time was going up the col de la croix de feck in the alps.
Has anyone else had a problem with them. On one of my other bikes i have a kmc link and that has never had a prob.

Anyhoo i waved everyone on saying "just go - i'll hook in with another group.
Mike I turned round and said , "do you have a chain tool"- yeah 'course i do.

I opened up the backpack to find moths flying and no tool- not even the spare link i always carry!

Plenty of wisecracks and helpful suggestions came from the other groups, that really helped

So after a few mins, well ok 10 of 'em orft we went. It was a mad dash- pride was at stake- we could not possibly be last to the cafe.

We both treated it as 2up TT, making sure each other was well and truly hurt by whoever was on the front.

We caught the J4F group as they stopped for a puncture, just before the 3 humps in redhill.
Mike made me hurt even more as we went up the hills.
We caught Tims group on the road to Leigh, and then sat in for a mile to recover a bit, then hammer down and we were away again.
When riding a 2up there is nowhere to hide- its always your turn next.

We caught Montys group just before Newdigate as they dealt with their groups mechs.
Well we cant be far off of our original group now for sure, this seemed to lift us a bit, then up in the clearing a vision - one of our group, at the side of the road- gottem!

Alas it was just Ajay- he had had a mechanical as well- two punctured legs .

The 3 of us set off for charlwood via lambs green, sharing the work, i did not contest the sprint- Mike was there - i did not want to break my chain repair

Arrived at the cafe at the perfect time, just before our original group.

Cake and tea for Mike was in order- he saved my CR- and gave me a lesson in cadence as well.

Charlwood cakes have come on in leaps and bounds in the past few months- lets hope they get a decent coffee machine next- p'raps the club should fund it!
Super speedy ride back from the cafe, shadow, graham o and phil were dishing out the pain.
Alan and i just about hung on.
"Old" mercury mc gave me a lesson in cadence on the way home as well.
Good day out again.

Many thanks to mike for stopping to help me out.

[Steve B]

With 3 solid turbo sessions this week in my first 'real' week of decent training, today was due to be a recovery ride on the way out to the cafe, and a blast back to Coulsdon if I felt good. But with none of the other VC's taking the 19's group, I decided to do the honours and move up to take part in my first 19 group since mid December

With the tailwind pushing us along, the pace was quite high (21.3mph ave to the cafe), and with my legs being tired from the weeks training, there were points where I started to struggle, but not enough to think about dropping back to the next group.

Mark L was in the 19's for the first time and rode really well. Unfortunately he got a puncture just before the layby at the start of the thru&off, and so hooked up with the 18 group that joined us in the layby.
Onto the dual carriageway and we were straight into the wind, which made it a little tough, but everyone was nice and smooth, making it a good thru&off.

Onto the run in towards the cafe, thru-ing & off-ing stopped and single file took over. Graham, as strong as ever and never shy to take the front, did most of the lead work before the plane spotters area, where we caught Tim's 17's?. Neil? jumped around the group before the bend and I jumped too, right on his wheel. I wasn't sure if the others had got past, but didn't look back as I was concentrating on sticking to the wheel in front. As I was just about to sprint, Rob came flying past the pair of us, gaining a good 10m lead. I thought he may have made a winning move, but I stuck my head down and went for it with all I had, and caught him about 50m from the Charlwood sign. My legs were burning like hell .

Chocolate cake in the cafe was fantastic. And washed down with a nice cup of tea, how good does it get .

Outside the cafe, Ian was telling me how I made everyone suffer a few weeks ago, while heading the group home. That day was the only warm saturday we've had so far, and I felt really good. I was on the front and decided to go as hard as I could, thinking I would last only a couple of minutes and then slip back in to the group. But I managed to just keep going and going. Next thing I know, I've ridden away from the whole group, except Paul H and Stu (not bad company to be in). I assured Ian this would not happen again today, but once Alan had initiated the first blast at the front of the group, I couldn't help myself, and it all kicked off. Graham went to the front, then me, and we then preceded to take turns to hammer up the pace. I think Mark Mc and Phil took a turn too, but it's all a blur. I don't even know how many were in the group, but I did hear a few groans of pain from behind. Was that you Mr Munnery

By the time we got to the climb through the golf coarse my legs were shot, but were back again by the time we hit the Merstham drag. A group of four, I think? (me, Alan, Graham and Mark Mc) raced up and over the drag and down in to Coulsdon. A really enjoyable ride and great to see Alan back to his Diesel power best . Bridget's also coming on strongly, looking more and more confident each week. Could this be the first father and daughter team for the Jack and Jill later in the year

See you all next week

Steve

[Alan M]

Felt OK today after a couple of mid-week rides and an almost expired cold. Joined the 18s which set off quite quickly and maintained the pace, mostly due to Mark Mc and Graham. We were joined by Mark from the 19s due to a puncture and although it was a sedate ride down the dual carriageway we paced it towards the end and I managed to split the field to allow Mark to dominate the latter stages of the sprint. we had a 19.8 average.

