…for those of you who have read any of the Lance Armstrong books you’ll be familiar with his affection of bad weather conditions. With a Met Office ‘weather warning’ in place I faced the timekeeper with Lance’s own words ‘Bring it on!’ and set off into the unknown.
Four brave souls from the club were due to race but Ted Boorman had taken the sensible option to DNS.
First off Angela Nainby still damp from the ‘Kingston 15’ the previous day came in 2.16.14 dispite losing her bidon [I wanted to say bottle!] and having to stay thirsty for the last 20 or so miles. This still didn’t stop her carrying off the ‘Ladies prize’ by nearly 4 minutes.
I was next off with the first 25 miles ridden in sunny conditions but with a strong headwind out to Southwater. The sky then blackened and the wind gathered on the second return leg leaving me to struggle out to Southwater for the second time coming home in 2.13.18 still, an improvement from a couple of weeks ago.
A bit like Lance bad weather doesn’t seem to affect Steve Dennis he just rides relentlessly on, catching me in the latter stages for 20 minutes! Indeed on the run in to the finish it seems that Steve caught half the field to come home with a magnificent 1.50.36 to win by over 3 minutes.
If this is ‘Global Warming’ it’s not really what I expected and most of the desert plants I have recently planted in my garden have just floated away!
PW
