A very cold and icy Monday morning in York, so I waited until the afternoon and went for a 43 mile ride in the Howardian Hills to the north of York. Quite a lot of steep short hills which sure take your breathe away but overall a good traffic free ride.
Tuesday at the circuit for a 40 mile ride. Again a few fast laps in the middle started off by Brian and today we were joined by two more riders Lance Woodman, whom I found out that when living in Worcester spent a lot of time riding with my ex clubmate from the Uxbridge Wheelers Mick Mahon, and Mike Clark, a racer of some renown a few years ago. Bob looked resplendent in his Sports Tours International kit, he is off to Majorca soon to lead training groups.
A foggy Wednesday morning so it was a 10:00am start. Went on the ride I did prior to the Quest Reliability Trial, up the steep hills to Flackwell Heath and Handy Cross then down to Marlow, up Winters Hill and the normal way home, 52 miles in total and nearly 20 minutes faster than last time so my fitness must be improving.
Thursday was enjoyed with my other three grandchildren who live in Wargrave, we all had fun and we also bought two of them new bikes. I guess that's an important role of grandparents!
I also had some great news from St George PLC, a property developer who are engaged in a big development in West Drayton, a few hundred yards from where I was brought up. They are going to produce a "flyer" to publicise the ride and also provide public relations expertise, its a good feeling to learn that big businesses do find time to support worthy causes. So a big thank you to St George PLC for being my first commercial supporter.
A windy and dull Friday morning but no rain, the riding at the circuit was not well organised as all the riders seemed to want to ride at different speeds. Brian was suffering from a trapped nerve and found taking wheel from the two ladies from Beyond, Gill and Francis, just to his liking! John O'Sullivan sure impressed me, he was out on his Trek Time Trial Bike and he really flew round a few laps. If only I could be that quick and be able to justify buying such a wonderful machine. I rode quite a few fastish laps and by the time I arrived home had clocked up another 50 miles.
Sunday saw me riding in the Willesden CC 100k Reliability Trial. I started off in the medium group but they sure set a fast pace and I was dropped on the climb out of Chorleywood after about 10 miles. I managed to get in a small group after a few lonely miles but was dropped again on the climb to Bledlow Ridge, I can get up the climbs OK but it has to be at my pace, otherwise my heart rate goes well into the red. I then had a few additional miles off course, I missed a turning and I am afraid my speed suffered too. With about 20 miles to go I got into another group and we stayed together and made good progress to the finish. The last 10 miles of the ride were my quickest, (my cycling computer is set to record my time every 10 miles), which pleased me a lot as I did the bulk of the pacing for the group. By the time I had riden home another 79 miles were added to my bank.
Nearing the summit of Bledlow Ridge
Weekly Totals:- Miles:- 264.8 Time:- 16 hrs 02 mins 53 secs
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