Well as we all start really getting serious, things went on hold a bit today. The three hour rides on a Sunday are probably the best session we all get each week. Well it didn't work out that way today. When I got up there was a light drizzle, so needing the training I decided to go anyway. When I got to Becketts it was tipping down. I sat in the car kind of hoping that no-one else would turn up. Well guess who was there, first to turn up was Wilko. He promptly told me to get my bike out of the car and get ready. Baywatch arrived as did Andy Heaney. So there were only four of us.
The ride was shortened due to the weather and we decided on a 2 hour ride instead. As we set off Wilko took the lead and things were a bit brisk. In fact I was not the only one in trouble this week. Baywatch decided to take a different route and leave Mark to it, well we all did. Sorry Wilko, but we would have been dead in half and hour and it wouldn't have helped you much.
The three of us continued to Henley, Claverdon and back up to Hockley Heath. Andy led the way for most of the ride. Leaving me and Baywatch on some of the hills. The contrast between the climbing styles was very dramatic. We all know Baywatch has a somewhat "all over the bike" style, turning large gears and using his body to keep them going. Andy is the complete opposite, dropping down to very small gears and spinning along, very much a mountain bike style. I am somewhere in between. I do tend to try and use large gears on hills and stay seated, but I tend to move more up and down rather than left to right like Baywatch. I know which technique I would rather employ and which seems to work best. We all saw Armstrong on the Hautacaum last year, I think spinning is the way to go, on longer hills anyway.
The roads were soaked and we had to go carefully on a couple sections where the roads were completely flooded. There were lots of very large puddles too and we had to be careful. One especially large one, re-soaked the feet and a flood of cold water could be felt running down my legs and into the shoes. It stopped being fun be then. Fortunately we were nearly back. Surprisingly I actually led back from Hockley. After Andy had led all way round until then, I think everyone was quite happy to sit on my wheel for a while. I was actually going pretty hard for me and rather enjoyed it. It definitely beats getting stuffed and only being able to follow.
And peeled off at Wythall station and Mark rode home from Becketts. I got back in the car and tried to get warm and dry again. Thankfully most of my wet weather gear had done its job. It was not necessarily brilliant training, but it was a quality 1.5 hours with Mr Heaney making me work hard to keep up. Sorry Wilko, but you are too fast even if I just have to sit on your wheel.