Club run reports - 23rd June

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

The prospect of warm, sunny weather, and of trialing Alex's new 100k Audax route, brought an unaccustomed seven riders to the start in Ware. It was good to see three riders - Alex, Barry and Augirdas - returning after long absences.

Alex's route was interesting with many good views across Hertfordshire. As is often the case with Audax it included some serious tests, with several double-digit gradients to negotiate. Entrants in September will either be delighted to have been presented with a challenge or gnashing their teeth that they hadn't equipped themselves with lower gears. Alex may want to provide himself with a tin hat in case the latter group prevails.

We opted for a 38 mile first leg to a stop at the Dream Bean Café in Offley which left us with a short, fast, 25 mile stretch to the finish. Well, mostly fast except for the climbs up Horn Hill, Heath Hill and Rabley Heath Road ...

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

Today was going to be hot, so, me being me, the caring one, I brought the ride forwards (or is it backwards?), deciding on an 8:30 start. No grumbling among the ranks as Ian was in “Nam”. My plan was to meet Leigh en route, but the night before, he advised he wasn’t well. 

I decided to set off at 7 as I didn’t want arrive late, in case I had a puncture. There was no wind this morning and I had raced up (yes, raced, lol) up to Rye Park and I was there at a quarter to eight. So, I had a nice Lucozade from the shop and contemplated life and the universe. I was in Ware at 8:05 and five minutes later Claire turned up. If you know Claire, she normally turns up with two minutes to spare. I was gobsmacked. The usual suspects came rolling in and then Ryan Page rocked up - we haven’t seen him for ages. He then said poor old Katy had “crooked” her neck in a bad way; I’m sure everyone in the 6’s wishes Katy a speedy recovery and hope to see you on a ride soon. 

We left at half eight, this being checked by TIM (at the third stroke, sponsored by Accurist, the time will be 8:30am beep beep beep). The sun was shining and it was absolutely roasting. If you know Carolyn, she loves an experiment, her being an ex-military physicist/ biochemist/ teacher, or something like that. I’d told her the night before I was removing the cover on my Garmin to see if the temperatures match, as there were normally three or four degrees difference in our Garmins. At the start we were two degrees out. 

Right, back to the ride, instead of going down Lower Road, I decided we’d go up Hollycross Road and then up the Roydon Road hill. OK, enough about riding and where we went. I was having a nice chat with Ryan and he’s actually a good runner, but now hates it as he’s picking injuries all the time, and is therefore going to hone his skills on the bike. You never know Ryan, you may turn out to be a good cyclist! If you know Ryan, he’s already a good cyclist. 

The hills became more and more undulating and I completely forgot we were going to ride up (again) the ladies UCI hill (Banks Lane) - it’s my nemesis and I hate it! Kevin McPheat was struggling as we “hit the hill”, feeling out of sorts. Kev being Kev, carried on and got up the hill. 

By that time the heat was really ramping up and it was at least two million degrees, no exaggeration! Pete Bloomfield was on the ride and I swear he thought he was on category 2! He was smashing the hills and pulling out in front of us by miles, yes miles. However, he did come back and find us, lol. We rocketed to the cafe and got there at 10:15. Twenty two miles traversed (big word, eh) in such a short time was amazing for a cat 6 with all the hills. 

Food ordered and came to us in record time, but, we took in the sun and watched the planes take off (images attached) and before we knew it, we had been sitting around for an hour. I rallied the troops and off we went. 

Carolyn and I checked our Garmins and they were only out by 0.2 degrees. I assumed it must be my cover. More to follow on this in the next few weeks as we continue with the experiment. We will extrapolate the data accordingly and then pass it on to the data department, who will then calculate the interference variant of the coefficient! 

I knew there were some horrible hills on the way back, but everyone managed them with aplomb (do you all like that word?). 

The sun by now was beating down and water consumed like it was going out of fashion. Another hill loomed and traversed with great pace. Absolutely amazing that we didn’t have a single mechanical or puncture. 

The ride nearly over, I said my goodbyes to everyone at St. James Church. Everyone rode off into the sunset. 

Thank you all for coming and what a lovely ride. 

Obviously, written on the throne. Over and out, love and kisses.