What's this? A post hopefully devoid of pointless, angels on the head
of a pin type bickering? A post telling how it is just to ride a bike
for the enjoyment? Surely not.....
Now read on.
I picked up the Cheating Czech at eight (ish) on Saturday morning and
flung his bike in the back of the car. We rattled down to Ashington,
arriving about 10 minutes before the off, although it seemed some
riders were already leaving.
The forecast was wet, followed by sunny bits. I think the wetness had
put off quite a few, judging by the number of unclaimed brevets at the
start. We picked up ours, slurped a cup of coffee and shot off to try
and find the back of the pack.
The roads were too wet to allow my favourite audax navigation
technique - following tyre tracks of others, so we had to resort to
the route sheet. After a bit the rain stopped. I'm sure we saw the
sun around Billigshurst. Very exciting.
By now we were in the back of the bunch, passing and repassing people.
The usual smattering of p*nct*res, suffered by others, not us, and the
usual call of "OK?" replied with a "yes thanks". Then at Kirdford we
spotted a brace of bikes in a gateway. "OK?" "No have you got a
Stronglight crank tool?" We screeched to a halt. The unfortunate
cyclist's venerable bike had developed a loose crank. I delved into my
bag to produce a trusty crank tool and spanner and we were all soon on
our way.
The route then headed north towards Plaistow. Being nice Sussex
village with big houses, I think the difference betwen that and the
Lunnon one is that they don't drop their aitches. Onward, and
unfortunately, upward as we ascended Blackdown, which wiki tells me is
280m high. It was at this stage I discovered that my Skog (tm)
encrusted front mech wouldn't select the granny ring, which made
things rather more strenuous than is strictly necessary. Arriving at
the top we found El Supremo. Hurrah! Coffee! Buns! Stollen! More
Stollen!
I attempted to tinker the front mech into my way of doing things and
it seemed OK. Off we went, down into Haslemere then back up the other
side of Blackdown and then down towards Lickfold, Lodsworth, nearly
over cooking it on a bend and getting _too_ close to the wrong side of
the roadand a Big Wall. We were now right back in my manor, the lanes
being very familiar from the various tandem club rides I've done. The
next check was a carpark, with squash and more cakes, plus a water
refill.
We were going well. I have this problem trying to achieve targets on
Audaxes - 100km in 5 hours is an easy sum, as is 200km in 10, but
pushing for the target all the time can be a Bad Thing. And so we
found ourselves not too far adrift from 100km in 5 hours. Then my
computer had a hissy fit, relieving me from watching average speeds
too closely.
The route sheet then said, "granny ring needed for 80m" as we
approached Bignor. Mine was still misbehaving, but 1km from the 16%
hill I coaxed it in and left it there. The hill brought a bunch back
together, including a possible Richard Phipps clone, and the pace
picked up as we went past Pulborough Brooks then hooning along the
A283 before we regained some quiter lanes.
Back into West Chiltington, then retraced our tracks to the start.
Five hours ten ish. The Cheating Czech, being Without Mudguards was
filthy. I made him get changed before we could get more coffee and
cakes.
An excellent day. Big thanks to Worthing Excelsior, Mick Irons and
all his little helpers.
Gmap route thing here, if I've done it right.
<http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=701301>
Tim