What a difference a day makes! I didn't enjoy the Saturday club ride, even though it was one of my routes. People know why and I'm not going to mention it again.
With Big Steve under the weather, Neil Hickford stepped up and planned a fantastic route for Sunday. The day did not start well though. At 7am the world fell out of my bottom and I feared a bout of montezuma's revenge. After a nervous hour I declared myself fit to ride and decided to give it a go. I'm really glad I did because it's the best ride I've had this year.
A small group of us: Ken, Andy, Stuart, Frank, Mick, Rob, me and our leader Neil set off from C&DCycles with a plan to get Rob back to Broughton by 12 and me back to Rothwell by 12:30. On the way we lost Stuart at Grafton because too long off the bike was taking its toll. Both Rob and I
made our targets.
The average doesn't really tell the tale of what was a hard ride. If you look at the segments though, 40 trophies is quite a haul. We were all pretty shattered by the time we'd completed the series of hills from Broughton to Loddington. At that point I headed back over two more lumps to home and the remainders headed to Kettering. For the first couple of hours I felt really strong but my legs started to go after the Holcot causeway. Lots of work to do before dawn to dusk!
Lads at Loddington
Our glorious leader
Bizarrely just outside Broughton I started thinking: "I bet I get cramp later..." I then got cramp almost instantly. I've never had thought induced cramp before. It's just as unpleasant as normal cramp. However several hours and a good dog walk later I haven't had a twinge.
So what's been going on since I last blogged? Well it's been a lot of turbo. The road to nowhere has been in the company of the Global Cycling Network. Very good training videos and if you need a bit longer for warming up or down their top ten series is a real treat of cycling humour. I do like the idea of slowing everyone else down by filling their tubes with water. Just one of their very good top ten ways to beat a faster rider. Also planning for the 200 mile Dawn to Dusk ride is well under way. For more details see the dedicated facebook page.
Whilst we plan our epic biggest ride ever I sit in marvel of the two men trying to break the miles cycled in a year world record which has stood, frankly for a very long time! Kurt Searvogel in Florida and Steven Abraham from near Milton Keynes. These two super humans are well worth a follow on Strava. Steven gets 1000+ kudos every ride and bizarrely Kurt struggles to get more than 100. The two men have a very different approach. Steven is a steady Eddie averaging speeds many of us could strain with a bit of effort. Kurt smashes out 200 miles in 10 hours obliterating all the segment KOMs on his ride. However the tortoise is leading the hare right now. It appears they could both take the record, I hope it's Steven who holds it for England at the end of the year. Let's face it, our weather makes his challenge much harder!
Also on the ride today it was nice to see Matthew who I think was pedalling to a coaching event at Pitsford. Alan also caught up with us on a run, he wasn't looking too clever. Bad for you that running nonsense! Then on my way back from Dad taxi duties, I got a wave of thanks from Mr Duke on the road from Rothwell to Rushton and soon after Mrs Duke appeared. Wendy I hope Steve did the right thing and waited for you later. I'm in awe of the marathon runners and even more in awe of Matthew's ironman training. I might even try a bit of my running myself.
Happy pedalling
