What a weekend.
It feels like I’m still only just getting used to not moving my legs round in circles.
The last few days were spent in the saddle, clocking up the miles. Total so far 151!
Saturday was an early start, it was about 6 when Viv pulled up outside to pick me up. The weather was cold and foggy and not really inspiring me to take part in a 100 km Audax. Despite that, we set off to pick up Dave and the Super-bike and set off for Norwich. I’ve never taken part in an event of this nature before, so it was strange territory; the plan is simple, to follow a set of instructions and answer a few Treasure Hunt style questions along the way.
Viv was in-charge of navigation due to his perverse fondness of maps and his little Garmin friend now dubbed Ziggy.
The weather was great for the event, with the forecast rain holding off. The only thing that might have slowed us down was the noise coming from Viv’s bottom bracket.
After the initial push we settled into a grove; Dave, Viv, Brian and I were just pushing along the Norfolk countryside, until, of course, we took a wrong route. To help us feel better, we met a few more people on the same road thinking the same thoughts, "it should have been right back there?" So we back stepped and took that right, which meant our group had doubled in size, actually causing me to ride on the wrong side of the road, thus causing me to pick up a thorn. My first flat tyre on road cycling, what fun!
Not really, I had Dave’s Hope wheels on, which have a deeper dish than my Bontrager’s so my spare tube would not fit, so I opted to use a adhesive patch to fix.
When using an adhesive patch’s remember to clean the tube first or you will end up stopping 5 miles down the road to do the job right the second time!
After the brief second stop we settled into a good pace, having been passed by a lot of people. We kept up the pace until we got to the halfway point and a nice big bacon sandwich!
The second half of the event is best left unmentioned as far as Dave is concerned. Whilst we do all try and stick together and get along fine, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. Only joking Dave, hope you are feeling better and remember, as much as you hate it I will never leave my wingman!
…skip to the end…
In total, it was a good all round 65mile tour round Norfolk and a great intro to the Audax events. We all bundled into the car for the homeward journey, a take way and to discuss Sunday’s adventure.
It was decided that on Sunday we would try and really push for some miles in prep for June. As we sat and planned a rough 100mile route from Sudbury out to the coast. The big H, Harry, was even on his way down from Liverpool to take part. After a few St. Omar’s and a ruby, we decided to start from Stowmarket and head out to Thorpeness, up to Dunwich and then trace back round and home.
Sounds like a plan, let's get some shut-eye…
Sunday morning the skies were not as good, the dark looming rain meant this would be a more difficult journey than the previous day, so much so I put my Bontrager wheels back on; I got fed up with Dave worrying about his dam stickers!
Eventually, I made it to Stowmarket only to find I was late and everyone wanted to make a move. Quickly I found my gear, and we set off, to make life easier, we had Lucy and Serina following us and practicing for the backup/support job.
The first leg was an easy warm up with time to get to know Harry, we spoke about cycling as we trundled along. Once again Viv was responsible for directions as he had a new toy, a nice shiny map holder.
After 40 miles we had the first call from Lucy asking about the stops, as I was talking away saying yes we would stop in a bit the other shot off down another road; ass!
A few miles on we stopped for the first break, just a quick drink, and we were off; if we can do that on the challenge we will be fine.
The mood was good, so we carried on following Viv’s instructions, taking us through some of the more rural parts of eastern Suffolk. The roads were not really the best, given Dave and Harry were riding the ‘Superbikes’; a pair of Look 486 carbon monsters. But as it was all good milage we carried on.
After around 55 miles we pulled into Thorpeness, the venue for lunch and a longer break. Not wanting to let the lactic acid settle too much we pressed on up the coast towards Dunwich following Viv’s map reading skills, until he said something along the lines of "I think the road might get a bit rough from here" rough was really the word, dirt track would have been a better way of putting it, a bridlepath through a wood might be even closer. Harry, being ever the positive thinker, pointed out that there was no turning back on the tour and that we should press on. I never really did like cyclo-cross, now I know why. Mud and road bikes don’t mix!
We ended up loosing quite a bit of time and energy on this little side route, to which by the time we got to Dunwich light was not in our favour. The plan to snake back accross suffolk down to Stowmarket was aborted in favour of some quicker road work on the main A road.
This was the final stretch and suddenly Harry shot into action, we literally towed us along at 25+mph in a mad dash home. At one point I remember looking down and watching the computer sitting at 30mph as we just powered our way through villages. The sight must have been something, to see us snaking round the bends pushing some big gears and looking the part. This has been the most time I’ve spent on the bigger ring, and it was definitely worth it.
We had one last stop about 9 miles from the finish, just to get rid of all the empties and knock back one last gel before the finish. Once again it was main road work so we all worked together (for a while anyway) and took turns at the front to finally find ourselves coming down the hill into Stowmarket and a nice free wheel back to the start.
Normally, it would end there, a pat on the back, a well done lads and all that British upper lip stuff, but somehow Dave’s pride and joy had got mud on it. This is a complete no-no so we had to endure the cleaning process, to which Harry decided this was not a bad idea. Nothing quite like seeing two grown men worry over a push-bike, well, if I had a bike like that there is no way I would have got it dirty!
This did, however, give me a chance to grab a couple of photos of Harry’s 486 Limited Edition Custom bike, the most impressive part has got to be those handle bars.