Good to see everybody out today! Sorry I didn't hang around, have got a few things to get on with.
Also, I most certainly didn't stop for a wee up the road and stand on a slippery stone and end up lying in a deep muddy puddle at all. No, definitely not.
It was windy in Bedfordshire today. Nasty energy sapping wind.
An expectedly good crowd signed on at BRCC charming clubhouse in Cardington. Various blueshirts greeted one another with smiles and hedged their chances of keeping hold of the fast group.
It did take a while of shivering around until we were all ready to go and then the famous Blue Train pulled out. Soon we had become intermingled with a large group containing many riders with mugaurds AND mudflaps. Yup, Luton CC were on the scene. The pace was getting hard. I realised I was at the back. A clear signal, just incase I needed it. I was pretty sure Martin was in the mix though.
After about the third time I lost contact I realised it was going to be hard to reunite. Indeed I found myself sharing this battle with Matt S. Instinctively we worked as a two up to close the gap. Speaking was useless as, a) I couldnt and b) any conversation would inevitably lead to the conclusion our quest was hopeless. I didnt want to stop trying and by the way Matt was never slow to take his turn nor was he. Every now and again we saw the the Martini Group; just to emphasise that, whilst just out of reach, it ws impossible to bridge to; you see we saw them as they crested the hill we were just starting the same climb.
Its funny, we didnt speak but I felt I knew Matt quite well by this point. Like Id known him for a very long time.
We were joined by Richard for a bit, but he sensibily recognised our doomed mission, sat up and let us get on with it.
A bit later we picked up Vince; a victim of pace from the fast boys. And so the two up became a three up. We rode the rest together and helped each other through the dips we all suffered at various points.
As we approached the club house my brother Matt commented that wed averaged over 18; not bad for the start or February. Not bad with that wind either!
In the clubhouse we met up with the king of Belgium Classics Maarten Lawless. He had kept in with the fast group! He commented hed fallen off three times but got back on each time. Naively I looked for the grazes on his legs.
Ive a lot to learn about this road riding business.
Well done one and all. Hard riding, but hope all enjoyed it as much as I. Many thanks, especially to Matt and Vince.
had a mechanical 2 miles in, watched you all disappear into the distance as i fiddled with my back break - note to self, do not change ANYTHING the night before a ride!! once i had released the break it felt like i was on my summer bike! Passed some poor chap who"d come a cropper, looked bit of mess but ok. stopped to lend a hand but 3 guys already helping!
then..... the remaining 59 miles into that sodding wind solo!!! holy crap thats the hardest ride I've done for a while... not quite 18's for me... 14's.. i'll take that on my todd!
The Blue Train lasted very few miles before it split apart as riders chased down the CC Luton.
I ended up riding in a big group along with MartinL, MC, JMac and AndyR.
Felt OK sat in the wheels and even spent 30 seconds on the front!
Lots of echelon riding in the tough wind with rider strung all across the roads.
Punctured with 10ish to go but was starting to find the pace tough.
Ended up riding to last few miles with AndrewR - good to catch up.
Soup from a packet never tasted so good at the HQ.
See everyone again in 2weeks time for the 71miler.
JP
That was super hard! Certainly not as fit as I was hoping I was!! The elastic snapped pretty early on for me, but I buried my head and crept up to Daniel. This was the motivation and incentive I needed to keep pushing on as we took it in turns to face the horrendous wind - I thank you Daniel - some dark but strangely warming memories of our battle remain!! VInce was an extremely welcome addition, some more legs at last! I think we must have done at least 35 miles as a three.
Cardington was a welcome sight, Seeing Maarten looking fresh as a daisy in the clubhouse was slightly disturbing! I thought 18's was good today, but 20? C'mon, seriously! I think the road race scene is calling you Mr L!!
Great stuff, well done to anyone and everyone who took part.
Yes, super ride by Maartin. First CCA rider back in the group of road racers. As Matt says, time to get racing Maartin! Great rides by Matt and Daniel too. Good to see Jess, Dan, Stef and Andrew all out as well
I struggled with Wills early pace injections and while dangling off the back at Barford got the red light over the river and ..boom they were gone! Then got a bit lost but had a nice ride round a shortenend version with Dave and a lass from Luton.
Unlucky Skelders and the punctures, Jeremy, Taff, maybe more? and riding 20 miles without a saddle MC...grim!
Cant do the next one away snowboarding...
Oh, and ive got the interclub trophy with CCA's name on it for the first time in 20 years! will be at the dinner.
great reports everyone..sounds grueling. I'm averaging 24's up here (on rollers :-) ) Winds of 60-70 mph and almost constant rains have totaled any real riding so far. Hoping it lifts sometime :-(
Great turn out here. Nice to meet the other clubs nearby. I've come away thinking we are possibly the most relaxed club in the area. And the most high spirited. I think it's a good thing.
It was a great turn out of 175 or so riders according the the BRCC team at HQ. Off to an early start: thanks to Matt and Vince for helping thru and off to the main group as they disappeared ahead of the 9.15 time!
It quickly became evident that it was going to be feisty. Especially with the wind making any gap seem an enormous bridge. Nice to see Will shoot off the front from the off and string it all out to bits, then disappear off home. ;-)
Lovely to see so many CCA riders along the way. I got very lucky lots of times; just making the Barford traffic lights and making the jump to the front group when riders were fading. I faded at one point, but knew how to pace it near Grafham to get back on. We were doing the club proud in the fierce headwind for a long stretch - with MC, Andy, Jeremy, JMac taking one for the team right at the very front. Then I recall later on looking around for a bit of team support only to find out later that MC's saddle broke [that's some seriously good riding for the remaining distance at speed], Jeremy punctured, Andy cramped, and JMac remembered he'd already ridden 12hrs this week! I got very lucky, unscathed.
The luck continued... I couldn't hold the undipping 28mph demanded for long in the tailwind section, and the front disappeared. Only for it to turn and twist upwards, allowing an improv [messy] chaingang with 6 Luton lads... "C'mon Ashwell... wrong way... clockwise!"... to claw back on. Then the bunch popped off again! But I'd had a Flamme Rouge club night giveaway jelly gel a moment before which kicked in, and clawed back again. There was an enormous echelon to finally hide in going on near the end in the wind and there was no sprint. I got my breath back to apologise to the group for the lack of mudguards from me and MC: everyone mumbling along the way that it clearly never rains in Ashwell... To be fair - it often doesn't. 20.1mph av.
Fantastic training. Interesting lanes and meeting a few different faces and backsides... that Beds Road rider that fell will have proper first degree backside road rash and a proper headache. It did get a bit Weekend Warriory at times. But there you go. Decent chicken and noodle soup. Nice to have two pints of Tribute with Vince and Matt in Potton afterwards. Everyone should dip their toes on these Reliability rides before Spring kicks in. Beds Road next one 21st. Not sure I can make it. Luton and St Neots doing them too. Will is doing Luton's, starting Streatley. Hilly one apparently.
Sorry about that! I needed to do a bit of proper training, I wasn't actually expecting anybody to try and follow me! Nice one Martin... You'll have to have a bash at the primavera this year. Get that racing licence sorted...
Good memories from yesterday:
"he was arrested for pigeon wrestling".
Cold long wait.
This is fast.
"its only a small hill".
This is really fast!
Dropped.
It that Tim & Dave ahead?
Dig in, nearly there.
Where did they go?
Wrong turn, but now I'm ahead.
Express train.
Dropped
Wind.
Daniel & Matt, recover.
Dropped.
Wind.
Where I'm I?
Wind.
"good training for Lanzarote".
Tail wind - this is easy.
Nearly at the end.
Wrong turn.
Wind.
Soup.
Where is everybody?
Wind on my back home.
Cannot wait for the next one :)
Hi Martin et al, I intend on riding this. Thanks for posting the route; I didn't get lost last time but nealry did. I actually followed the older route so whilst Vince was complaining we were off course I stuck to the line on my Garmin! What time should we roll out? Daniel
i may pop along again but would prefer to complete the ride with company this time!!... so will be going out earlier rather than kidding myself i can hang on to you speedy boyz!
Oh dear, got there at about 9:05 for the agreed 9:15 departure to find everyone had left. Rookie error: I'd forgotten that the only rule in pretend road racing is that there are no rules.
Had a nice gentle ride with James McKenzie and mulled over our plans for the season over a coffee at Jordans Mill - good to see you James!
Sorry Daniel: we assumed everyone had bailed. As it was me and Matt almost managed to make the so called 9.15am group but couldn't bridge it.
So we settled into our own groove. A mechanical. A few wrong turns. Brilliant sunshine near Northampton on a scenic, hilly route. Oh yes: and 45mph gusts of wind too. But other than a few wobbles, it was just attritional and nothing nasty. A chance to practice bike handling.
Halfway round I noticed we were with JT and Rob from Guilden. They were on for a 105+ Mile day of it. Along with a few randoms we stuck it out til the end for the soup and roll. Great hard riding ahead of the Hardriders. 17.1mph.
Another super tough ride. Bit like last time, only longer, hillier and windier!
