Club run 7/11

[Keith]

[quote="Hal"]Hopefully getting further than the cafe in Coulsdon. Very exciting.
H

[Jon C C on a Bianchi]

This once a month CR is becoming a bit of a habit for us. Which is nice - keeps things fresh. Good fun. Lovely day. New chain.

Brought my mate Matt along for his first agreeable experience. loved it. He turned up suitably dressed for a mid summer ride in the south of France - shorts, no gloves and a t shirt. I couldn't help myself: 'are you sure you're going to be warm enough?' I cringed as I realised I was sounding like his mother but it had to be said. Anyway, I managed to find a spare pair of slacks, some gloves and my Iles Baleares shirt - and insisted he put them on. 'I'll be fine, honest'.

Rode with Phil and Alex's gentle 17 which turned out to be very gentle 15 a bit all over the place but a nice atmosphere. Matt punctured in Reigate (conti ultras tyres -cheap but very prone to puncture) - Alex helped out and changed his inner tube -as I rode to catch the front group and ask them to wait. i came back to watch Alex carry out the repair (it's the ACC way). and the group did wait - nice one!!

Jeff won the sprint - only Sam could be bothered to go with him (and even then he rode in such a low gear he looked like he was warming down) the rest of us were chatting.

Having rode strongly I was amazed that we got dropped IN the cafe. I went for a pee and came out and found the cafe empty! We were abandoned!! So Sam, Matt and I rode back together. Caught up with Rachel? before the common riding on her own. She'd dropped off from John C's group (i guess). I was relieved to see that Alan? was waiting for her a bit further on. so she was being looked after so we didn't wait (let's be clear -we would have). Sam sprinted off and won the KoM points and then we were home. 68 kms. Glorious.

[Hal]

Glorious

A really steady, organised 17's on the way down via Lambs Green verg agreeable indeed. Except for the puncture although even that was very straight forward and thanks to the Itialian in the blue kit who helped fix it.

Decided to chance a steady ride back over Box hill, I actually was chatting away so happilly in the cafe that almost everyone else had left so had a quiet ride up to the top of the climb where there were various ball busters and agreeables hanging around.

Steady back to Coulsdon for a cuppa which I needed as i was starting to get a bit tired!

Home with 60 miles on the clock my longest ride since July!

A few mild twinges from the achilies heel on Sunday so I think I will continue to go steady for a couple more months yet.

Hal