from: johnnyawill

(Now that I’m back from Egypt I feel I should finish this ride report!)

Taking no chances this morning I decided against taking the “short cut” to Ickenham that messed me up for the Team Quest Reliability Ride. I took the safe option along Uxbridge Rd. and this time actually made it to the start point for the Willesden CC Reliability Ride. I knew I was safe when the 30 or so bikes outside the Guide Hut appeared before my eyes.

Inside, I spotted some familiar faces, including Ed, who was surprised to see me – I’m sure he thought I’d be on my way to Glasgow.

I paid my ?4 and joined the huge list of Group B riders. Not a single name was in the Group A list! I joked that I should enter that list and then just wait for the other riders to come past and pick me up. Common sense got the better of me and I stuck my name on Group B. I’m not even sure what the time limit was supposed to be?

There was a route sheet that listed the turns/directions on it but I knew it was pointless for me trying to decipher it so I just vowed to stick with a group, any group and let them get me home.

We rolled out, maybe 100 riders? Anyone get numbers? Pretty much all at once which must have looked impressive and annoyed the hell out of all the locals. Sod ’em, lazy buzztards should leave their cars at home for one frickin’ day a week. It was a little cloudy and the roads were ever so slick – I know, as I cursed my sliding rear tyre a couple of times. It wasn’t actually the tyre’s fault, it had been dry for ages and a little rain caused all kinds of mess with traction (like the motorbike I saw slide along the road on my commute this morning).

It was awesome rolling along fast with a big group – lots faster than a club run and much bigger.

My plan was basically to stay up the front for as long as possible. Sod conserving energy, I just wanted to see how far I could push it and if I stuck with the front group, when I was dropped there would always be riders behind me who should know where to go.

I found Ed and met Richard for the first time. Richard has been hassling me to race for Willesden as they don’t have much of a road race contingent and he’s competing against clubs that have bunches of 5+ riders working together. I’m still undecided – I like my not too stressful life right now.

I lost Ed at some point – at an intersection or maybe down a hill – my “descending ballast” providing me with some extra pace (68.2kph vs. 56.8kph :P). This may be the only time I ever finish a ride in front of Ed and Richard so I’m going to have to make the most of this.. 😉

I lost Richard further along the road. I went back for a guy in grey jacket who was off the back of the bunch but he just wasn’t taking my wheel so I gave up. Back onto the bunch and he finally joined us – it wasn’t Richard at all. Doh!

We made it onto a long, flat, exposed section (not sure if this was before or after the big climb of Bledlow Ridge?). It was the first time I’d rolled turns for years! The front half of the bunch was rolling through-and-off echelon stylee and I joined in (once I realised what was going on!) to put in a couple of turns. I was a little bit excited so got told to ease it up a bit – must remember not to push harder at the front and just wait for the other line to fall back before moving over – like I said, first time doing this since I left Melbourne and I was pumped.

At the top of a climb (Bledlow?) some of the guys stopped for a leak. I didn’t need to so I continued with some others. We were going quite slow but the bigger bunch took quite a while to get back near us (did some of them stop for a breather I wonder?). There was a descent and then a crazy-steep climb. I was in 39×23 and just barely had enough juice to crank up over the bastard! Smalldean Lane, I think it was called, examining the route sheet.

A further 8k and then we hit Cryers Hill. Appropriate name as this is where I cracked. Not as steep as Smalldean Ln but longer, I just went backwards as the bunch caught me and most of them passed me. Damn! At the top though I recovered reasonably quickly and latched onto some riders. Then worked my way back, passing riders to get nearer the front again.

I’d run out of water now and asked a guy how far we had to go. He said “15 miles”. 15 miles! I thought we were about 5k from the finish! Crap!

I can’t really remember the final section of the ride. It was just a case of hanging onto some wheels and swapping turns with some random guys who still had juice in the tank.

I saw a Gerrard’s Cross sign and knew we were getting close to home. Then a sign for Ickenham and I perked up chasing down a guy who attacked our small bunch. In the end there were about three of us left. I think we took a wrong turn – someone mentioned cutting out a mile or two using last year’s course rather than the updated one. The ride was over 100k so I wasn’t at all bothered about this. 2 or 3 of us raced (slowly :)) for the finish.

Guide Hut! I dismounted and, as I had a sore lower back, tried to do my usual hamstring stretch. I almost bloody collapsed!! My lower back was totally fscked! For so long I’d been pushing harder than before, longer than before and I think my brain had been blocking any pain. Now it hit ‘back’ (excuse the pun). In the hut there were only about 10 other riders. I was pretty damn early back and quite happy about it. I think I was back at 1:07 and I stopped my clock at 3:33. Just over 3.5 hours for 110k is pretty damn good for me, even in a bunch!

Refilled my water bottle and then got stuck into a Coke and sticky bun. Chatted to one of the guys who was in our little group. He had a lot further to ride home than me and I certainly didn’t envy him. He was well impressed that I’d done 100k the day before considering my pace for this ride. He said he takes the day before off to rest up for these rides. I waited around for 45min before deciding I’d rather be at home. Ed and Richard hadn’t come in yet and I was to find out later they had a whole host of mechanical excuses failures and in the end rode in with Audax champ Darlene.

Map of the course: Willesden CC Reliability Ride Map

Read Ed’s better report here: Ed’s Willesden CC Reliability Ride Report

Some Powertap stats for Coach & Ed’s benefit..

140k for the day, 110k for the route (I’ve just had a look at the route sheet and it says “with nearly 10% free” haha so that’s where the extra came in.) completed in 3:33, averaging 31kph. I was very, very happy with this ride. It’s really the first proper hit out I’ve had, plus it was on the new bike and everything went well (except for the back pain – I later found my saddle was still 1cm further back than the Ribble!). If I can do this kind of ride for L2P and Wessex I’ll be stoked.