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Date:
3rd June 2007
Click here for the 2007 Rough Ride photo album
That old Rough Ride thing comes round quicker every year and Saturday sees me driving Cas towards Kington (once his missus catches us up with the camelbak he had forgotten). A complex arrangement dreamt up by Cas sees to the petrol too "I'll fill it up to the top now, you drive there and back, we top up the tank again, subtract one from the other and divide by two, then you pay me the difference, geddit?" Err, no actually, I'm still not sure how that works.
Cut to the campsite and I can't be arsed with borrowing and setting up tents this year so I am sleeping in the back of the Zafira. Not very comfortable but no worse than the tent and noo need to put it up or take it down either. Sue and Huey are warming up the pasta sauce once again made by Mrs Cas and we are joined by a large cast of diary of a mountain biker riders.
It's then time for Cas's annual free bike maintenance (does anyone see a theme developing here?) as he has Huey change his bars, grips, chain, cassette and chainrings and it's dark by the time this has ended and the pasta and beers have gone down well.
The next morning sees me roll up to the start point in the local school together with my electronic timing device which is a great improvement this year although you miss out on that chance to socialise with other riders over the usual signing-in session.
"And we're off" and from our good positioning at the start gate I am in the front 20 riders for a good 100 metres or so which is about as long as it takes for a rider from Stourbridge Cycling Club to get wiped out as another rider squeezes him into the kerb and he bounces heavily off the pavement and into a fence: ouch!
Through the town and up the hill and I seem to be going backwards as dozens of riders flock past me. I just keep thinking about keeping to my own pace and the parable of the tortoise and the hare which as we'll see holds me in good stead later on in the ride.
From hereonin it's a steady slog up, up and up hills, fast down the other side before on to the next hill and repeat to fade. I am open minded about whether I will complete the short or long course but it's pretty obvious that I am destined for the short course. I catch up with most of my group for the first time at the top of a hill somewhere in the middle of nowhere about 5k before the point where the two courses split.
I am eating and drinking regularly and find that the orange Power Bars are really doing it for me. I ration them out, one on the way out and one for the return but it is noticeable how much better I am climbing the hills about five minutes after I have had a couple of bites of the bar. Maybe I will buy more next year!
This year's route is 80% new and whilst I am sure that a lot of that is just riding the same trail as last year in reverse it is noticeably harder with less road sections which whilst annoying always make for a few easy miles.
I catch up with everyone again at rest area where the long and short courses divide and follow Huey, Sue and Cas onto the short trail which starts with a massive climb up a really steep road. I zig-zag up but it's too much for Huey and Sue who are heroically completing the ride on their dialled bikes singlespeeds: "Chapeau Monsieur" (et mademoiselle).
Tim, Andrea and Richard II take the long route but for me, the short route return leg is more of the same. climb, descend, climb, descend etc. I see a bit more of Huey and Sue but everyone else is way ahead of me. Although it's hard, I am encouraged as I recognise many of the points on the way back and have a rough idea of how close to home I am.
This year I have remembered to bring my Motorola two-way radio with me and tuned to the same channel as Huey and Sue this to is a great comforter as I chat to them on the way round, listen to their chatter or just simply watch riders close by you jump as the radio suddenly crackles into life with some inane banter.
Therefore it was surprising that I heard Huey and Sue asking where each other was and as Huey stopped to wait for Sue I caught him up and overtook him. But that can't be right cos Sue was in front of me too and she hasn't passed Huey either so where is she?
It's a similar story too at the finish point where I spy Andy, James and Gary but there is no sign of Cas, Rob or Sue. It turns out they had made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up riding an extra 5k or so as well as missing the finish line (mysteriously placed a mile away from the event area) and so didn't get registered as finishing by the electronic timing device (now what was I saying about that hare?).
I was glad that I had completed the Rough Ride again, felt I had slightly cheated myself by not completing the long route but knew that I didn't have the stamina this year so that gives me an excuse to come back and compete again in '08.
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speeding Date:
10th June 2007 The weather is hot, hot, hot as we set off from Dorking station with Rich 45bpm and his mate Luke in tow. We haven't seen Rich since the mbr killer loop last April and I had forgotten how fast he is up hills; another yorkshireman made of sterner stuff. A nice route off road to Westcott before the usual loop of Leith Hill, Holmbury and Pitch although Mark is leading and we spend a long time on Leith Hill discovering some new trails. We head over to Windy Willows and bump into a large group purporting to have a photographer from The Guardian with them. Whatever, there is some bloke with a big camera taking pictures of riders going down a very steep drop-in I haven't seen before. We all ride it including Andrea who is really pleased to have done it before continuing on WW and heading over one of the sets of sharp humps where I have placed myself to take a photo. Rich 45 comes steaming over, not realising it's going to act like a kicker and he launches off the other side, just missing me, I can see the fear in his eyes as he lands heavily, blowing the seal on his Fox rear air can (note the leaking fluid on the frame). Despite this he pushes on and we complete the trails finsihing up at Peaslake for a spot of lunch. We are all feeling pretty knackered by this stage and Mark offers to show us a quick route home. Through Peaslake and down Rad Lane (the real one, not the trail) and then cutting across the railway and over alongt he bottom of Ranmore Common before skirting round the rear of Dorking and exiting opposite the station. A great days ride.
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16th June 2007 Sam and I visited Freeborn at Esher Shore to buy Sam a full-face lid for Les Arcs this year. After trying a variety of lids on, Sam settled for a carbon effect Bell Bellistic helmet. Of course he also needed some goggles and Freeborn are doing a nice deal on Zeal goggles, imported from New Zealand. Sam chose a black pair with a lairy tiger striped padding. A nicely presented set as it comes with a care cloth, a number of tear-away strips and a solid carry case. Another good ride this week, starting from the Landslip at Coldharbour and staying on Leith Hill, we covered all the trails, official as well as sneaky, revisiting Windy Willows and the steep roll-in. The trails were soggy after this week's rain but this made them fun and you don't worry so much about mud and puddles when it's a warm, dry day, riding around wearing just a single layer. The trails were looking different too with the ferns havings grown about 10 to 12 inches since last weekend and there was lots of riding through or under overgrown branches giving the trails a fresh feeling. Roll on next weekend.
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Date:
20th June 2007 It's almost the longest day and this is the first time this year that I have managed to get out for a night ride. Cas and I scoot down to Rob's house just off the A25 where we sample some of Rob's local trails although the first trail is a lengthy push up a murderous climb. We then mess around on various trails, crossing Headley Heath where we pause to fix Cas's flat, watch the cattle and onwards to Box Hill. Felix is back after a back-related knee injury (huh?) and having trained for the upcoming South Downs Way ride is superfit and super fast. I struggle for ages to warm up and keep up with him and by the time I am finally in the zone, two hours have passed and we head back to Rob's to drink his beer and polish off all his snacks, biscuits etc.
READ
MORE: Single
speeding
READ
MORE: Single
speeding
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February
2008
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