About 20 riders battled into a big Westerly* wind,
Round 2.
Shaun packed and turned back for home at top of Spooky hill, saving himself a longer ride home into that fierce wind.
Ivan the TT engine rode from the front to take Chairman Stuart's Checkerboard, I did a spell, then John made a move on the next hill and opened a gap, which Ivan then took us across for a little wind-up before the rest stop, where we all had a good natter for some minutes.
Malc stealthily broke away over Galley Hill and kept us in the distance all the way to Bridge café. We chased hard as we could but didn't quite catch him in time. Malc confessed to some blue-rinse drafting, but he was so far ahead at the good spot for joining the flow that we never saw him "taking pace" at all.
Simon of Phoenix Cycles went down hard on the corner of Cafe on the Beach, striking a pedal on the footer of a temporary fence support - watch out for these lying in the path by the tunnel. Simon picked himself up and continued, hope it was nothing worse than some bruised ribs!
About six of us took turns plugging into the wind, dragging the bunch thru' Bexhill, by the next climb the front group was down to eight, where Shaun & John opened a gap.
From back of bunch where I'd had a short rest I could see gap was up to 50 yards or so, with hindsight I should have wound it up a bit more gently and tried to take all six of us across but as it happened I dug in afraid of losing touch and bridged quicker than expected, but unfortunately nobody came with me. Sat in until the level crossing and then did share of spells to the end. John slid back climbing Spooky hill, but manned up and got back on . Shaun declared he was taking it easy for the home stretch so John & I punched for the roundabout.
Round 2.
Shaun packed and turned back for home at top of Spooky hill, saving himself a longer ride home into that fierce wind.
Ivan the TT engine rode from the front to take Chairman Stuart's Checkerboard, I did a spell, then John made a move on the next hill and opened a gap, which Ivan then took us across for a little wind-up before the rest stop, where we all had a good natter for some minutes.
Malc stealthily broke away over Galley Hill and kept us in the distance all the way to Bridge café. We chased hard as we could but didn't quite catch him in time. Malc confessed to some blue-rinse drafting, but he was so far ahead at the good spot for joining the flow that we never saw him "taking pace" at all.
*A westerly wind means that the atmosphere is moving faster than the Earth spins. wiki-answers
VIEW FROM THE BACK - 30th NOVEMBER
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Chris’s account detailing how the big beasts fight for dominancy and I am equally impressed by their speed but there are also other battles going on at the back. Watching most of you overtake Steve and me on the Bexhill Road rise I did not expect to see much of the bunch again but did almost literally run into the back of you under the bridge where the pile up occurred. After remounting I tried to hang onto Steve’s wheel going up Galley Hill which is what I usually do but a few weeks in Fuerteventura laying by the pool had taken its toll.
Luckily Jay was with me and although he’d also not ridden for a while was able to drag me along until I found a bit of pace. With an unknown guy appearing from behind we set out to catch Steve but the mystery rider suddenly shot off and it took us a while to get him back. He took off again and again we caught and then dropped him for a while and were then motoring well enough to get within a few meters of Steve’s back wheel near the Star but I faded going up Spooky Hill and Steve escaped by the skin of his teeth and well done to him as it’s not easy riding on your own.
About a mile from the end the disgusting gel (free with a magazine) taken just before coming out took its revenge and while throwing up I drifted across the road into the far curb and was lucky not to end up in the ditch. I had by then lost any chance of hanging on and could only watch the other two disappear leaving Jay to finally reel Steve in.
A brief stop and then being a bit slow off the mark was off the back for the entire return journey although I kept a few flashing rear lights in view. Along the Cooden Road Jay decided to chase and almost caught the back enders although they had a good couple of minutes on him. Home and back according to my Gamin was 25.72 miles at an average speed of 15mph but I managed to push that up to 17.33 last night.
Tim
Wow - thanks for sharing your story Tim, sounds like the battles at the back are more interesting. Now that's what I call a really hard rider, doesn't even stop to throw up! I just feel lucky for another week we are spared the fastest little beast of all PT, I expect he'll show up soon and make all the big beasts eat his dust.
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