CR 14032009

[Graham O]

Hey all,,

Good trip out today. Arrived at CSS, and joined in with Steve in a 20 'free for all'. IT was kinda fun, but I was defiitely on the recieving end of the punishment. Mr loony was giving it some for parts of the course...

Anyhow, I cut off early as I had to head home. Thanks to Steve for the cup of tea..

How did you all get then....

Ta,

Graham..

[MJ_1993]

wasnt too bad. cafe stops being the highlights (i'm a teenager, i'm allowed to be lazy), and having a nice ride home in paul (on the pearson)'s slipstream. thanks guys.

[Dombo]

Great ride today. I decided to join Sean in the 19s, figuring we could keep each other company once spat off the back in the draggy woods near Partridge Lane. Nothing doing however as we both stayed with the pack throughout enjoying a great T&O along the dual carriageway with some of the 20s. Average speed exactly 19mph but -aaagh!- dropped to 18.9 as I parked the bike at the cafe. Returned via Box Hill but lost the peloton long before Surrey's Alp, then back via Chipstead for some refreshing herring roes on toast and a pint of tea.
Amazing how much harder it is to generate an extra 1mph average.
Cyclefit session seems to have done some good; while I'm not sure how much more efficiently I was riding, I was certainly more comfortable as I drifted off the back towards BH and watched the peloton disappear into the distance.

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Dan_K"]I am planning on attending my first club run tomorrow.

This may sound stupid but what do I do when I get to CSS?

[Amy]

Okay - one, I am stunned: Mo actually made it out on a club run...

Two, Snoop, I'm with you on the timekeeping.... We need to work on the training group - they need to get there first (Keith, get'em organised!) and GO. I didn't do the club run today but I was at the start of the club run last week and as Marky Mark lead us out for our longer ride just on 9am, I believe I saw Monty arrive but didn't stay to confirm, and Alex P made a face at me just down the road.... I've told him he doesn't have to resign over it - as he goes with the slower groups anyway, he'll still have time for a pre-cr coffee...

[Dan_K]

Well, yesterday I bit the bullet and finally turned out for my first club run.

Followed Sean's advice and met a few of the guys (and girl!) for a coffee beforehand. Evidently, this got me in with the bad crowd before I started as we arrived at CSS slightly late.

Was a bit apprehensive but everybody was very welcoming and made a point of helping me settle.

Due to the lack of a 15 group, I went out with the 16's. The run itself out to the cafe wasn't too bad, got dropped slightly on the dips and then again nearer the cafe but I was still breathing by the time I made it to the cafe.

Coming back was a lot tougher. Previous to the club run, the longest i'd ridden on my road bike was 16 miles! I foolishly thought that because I did 35 miles on my mountain bike the other week, coming out with the club would be no problem!

Just want to say a special thank you to Marky Mark for babysitting me for the day and pacing me back to CSS. Your encouragement and patience really helped. I owe you a beer or two!

Even though it was a really tough day for me, I enjoyed it loads so I took the plunge and signed up. Looking forward to getting out again soon!

[thePinkDreamMachine]

utterly Gutted......

i've missed it all, i'm stuck in Newcastle looking for faults in SQL code and trying to fix it.... jealous aren’t you... (stop nodding you sick o’s that really do love coding… DK your one of them)

I bet most of you didn’t know i was that tecy..

keep the weekend post coming your living it for me..

See you all in a few weeks if i ever get to escape.. also can some one please check huw pays his subs.. as i feel the rent of the tanker you'd need to bay lift off my pink stuff would cost you more. also i'd be most pee'd off if this is just a good excuses to de pink the house while I’m out of town.

