Training ride 4 (Day 2) - dropping like flies

Having rested his knee as much as he could overnight, John was still in pain this morning. He took the bike out for a quick ride, but decided it would not be a good idea to accompany us today.

Rich, Paul & Simon all showed up for the 7am start, but Simon had some problems of his own related to some friction between part of his body and his saddle. Hopefully this is sufficient detail for you to imagine why Simon was not comfortable joining us today.

So then there were three.

Paul, Rich and I set off on the same 145 mile route that Paul and I had done a couple of weeks ago; Guildford-Brighton-Portsmouth-Arlesford-Guildford.

We set off at a cracking pace. Taking it in turns to go up front for 5 miles each, we were soon zipping along the coast from Brighton to Worthing. It took us 2 hours 50 minutes to do the first 50 miles, where we happened to cycle past Rich's grandad, so we popped in to say "hi" and have an energy bar.

Next stop was at just under 90 miles just outside Portsmouth where we stopped at a pub for some lunch. This had taken us 5 hours exactly, and we were ready for a break and some proper food.

I dont really want to dwell on the length of our lunch stop (see previous posting), but we stopped for about 1 hour. There was a great atmosphere in the pub, as everyone was ramping up for the FA cup final in which Portsmouth were playing.

Feeling refreshed (and somewhat full) we got back on the bikes for the home run.

From Portsmouth the route heads North-North-West up to Arlesford and then turns North-East up the A31. For the first section of this part of the ride, we realised that the "easterly" wind was actually a "north-easterly", and the going got considerably tougher with the last 30 mile stretch to look forward to entirely into the wind.

We still made pretty good time considering the hills, and we joined the A31 after 110 miles and 6.5 hours of cycling (ignoring the 1 hour break).

Pretty much as soon as we join the A31, there is a big climb from Arlesford to Four Marks. This was hard work and directly into the wind; it took us 30 minutes to go that 5 miles.

However, we knew that at the top of that climb it was a fairly easy and largely downhill run for the rest of the way home. Unfortunately at the top of the hill it started to rain, and suddenly got quite cold. Hence the next few miles were a real drag, and we just put our heads down and watched the back wheel of the guy in front (we were still taking it in turns to do 5 mile stints up front).

At Farnham there is a large junction called the "Shepherd and Flock" roundabout, and just after that the road starts to climb up the "Hogs Back". At this point Paul was up front, with Rich and I drafting close behind him. Suddenly Paul was on the floor, and Rich and I had both crashed into him; all of us lying on the inside carriageway of the A31 - not a nice place to be. Just at that point there is metal expansion bar where the A31 crosses a bridge, and it is at a horrible angle for cyclists. Paul's front wheel had caught in the gap & just slipped away from him because of the rain.

We got off the road as quickly as you can imagine we would, and shook ourselves down. Thankfully no-one was hurt too badly, but Paul and I both damaged our bikes. I could not get any of my bottom three gears, and hence hills were a struggle, also my gearshift had bent round at a strange angle. Looks like I wont by cycling tomorrow.

The last 8 miles or so were done at a very sedate pace while we allowed the adrenalin to work its way out of our system. We finally did the 145 miles in exactly the same time as Paul and I had done a few weeks previously; 8 hours and 45 minutes.

Lovely Jules had cooked me a roast chicken which I eagerly devoured after a good soak in the bath!!