I think Ian had the last chocolate cake and we had a very fast turn round and I set off late with Steve and Graham who pulled us back to the main group. 4 or 5 of us then split off from the front and mostly I just hung on to Grahame and Steve again losing contact at the church after the golf club. Interestingly Ajay had crossed to us a bit before, no doubt spurred on by a second happy family event - congratulations to you both.

Towards Merstham I managed to keep with the final selection of 4 with Steve giving it hell up the final part of the drag, but again I was mainly a passenger to Steve and Graham.

All in all a great morning and luckily without the expected foul weather.

[mark mclaughlin]

Had a good 18’s group with a few new faces, Graham and I lead out with a handy tailwind encouraging a brisk tempo to the 3 ridges, didn’t realise we had lost Ian till then? AJ had dropped in to join us and did some turns in the biggest gear possible before blowing!!

Time we got to the dual carriageway we had linked up with the 19’s so waited for Mark to join us before we set off. Had a few newbie’s on board so it was steady as you go, but good feedback from the rookies.

Alan did his big leadout charge to Charlwood and I carried on to gave Mark a nice lead out for the sprint!

Ride back looked as though we were going to have a steady one when Alan decided this was far too easy and set the burners on. Ian mentioned this "could be fun" as we all leapt on his wheel, I was beginning to question this as it was straight into the headwind but Steve and Graham seemed happy enough do all the work….had a good dig over the Church rise with the final Merstham drag looming we were down to four.

Over the top my we were flying with Diesel Alan upping the pace for the final run in, my legs starting to protest from the days efforts, let a slight gap go and they were gone….

Recovered ok but legs where dead on the home climbs.
Great ride as always and no rain.

[Graham O]

Hey chaps..

Top ride yesterday. I had a good go a couple of times and felk OK. I couldn't match steve though...

I'm up in Lancashire at my folks house next week, so will be out again the week after..Next time its the 19s for me....

Ta Ta,

Graham...

[Alan M]

[quote]Next time its the 19s for me....

[Marky Mark]

[quote="Ian MunneryA1size"]Charlwood cakes have come on in leaps and bounds in the past few months- lets hope they get a decent coffee machine next- p'raps the club should fund it!
quote]

I second that in motion

[jon avery]

The problem would be that with the ammount of people it would be difficult to keep the water hot in the machine? They would have to get the large ones like they have in Starbucks etc which i can't see them doing.

[mlocke]

Better morning this week…..no flat before the off, computer working and most of the joints relatively painless (by comparison to the last few weeks atleast)

Joined in with the 19’s this week for the first time this week and felt pretty comfortable most of the way. People didn’t seem too forthcoming to join the group at first but after a few shouts we had a group of around 10.

Off we went and the ride was reasonably uneventful apart from the numerous times when Neil decided to raise the pace a little which had my lungs burning a touch. These surges and the generally high pace meant that I had another quick run – I don’t remember my average but I think it might have been my highest at about 21mph.

This was despite getting a puncture toward the top of the hill near the carriageway and joining in with the 18’s who were coming up behind. Thanks to Nigel for the use of his brilliant pump which meant that I didn’t even bother with the track pump at the café.

The through and off was OK, not the smoothest there ever was but within the group there were a few people who were giving it a go for the first time so that’s to be expected.

After the carriageway and onto the sprinting plains Alan built a small, but large enough gap on the bunch with myself on his wheel which meant the rest of them were out of it, or so I thought. Sat on Alan’s wheel I could feel the pace dropping as he had been there for a while so I made the lunge with around 400 metres to go. I turned to see if he had managed to grab hold of my wheel and he hadn’t. However I did see Mark bearing down on me pretty quickly. With still a good few hundred metres to go I slowed slightly allowing Mark to catch up and he came past – a breather for a second behind him allowed me a short respite from the wind and then I went again with about 25 – 50 metres to go and won by a length.

After the café I decided to do the Box hill route. Monty was calling a sensible paced group but everyone seemed to set off en-mass and stay together the whole way despite the pace being high and held there by Dan & Neil.

At the bottom of the Box my legs fell off. I hate the first part leading up to the first hairpin as I can seem to settle into a pace until round the first bend and it steepens up a bit.

By this point everyone had gone past me to the point were it was worthless trying to catch up – I did maintain the gap and close it slightly but not enough and I was last at the top with a time of 7mins 30secs according to my computer (but I may have to check this with the GPS data)

After a short wait at the top of just a couple of minutes we were joined by Stu who had a puncture at the café and almost caught us all up despite being on his own.

He then went on to raise the pace on the ride back and the speed rarely fell below 28 mph over the bumps. The elastic finally broke for me through the Kingswood private estate and despite Ben and myself working hard we couldn’t bridge the gap. This didn’t matter too much to me as I turned off left to go over the hill via Banstead and home.

On the way back bumped into Steve as I came out of Greggs. Bit of a natter and then of and away again with about (don’t know exactly as can’t remember) about 60 miles at 18.5mph avg for the whole ride which includes the first 5 miles of almost total climbing at 14mph which always brings the overall down slightly.