Really struggled from the off and panted my way to Deadmans's cross where Martin pulled over to wait for me. Desperately trying to ride in the draft of anyone who was around, Martin pulled a small group into deepest Northamptonshire. Proving last time out was absolutely nothing to do with luck, I lost count of the times Martin rode away from me (and quite frankly, anyone he wanted to) only to earn his stripes as clubman of the day to sit up and await my return to his back wheel. Some real class on show there Mr L, a great season awaits.
A much needed tail wind section didn't last as long as I wanted or needed it to, as we turned at Great Barford, my 4 hours of effort caught up with me and I suffered excruciating cramp in both thighs. Some random and unorthodox pedal stokes kept me moving as I limped into Cardington. A rewarding but very tough ride.
Sorry I missed it but definitely not recovered sufficiently for any bike ride other than a loop round the village to check a mechanical repair on the race bike.
Should get back to training next week.
Comments
Also, I most certainly didn't stop for a wee up the road and stand on a slippery stone and end up lying in a deep muddy puddle at all. No, definitely not.
Eurgh...
An expectedly good crowd signed on at BRCC charming clubhouse in Cardington. Various blueshirts greeted one another with smiles and hedged their chances of keeping hold of the fast group.
It did take a while of shivering around until we were all ready to go and then the famous Blue Train pulled out. Soon we had become intermingled with a large group containing many riders with mugaurds AND mudflaps. Yup, Luton CC were on the scene. The pace was getting hard. I realised I was at the back. A clear signal, just incase I needed it. I was pretty sure Martin was in the mix though.
After about the third time I lost contact I realised it was going to be hard to reunite. Indeed I found myself sharing this battle with Matt S. Instinctively we worked as a two up to close the gap. Speaking was useless as, a) I couldnt and b) any conversation would inevitably lead to the conclusion our quest was hopeless. I didnt want to stop trying and by the way Matt was never slow to take his turn nor was he. Every now and again we saw the the Martini Group; just to emphasise that, whilst just out of reach, it ws impossible to bridge to; you see we saw them as they crested the hill we were just starting the same climb.
Its funny, we didnt speak but I felt I knew Matt quite well by this point. Like Id known him for a very long time.
We were joined by Richard for a bit, but he sensibily recognised our doomed mission, sat up and let us get on with it.
A bit later we picked up Vince; a victim of pace from the fast boys. And so the two up became a three up. We rode the rest together and helped each other through the dips we all suffered at various points.
As we approached the club house my brother Matt commented that wed averaged over 18; not bad for the start or February. Not bad with that wind either!
In the clubhouse we met up with the king of Belgium Classics Maarten Lawless. He had kept in with the fast group! He commented hed fallen off three times but got back on each time. Naively I looked for the grazes on his legs.
Ive a lot to learn about this road riding business.
Well done one and all. Hard riding, but hope all enjoyed it as much as I. Many thanks, especially to Matt and Vince.
then..... the remaining 59 miles into that sodding wind solo!!! holy crap thats the hardest ride I've done for a while... not quite 18's for me... 14's.. i'll take that on my todd!
good to see you all if it was only for a moment.
laters...
Good fun that, cheers all.
I ended up riding in a big group along with MartinL, MC, JMac and AndyR.
Felt OK sat in the wheels and even spent 30 seconds on the front!
Lots of echelon riding in the tough wind with rider strung all across the roads.
Punctured with 10ish to go but was starting to find the pace tough.
Ended up riding to last few miles with AndrewR - good to catch up.
Soup from a packet never tasted so good at the HQ.
See everyone again in 2weeks time for the 71miler.
JP
End of a big week for me - feet up now - might have a day off tomorrow :-)
VInce was an extremely welcome addition, some more legs at last! I think we must have done at least 35 miles as a three.
Cardington was a welcome sight, Seeing Maarten looking fresh as a daisy in the clubhouse was slightly disturbing! I thought 18's was good today, but 20? C'mon, seriously! I think the road race scene is calling you Mr L!!
Great stuff, well done to anyone and everyone who took part.
Great rides by Matt and Daniel too. Good to see Jess, Dan, Stef and Andrew all out as well
I struggled with Wills early pace injections and while dangling off the back at Barford got the red light over the river and ..boom they were gone! Then got a bit lost but had a nice ride round a shortenend version with Dave and a lass from Luton.
Unlucky Skelders and the punctures, Jeremy, Taff, maybe more? and riding 20 miles without a saddle MC...grim!
Cant do the next one away snowboarding...
Oh, and ive got the interclub trophy with CCA's name on it for the first time in 20 years! will be at the dinner.
It was a great turn out of 175 or so riders according the the BRCC team at HQ. Off to an early start: thanks to Matt and Vince for helping thru and off to the main group as they disappeared ahead of the 9.15 time!
