Took a good 18 group and led all the way up to the motorway turn off, pushing a nice whole in the fairly strong headwind for the rest of the group to ride thru. Alan joined for a part but we both dived to the inside for a well earned rest once over the crest. I think everyone did their share and it was a very nice steady paced, very orderly club run, until Michelle decided to sprint off the front of the group
. Obviously us men didnt like that
, seeing a woman ride off in to the distance, so without deliberately chasing her, the paced picked up at the front and she was soon back where she should be
. Oh come on, I was only joking
.
Unfortunately this slightly split the group and we lost 1 or 2 off the back, sorry guys.
For the first time in a while I was feeling quite good
. With the temperature at 11-12 degrees my body was functioning better than previously weeks. So i was feeling ok, but then found myself alongside Mark (lockey) at the front, on the run in before the sprint. Being on my old heavy steel bike, it was not a good place to be. We looked at each other and laughed about how the hell did we end up here. "oh well" he said, "you'll have to go for a long one". As we got to the turn on to the road in to Charlwood, Alan graciously came to the front to lead out. I'd decided to go about 200m before the right hander to see if I cld catch the others by surprise and hope I had enough to last to the line. Didnt think it would work though and expected Adam to come sailing past way before the line, whistleing and riding one handed
. I went for it anyway, full bore, power felt good. I looked to see what was happening behind, oh dear someone right on my wheel. The right hander at full speed and in the wet on rubbish training tyres was a bit scary, and with a car coming the other way at exactly the same time made it even more so
. I just kept going for as long as I could and I nearly made it to the line. Mark was the one on my wheel the whole time and he just managed to creep past at the death. Good effort Mark
. Adam made some excuse about not being well and didnt bother contesting it. Excuses excuses
. I saw my highest hr figure of 190 due to that very long sprint, 1 beat higher than I'd seen for 2years. In the cafe, Mark and I took at least 15 minutes to recover from the effort, I felt decidedly rough
Not been back via Box Hill for quite a while so after seeing if Alan would join me, we set off at the front cursing those early hills that kill your cooled down legs. Decided to spin for a while but in the end it was too much and I had to give in to the calling from the big ring
. The faster boys broke off the front but our second group kept them in sight and we re-grouped before BH. By now my legs were pretty sore from carting around a couple of hundred weight of steel. I was not looking forward to the climb. I got into a rythm and it wasn't too bad. Then, amazingly, Sylv came past in 53 12
. I really didn't think he could make it all the way, but standing up all the way to the top, with his legs just about going over the top of the stroke, he made it
. Dont know why he tried it but chapeau.
I had a bit of a bonk on the way back, totally running out of energy in my legs, and by the time I got to Regalinos for a quick coffee, I was shot. A warm muffin did the trick and I just about got home.
Very enjoyable club run
Merry Christmas everyone
Steve