Well as my title says, there was some good, some bad and plenty of ice at the event.
A team of five from the club, we felt strong and prepared for the event, and decided to try and ride together as a team. Groups of eight riders were set off from the start, and we along with three others were the very first of the day!
Uncertain whether this was a good thing or not, I kept my mouth shut, head down and rode, and rode, and rode. It was cold and there was plenty of ice out there. After half an hour or so our five had become three and we were well out at the front of the whole ride. Problem number one, no one to follow. These events are much easier when there are riders ahead, as you know you probably are still on route and also it allows for small objective targets like catching the person in front and overtaking etc. When you're at the front there are no such comforts, only the thought of dozens of riders catching you up and overtaking!
None came though, and after an hour or so we hit the really bad ice. In and around a small village named Dormansland, the country lanes were unbelievably icy. In fact it was so dangerous that two of us had to push our trusted steeds for some of the way, but only after a couple of low speed spills. No damage done to bikes or bodies, we soldiered on.
Colin the stronger of us never had to stop for the ice (he is such a good rider), so he left us and went ahead trying for a good time. Marco and I rode hard once the ice had passed, but all the time I was becoming increasingly aware that no one behind us was in sight. Now we're definitely not that good that no one would ever catch us. The alarm bells began to ring.
We passed a feed station/timing check point and the marshalls informed us that only one rider had passed through. Brilliant, Colin must be pleased and doing extremely well!
Point to note, this checkpoint was near the end of last years event. Alarm bells ringing louder now!!!!!
Okay another half an hour and we pass through a very small village, and there are riders everywhere, coming from three different directions. Shortly followed by the recognition of a marshall and a country lane that we had ridden down at least an hour ago, it dawned........we had got it badly wrong.
Somehow Marco and I had missed a turn or taken an extra one. As far as we knew, we had followed the signage and the marshalls correctly. The familiar country lane that we were on took us right back to what we considered the most dangerous roads that we had already ridden on.
We stopped, swore, huffed, puffed, swore again (well I did) and made the decision to abandon the ride. We then casually rode back to the start which was about another 7 or 8 km or so.
Imagine my horror when the marshalls at the finish point began congratulating us on our success. Fuming, I put the bike onto the car rack, threw my sodden cold cycling kit into the boot and made to the canteen to warm up with a coffee, and of course to calm down. Marco helped me with that.
It transpires, that somehow we deviated from the original 110km route, and actually ended up doing the shorter 50km route. Now the good bit, unbeknown to us we actually did very well and the reason that the marshalls congratulated us on the finish line... We came in second! How good is that. See the results page for yourself.
http://www.hell.gb.com/LeftMenu/FinishList.aspx?id=5
So all in all not a too bad outcome. Okay the 50k route only had 80 or 90 finishers compared to 400 or 500 finishing the full course, but if ever there was a plus point after such a monumental mess up, well coming second was it.
Would I do it again next year, probably not. Twice in a row with ice and snow was bad enough. Also the question begs, Should Catford CC have allowed the ride to go ahead, given the weather?
Who knows, I dont. Check some of the cycling forums for varying opinions on that.
Now what happened to Colin after he left us, well that is another story... 139km later, lost, cold and still not finishing the route. That one can wait.
See you all soon.
A team of five from the club, we felt strong and prepared for the event, and decided to try and ride together as a team. Groups of eight riders were set off from the start, and we along with three others were the very first of the day!
Uncertain whether this was a good thing or not, I kept my mouth shut, head down and rode, and rode, and rode. It was cold and there was plenty of ice out there. After half an hour or so our five had become three and we were well out at the front of the whole ride. Problem number one, no one to follow. These events are much easier when there are riders ahead, as you know you probably are still on route and also it allows for small objective targets like catching the person in front and overtaking etc. When you're at the front there are no such comforts, only the thought of dozens of riders catching you up and overtaking!
None came though, and after an hour or so we hit the really bad ice. In and around a small village named Dormansland, the country lanes were unbelievably icy. In fact it was so dangerous that two of us had to push our trusted steeds for some of the way, but only after a couple of low speed spills. No damage done to bikes or bodies, we soldiered on.
Colin the stronger of us never had to stop for the ice (he is such a good rider), so he left us and went ahead trying for a good time. Marco and I rode hard once the ice had passed, but all the time I was becoming increasingly aware that no one behind us was in sight. Now we're definitely not that good that no one would ever catch us. The alarm bells began to ring.
We passed a feed station/timing check point and the marshalls informed us that only one rider had passed through. Brilliant, Colin must be pleased and doing extremely well!
Point to note, this checkpoint was near the end of last years event. Alarm bells ringing louder now!!!!!
Okay another half an hour and we pass through a very small village, and there are riders everywhere, coming from three different directions. Shortly followed by the recognition of a marshall and a country lane that we had ridden down at least an hour ago, it dawned........we had got it badly wrong.
Somehow Marco and I had missed a turn or taken an extra one. As far as we knew, we had followed the signage and the marshalls correctly. The familiar country lane that we were on took us right back to what we considered the most dangerous roads that we had already ridden on.
We stopped, swore, huffed, puffed, swore again (well I did) and made the decision to abandon the ride. We then casually rode back to the start which was about another 7 or 8 km or so.
Imagine my horror when the marshalls at the finish point began congratulating us on our success. Fuming, I put the bike onto the car rack, threw my sodden cold cycling kit into the boot and made to the canteen to warm up with a coffee, and of course to calm down. Marco helped me with that.
It transpires, that somehow we deviated from the original 110km route, and actually ended up doing the shorter 50km route. Now the good bit, unbeknown to us we actually did very well and the reason that the marshalls congratulated us on the finish line... We came in second! How good is that. See the results page for yourself.
http://www.hell.gb.com/LeftMenu/FinishList.aspx?id=5
So all in all not a too bad outcome. Okay the 50k route only had 80 or 90 finishers compared to 400 or 500 finishing the full course, but if ever there was a plus point after such a monumental mess up, well coming second was it.
Would I do it again next year, probably not. Twice in a row with ice and snow was bad enough. Also the question begs, Should Catford CC have allowed the ride to go ahead, given the weather?
Who knows, I dont. Check some of the cycling forums for varying opinions on that.
Now what happened to Colin after he left us, well that is another story... 139km later, lost, cold and still not finishing the route. That one can wait.
See you all soon.
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