I give up! I had something like three turns to make and I still got lost! I went mental, yelled, rode around trying to find the way to Ickenham, phoned Mal for directions but it was too late. While I was on the phone a bunch went past so I put the phone away and turned around to chase. They’d gone over a rise and bam, they were gone. Arrrgh! I rode some more and eventually stumbled on to the start point in Ickenham. Four other guys had arrived late too so I set off with them on a short cut to catch up. One guy was dropped straight away, then the two leaders who seemed to know what they were doing just pulled away, leaving my-angry-self and the guy with the funny Belgian cap that I see doing the fast club rides. He went one way and I gave up and went to head home. I needed to leak quite badly so turned around, emptied bladder and then decided to chance the club run (which I was also running late for, but they often leave late). Surprise, surprise there were still guys there! Ray, Martin, Dennis and they were heading to Fairoaks Airfield rather than the marked ride.

It was quite a way to Fairoaks, down near Woking (SW London). I think I had 90k on the clock by the time I’d made the cafe. With the quick start chasing bunches, I was stuffed! Spent Mal’s ?10 on food and coffee and finished the lot! I was glad to be off the bike, stretching, eating, etc. Apparently it was a quick ride back home – suits me. We rolled through some really nice areas, Ray explaining that Surrey Road League race around here and it’s quiet due to Motorways surrounding the area, ie. drivers use the motorways and not the smaller back roads we were on. Of course some numpty in a Merc, on his mobile, beeping and then passing with fsck all room had to spoil it. I chased but didn’t quite get to him before he escaped the lights. He knew I was coming for him though. I hate drivers some times. We had a chat about the racing scene and how the Cats work – things like Elite, Cat1, Cat2 and Cat3 all riding together at Hillingdon and there only being one set of prizes! Err.. when are the Cat 3’s ever gonna see any money? Sounds a bit daft to me. Almost as daft as the Cat 4’s racing with flat bars! No wonder I’m not too keen on racing these days – I do have a sense of self (or bike) preservation! 🙂

The ride ended at Denham, me a lot calmer and happy that I’d done a full ride even though I missed the Team Quest ride. It worked out to be 144k for the day, making 415k for the week! So much for easing up.