Club Run April 12th

[Keith]

Just checked RiderHQ which says the "The Organiser has closed entries for this race" because it's full.

Also, tt wasn't a Training Group sprint.

[quote="Antloony"]I If you guys want to go at such a pace then join the training group, this kind of attacking riding in anything but the training group doesn't bode well in making people want to move up from the 18's. I know Im not the quickest rider but how am I and anyone else meant to improve with tatics like this being employed. I find the 18's too comfortable now and I need to push harder to improve but if there's such a big divide between the speed of the groups when in theory its only meant to be 1 mph average then I and many others will get disheartned and wont improve beyond the 18's which I know for a fact is what people want to do. .

[Antloony]

Dont get me wrong Toks, at no point were we in any danger, it just made a few others and myself in the group laugh at his barking which didn't seem to do much but annoy a couple of other people, just found it quite funny at times, irritating at others. If your going to lead and instruct a T&O then at least have half a notion of how it works, people were getting to the front then not easing off allowing the next rider to come round, 3 times I had to tell people, esp one chap who I came along side and he started racing me, not allowing me to get in front smoothly, made me chuckle. It just worked so much better on the DC as we were far more organised as a group having talked through the motions of how it worked before setting off. If something like this is going to work then people need to know the mechanics of it, simple really.

As for telling people whats what etc in the 19's if I'd have had the breath I would have done.

[Dombo]

Joined the 18s for an enjoyable run to the cafe, my training schedule having slipped over the last month so felt the 19s were beyond my reach.
At this rate I'll be advance booking my spot in the broom wagon for the Etape, "pick me up just outside Pau, mon brave".
Commendably bossed about by AJ we slowed the pace down to 15-16mph under orders after Reigate, presumably so he could keep up, and then a great thru'n'off ensued right up to the long drag near Rusper where I blew. His work done, the group nice and tight, shoulder to shoulder, our leader fell backin the woods. Checking he was ok I pootled at my own pace, vainly trying to catch the peloton until they stopped at a dual carriageway to regroup. Helped by a tailwind we hammered along at 25-26 mph until I again was dropped and made my lonely way to the cafe where, revived by a bacon sarny I missed both departures to Box Hill and Redhill and hammered back on me tod. Poxy Shimano computer not working at this point so had to guess average speed at about, ooh, 20-30 mph give or take. Caught the group again at the big church muster point outside Redhill and tried in vain to catch various people - Tim in particular giving me an Armstrongesque Look on the Merstham drag before accelerating away, his CTC badge on his rear mudguard mocking me as it disapeared up the road.
All told a good CR after a month or so's absence. Training's gone to pot but with 3 months to go I possibly have time to be ok for l'etape.

[Sylv]

Grahame sorry to hear about that incident. Maybe you should (pull the thread). You never know with that kind of people, once he might find out about ACC.

[Alan M]

The 18 b group had a relatively uneventful ride. sorry to hear about your situation Graham. We did frequent rotations and the longer thru-n-off culminating in me trying to get away towards the end, but as usual to no avail and Colin, who I know to be a great sprinter, took line in first place. The longer ride meant we were at the end of the line for tea and absolutely no cakes! I left late on my own so did a 19.9mph average up to the church where I waited for Bridget Geraldine and we enjoyed the cruise homeward.

Off to Mallorca with Bridget tomorrw tomorrow so will miss you all next weekend when we are on a Monty-enforced circumnavigation of the entire Island over Saturday and Sunday with an overnight stop in a monastery!

hasta pronto mis amigos

Alan

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Alan M"]The longer ride meant we were at the end of the line for tea and absolutely no cakes! I left late on my own so did a 19.9mph average up to the church where I waited for Bridget Geraldine and we enjoyed the cruise homeward.

Alan

[mlocke]

Why is this thread in the marketplace section of the forum???

This was my first CR on my new bike which I built all by myself on Thursday

Quite rightly I think I was a little apprehensive about giving it too much just in-case there was a loose nut or till I am a little more accustomed as to how it rides.

Got to CSS and my seat had come loose which meant I missed the 19's leaving (Not a word Mr Munnery)

I almost missed the 18's too but pushed my bike forwards and finished tightening 'in the box' as Monty likes to shout.

The 18's was quite a big group despite being split into 2 at CSS and we were soon merrily rolling along at a reasonable pace.

Into the lanes the wind was evident so it was decided that quick turns at the front was the order of the day but this soon progressed into a T&O which for me kind of ruined the ride a bit due to the pace being too slow (about 16 miles an hour for a long time). I normally like to feel like I am getting a good workout so try to push myself by staying on the front for as long as I feel I can but I couldn't as we were trying to T&O the whole way. Also I think T&Oing defeats one of the principle reasons why I come out and ride in a group on a Saturday and that is the social element which was none existent due to the constant rotations.

When we got to the carriageway we all sat and talked through the next few miles and what was expected which made the real T&O down the carriageway much faster and smoother compared to what had been before it.

Indeed this raised our average speed on my computer to just over 19 where it had been about 17.5 before.

Coming into the sprint the T&O stopped quite late and I was in second position having just caught an early attempt at the sprint. Then out of nowhere Ant flew past at what must have been twice my speed which wasn't that slow so he must have been shifting. Getting out of the saddle a bit precariously and started to catch him slowly then my bike started to sound like a motorbike so I had to sit up and Steve came past me to continue the chase.

My uncut brake cable had got trapped in my wheel and was acting like a 'spokey dokey' (remember those - I had one from cornflakes).

Ant got the sprint closely followed by Steve so my 4 week winning streak is up

At the cafe decided Box hill was the order of the day and another quick blast down through the lanes with a large amount of work being done by Dan, Keith and Neil.

Just about managed to hang on to the bottom of the hill where the first drag really took it out of me again. I can never seem to get the legs going till round the first bend and don’t feel comfortable ever till the second. By this point everyone had gone and left me but I could see that I was holding the gap to Ben who was dangling in front of me about 150m ahead. Then he must have found a firework in his A$$ or something as he went off like a rocket.

I sat down the whole way and plodded up in 8m 30 secs according to the GPS on my computer. One whole minute slower than last week which I thought was slow then.


At the top a quick rest then we were off as the rain 'was a comin'. Onto the three humps and I lost it. I was absolutely freezing having decided not to put a rain jersey on at the Box. This meant my pace slowed to snail like and only picked up when Dan & Jonathon took pity on me as they went past and offered me a tow.

Overall a pretty good ride again and I can’t remember my average for the whole ride but was above 18 so quite pleased.

See you all on Saturday

Locky

[Grahame]

[quote="mlocke"]Why is this thread in the marketplace section of the forum???

[mlocke]

Ok - Fair enough

Any updates??

[Grahame]

I've just had a call from the guy at Surrey Police who is investigating the incident.

He's coming to see me on Wednesday to take a formal statement.

I'd better learn my lines.

[Tamar]

Jolly good. Hope it goes well.