[Antloony]

I had a great day in the saddle, could be due to the weeks rest I've had off the bike.With a lack of enough people to make up a training group the decision was made to turn it into a 20's which had the desired effect of attracting more riders. Steve B very kindly announced I was leading the group out and with a smile we were away......and away I went towing every one along Paul H sytleeeee straight from the off, think we dropped one rider before the 1st set of traffic lights

Rest of the ride was great, we got a through and off going through the lanes to help fight the head wind but I got fed up of this and just got myself back on the front and towed everyone along behind me again. Up through the trees Serge (who was going well today) went for a blast off the front thinking he'd drop me due to the amount of work I'd done on the front just prior to the climb but oh no, he wasn't dropping me today so I stuck to his wheel like poo to a blanket until the top where I shot out from behind him and sprinted away but then eased off too let him back past. This split the group and Graham O and Steve B went for an early cuppa.

As we had waited to see if Steve was joining us we were caught by the 19's so we all grouped together and off we went for the T&O. It really didn't get going as the group was to big so we split with the remains of the 20's and Lockey going on ahead. This worked better and the speed soon ramped up....then out of no where this pink blob arrived in the shape of Sean who'd managed to get up to our group . Well done, keep up the good work fella.

Run up to the sprint was fairly uneventful, I found myself on the front and just waited till the last bend before putting the hammer down, I knew Lockey and Toby were just off to my right just behind me but they decieded to have a game of bumper bikes so this made the win even easier....though the car coming towards us blasting its horn didn't help them, why drivers need to do that when we're clearly on our side of the road is beyond me.

BH on the way back was a nice hard run. Serge and myself doing the lions share of the work again with Ben refusing point blankly to sit on the front at all. I enjoyed my climb up BH, second today so my climbings slowly getting better. Serge was just in another league though as he got to the top in sub 7 mins. A quick blast down the other side and on to a hard ride home once I'd split the group with help from Serge and I'd said goodbye to him at the 217.

Over all a great days cycling with a great bunch of guys in the 20's. It was just a case of strongest at the front, regroup over the tops of any hills and just go with the flow and enjoy it which we all did. Nice to seeToby out on his bike again too.

I hope I have the same form as I did today in the up and comong races I plan to do this season, if I do then I should start seeing some good results.

Cheers.

The Loon.

[Rob Q]

[quote="Snoop Doug"] So, how'd it go folks, the timing I mean? I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it went well, and by well I mean, timely. Mildy worried that Sean's point about pre-ride coffee meant otherwise

[Alan M]

Well that was my 3rd club run since returning. I was pleased to rejoin the 18s and made sure I left home a full 10 minutes earlier and even then it was just ready to set off!

I was in George's group and the pace was steady at the beginning. Nick confessed to some drinks the night before and we lost him at the 3 steps, but the group mainly kept together but had to be hauled back to a more moderate pace from time to time. We took some different turns and included one or two steep ramps and then rejoined the club run route at Newdigate but took the reverse direction passing the 2 17s groups going the other way. We skipped the thru-n-off and arrived at the cafe early after 22 miles and 19mph+

The return was quite brisk and I mostly sat in. Steve and Colin were out accelerating me when they had a mind and I briefly lost touch on the hill past the first church and then again at the top of the Drag.

It was great to be back on the Colnago and I felt OK throughout and after the ride. Will probably go with 18s again next week.

Thanks guys

[quote="thePinkDreamMachine"]i've missed it all, i'm stuck in Newcastle jealous aren’t you...

[quote="Rob Quinn"][quote="Snoop Doug"] So, how'd it go folks, the timing I mean? I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it went well, and by well I mean, timely. Mildy worried that Sean's point about pre-ride coffee meant otherwise

[quote="Andrew G"]Well seeing as you lot spent 2 pages talking about the thing the day before are you going to write a report on the actual ride?

[Dan_K]

[quote]I hope to bring some family members out next week who have never ridden bikes before on the road, so they might be needing your help hext week

Hope the little fall on the way down there hasn't put you off and the other silver fox newbie (sorry i'm crap for names). I'm sure a few more runs with the 15's will keep you on your toes and well done again on your first run. Brighton next week?

Marky Mark