It quickly became evident that it was going to be feisty. Especially with the wind making any gap seem an enormous bridge. Nice to see Will shoot off the front from the off and string it all out to bits, then disappear off home. ;-)
Lovely to see so many CCA riders along the way. I got very lucky lots of times; just making the Barford traffic lights and making the jump to the front group when riders were fading. I faded at one point, but knew how to pace it near Grafham to get back on. We were doing the club proud in the fierce headwind for a long stretch - with MC, Andy, Jeremy, JMac taking one for the team right at the very front. Then I recall later on looking around for a bit of team support only to find out later that MC's saddle broke [that's some seriously good riding for the remaining distance at speed], Jeremy punctured, Andy cramped, and JMac remembered he'd already ridden 12hrs this week! I got very lucky, unscathed.
The luck continued... I couldn't hold the undipping 28mph demanded for long in the tailwind section, and the front disappeared. Only for it to turn and twist upwards, allowing an improv [messy] chaingang with 6 Luton lads... "C'mon Ashwell... wrong way... clockwise!"... to claw back on. Then the bunch popped off again! But I'd had a Flamme Rouge club night giveaway jelly gel a moment before which kicked in, and clawed back again. There was an enormous echelon to finally hide in going on near the end in the wind and there was no sprint. I got my breath back to apologise to the group for the lack of mudguards from me and MC: everyone mumbling along the way that it clearly never rains in Ashwell... To be fair - it often doesn't. 20.1mph av.
Fantastic training. Interesting lanes and meeting a few different faces and backsides... that Beds Road rider that fell will have proper first degree backside road rash and a proper headache. It did get a bit Weekend Warriory at times. But there you go. Decent chicken and noodle soup. Nice to have two pints of Tribute with Vince and Matt in Potton afterwards. Everyone should dip their toes on these Reliability rides before Spring kicks in. Beds Road next one 21st. Not sure I can make it. Luton and St Neots doing them too. Will is doing Luton's, starting Streatley. Hilly one apparently.
"he was arrested for pigeon wrestling".
Cold long wait.
This is fast.
"its only a small hill".
This is really fast!
Dropped.
It that Tim & Dave ahead?
Dig in, nearly there.
Where did they go?
Wrong turn, but now I'm ahead.
Express train.
Dropped
Wind.
Daniel & Matt, recover.
Dropped.
Wind.
Where I'm I?
Wind.
"good training for Lanzarote".
Tail wind - this is easy.
Nearly at the end.
Wrong turn.
Wind.
Soup.
Where is everybody?
Wind on my back home.
Cannot wait for the next one :)
Does any one have an up to date download map for a garmin?
Thanks
Chris
Chris B
JT
Martin L
Matt S
Vince
I will convert the map to a garmin file later. Details and map on the Beds Road homepage; http://www.bedsroad.org/
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/11640453
Who else is in then...?
Chris B
JT
Martin L
Matt S
Vince
I intend on riding this. Thanks for posting the route; I didn't get lost last time but nealry did. I actually followed the older route so whilst Vince was complaining we were off course I stuck to the line on my Garmin!
What time should we roll out?
Daniel
JT
Martin L
Matt S
Vince
Daniel D
Will
Skelders
Let's look to set off at the 9:15 slot. Though at the last one everyone shot off about 9:08am.
The hill at the start will warm us all up...
Still, at least mile 41 to mile 61 is a well deserved tail wind
Lets Ride
If ever there was a reason to work together, this wind is it
Had a nice gentle ride with James McKenzie and mulled over our plans for the season over a coffee at Jordans Mill - good to see you James!
So we settled into our own groove. A mechanical. A few wrong turns. Brilliant sunshine near Northampton on a scenic, hilly route. Oh yes: and 45mph gusts of wind too. But other than a few wobbles, it was just attritional and nothing nasty. A chance to practice bike handling.
Halfway round I noticed we were with JT and Rob from Guilden. They were on for a 105+ Mile day of it. Along with a few randoms we stuck it out til the end for the soup and roll. Great hard riding ahead of the Hardriders. 17.1mph.
Really struggled from the off and panted my way to Deadmans's cross where Martin pulled over to wait for me. Desperately trying to ride in the draft of anyone who was around, Martin pulled a small group into deepest Northamptonshire. Proving last time out was absolutely nothing to do with luck, I lost count of the times Martin rode away from me (and quite frankly, anyone he wanted to) only to earn his stripes as clubman of the day to sit up and await my return to his back wheel. Some real class on show there Mr L, a great season awaits.
A much needed tail wind section didn't last as long as I wanted or needed it to, as we turned at Great Barford, my 4 hours of effort caught up with me and I suffered excruciating cramp in both thighs. Some random and unorthodox pedal stokes kept me moving as I limped into Cardington. A rewarding but very tough ride.
Should get back to training next week.