Cycling (45.15 Miles / 02:56:20 / 15.40 MPH / HRZ 2 Cadence 78) Elevation 763M
First off it's worth saying that this update is brought to you courtesy of Mark Vaudrey Plumbing and Heating. All will become apparent.
Myself, Mark and Keith had planned to head out for a steady 50 mile ride today and we agreed that we would go irrespective of what the weather threw at us.
Blooming heck the weather threw it all at us this morning.
Mark was on his trusty Planet X Time Trial bike, even through the winter and Keith was on his lovely new customer built Kuota whilst I was on the heavy old Flanders Cyclocross bike that I am using through the winter. That decision would come back to haunt me.
It started out reasonably well in terms of weather but it really was just a short reprieve. Within 15 minutes of setting out we were already well in to the rain and wind.
At the first hill, which isn't really all that bad, on the way in to Hillsborough I was immediately dropped by the two boys. This is partly due to me not being the best climber in the world but also the fact that my bike felt like an old style Raleigh Grifter bike. This would become a theme during the ride.
The route (which I picked) was turning out to be a bit more undulating than I had anticipated and it did feel a wee bit tough at times.
Literally every time we got to any sort of slope I was immediately dropped and had to spend the next mile trying to catch the boys.
As we were riding along Mark pipes up and says - " The only reason I'm riding with you is so that I can get a plug for the new business on the blog!" (it was said with a cheeky grin)
So thanks to Mark Vaudrey Plumbing and Heating PLC we pressed on through the worsening weather to Carryduff where we stopped at a Garage so that coffee could be taken on-board to generate a bit of heat.
Mark in action today!!
At this stage I noticed that my mudguard had fallen off. I was lucky it just did this at the garage and not when I was riding as it might have stuck though the spokes and created an ugly problem.
I had to take the gloves off and try to undo the stays and stick them in my pocket.
My hands were frozen and I managed to get one off but I had to get Mark ( CEO and Executive Chairman of Vaudrey Global Plumbing and Heating Corporation - offices in London, Tokyo, Paris and Castlereagh,) to get the other one off.
Now the question was what to do with a 2ft long mudguard that needed brought home. I had to stick it down the back of my jersey. For an idea of how it looked, think Samurai Warrior with sword strapped to is back. Now add the vision of soaking wet, red faced, snotty nosed middle aged man to the picture and you've a great idea of how it looked.
After the garage I managed to carry on the unbeaten run of getting dropped on the next hill and also had the "pleasure" of watching Keith almost get blown off his bike due to the gusting wind.
In hindsight it wasn't the best day for his deep section carbon wheels!
For the next few miles I could barely operate my gears and brakes as my hands were completely frozen. They did eventually warm up but just in time for arriving home.
We made it back unscathed by the conditions, just a bit cold and wet and a hot cup of coffee and a biscuit (or about 10 biscuits if you're the Galactic President of Vaudrey Interstellar Plumbing and Heating Contractors) saw us feel a bit more human again.
Thankfully I got sensation back in my extremities after about 15 minutes in the shower.
In terms of performance I am nowhere near what mark and Keith can push out on a bike but I am pleased that I held it together and worked hard on the "Iron Horse" Flanders bike and hopefully pushing the big beast around will held build strength and I'll appreciate it when I can get the fancy bikes out again in the better weather. 760M of elevation was pretty good today.
Once again big thanks to Keith and el Presidente Mark for the company and it says a lot that despite the truly miserable conditions we had great craic and enjoyed the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment