Part Deux - BBR Saturday 13th Feb "Lycra and Lace"

11:58 - Pevensey Bakery

"And what can I get for you?", said the nice young lady to Peter B

"I'd like a small breakfast, with a poached egg and a cup of coffee, please"

"O.K, certainly, she turned her attentions to Patrick.  And what can I get for you?"

"I'd like a small breakfast, with a poached egg and a cup of coffee, please"

I studied them both carefully, yes, no doubt about it they have become chums. The way they finished each others sentences, the mirroring of body language.  You could say they have become a couple of 'Fun Chums'; meeting up mid-week for extra training sessions, generally having fun together.

 Earlier in the ride Peter had said to me:

"Patrick has got a new jacket, he said it's really waterproof and I'm going to get one too"

"Yes, it looks really nice", I replied

"I've got the same rear light as Patrick, and then added with a grin, didn't pay as much as he did though"

I assume they had decided to have the same rear lights so that that can spot each other from behind in a peloton - must give them some comfort that.

There's nothing wrong with having a 'Fun Chum' I like to think that some of the readers of this blog would consider themselves to be my 'Fun Chum'.

We had arrived in The Bakery like drowned rats; dripping and shivering, but with self-satisfied looks on our faces - we had been challenged and we had prevailed.

09:55 - Di Paulos

I pulled up outside, horrified to see a stack of bikes!.  We had some friends for dinner on Friday night and I had had my share of 'Yellow Tail' red wine.  On the way over I had coped with the evil easterly wind and torrential rain satisfied in the  certain knowledge that nobody would be mad enough to venture out in this, and so I had imagined a cappuccino with a 'double shot', an exchange of pleasantries with Luigi and Giovanni and back home for a egg and bacon sarnie with our house guests - how wrong was I!.  To make matters worse as I entered everybody got up to leave; it was later than I thought.  I immediately panicked at the the prospect of setting off in this deluge without a least a cup of coffee inside me.  I noticed that Tom hadn't quite finished drinking his.

"Give me some of that coffee Tom", I demanded.

"What share a man's coffee? - you can't do that!"

"Oh, just give me some, please"

In order to ensure I didn't get too much he took a big gulp and burned the back of his throat. 'Serves him right, for being greedy', I thought.  He then passed me his cup and I took a couple of big swigs.  I had no wish to replicate last weeks' debacle, when I got left behind, so I ensured I left with the first riders.  The rain was absolutely awful and totally unforgiving, but we set off in quite high spirits.  Having not done a Pre BBR I felt quite strong.

Tom's expression says it all- 'lovely' weather!

The main challenge on this route is Boreham Hill,  not a real 'killer' I know, but sort of draining.  I crept up behind Steve C and  made a childish remark:

"Are you in your grannies ring?"

Steve being that much more mature than me didn't give more than a polite chuckle as a response.

We stuck together quite well, re-grouping as required.  Patrick was a bit off form today and so I found myself riding a long stretch with him and having a bit of a 'catch-up'.  I reminded him of the days when he had difficulty keeping up with me, but I think he's forgotten that.  He's putting in the mileage these days and reaping the rewards - as is his 'Fun Chum' - I might add.  Talking of whom; Peter B is still reluctant to accept my comment last week about being better looking than him and said:

 "It's now in the hands off my lawyers, although most of them are still tied up in sorting out the ramifications of 'Sausagegate" (newer members would obviously be unaware of 'Sausagegate', but I am sure someone would be happy to enlighten them.)

I tried to explain to Peter that the truth always hurts.

Is peter B telling us the weather is going to get even worse?

Still the rain came down with not a seconds respite.  We all got colder, wetter and hungrier as the ride progressed and I could only think of getting to the bakery for some 'lardage'.  For the greater part of the ride I had been hovering behind the leading group, of mostly Duncan, Peter B and Patrick, and sort of in the middle, but  Wartling Hill represented the 'home straight' as far as I was concerned and I felt strong and proud to be leading the group as we reached the roundabout at Pevensey.  Peter B made a sensible suggestion that perhaps we should give the Westham loop a 'swerve' and go straight to the Bakery.

Leaving the Bakery we decided to go the shortest way back via Coast Road and Normans Bay; I must admit to feeling a bit smug that I was almost home, but waiting at the lights at the end of the one way system my smugness turned to pity when I looked at Steve C and Patrick , in particular, they looked bloody cold!  And this feeling must having been seriously compounded for Patrick who suffered a slow puncture on the way home, with his frozen fingers there was no way he was going to be able to fix it.  Fortunately Peter had his car parked on bexhill seafront and there was just enough air left inside the tube to make it before total deflation.Steve had been riding behind Patrick all the way home and was in the 'I know I can make it' zone and now ploughed on alone back to Hastings old town, with a short detour to the Glyne Gap toilets where use was made of the hand drier to revive some degree of circulation into fingers that were turning increasingly numb.

.This ride has changed my opinion of Steve; I no longer see him as a 'blouse wearer', but the 'hard man' of the club.  In fact he said he was going to burn all his blouses except his favourite floral 'number' as he said he loves to relax in it at weekends and that the lacy material feels very sensual against his skin.

Peter (Lord) Buss