stapfam

Around the end of May I have a problem- Too many rides to choose from that I want to do.

First of all I have my annual pilgrimage of the South Downs Randonnee. 100 miles off road,12 hrs of masochism with 10,000ft of climbing. This would be the 9th time of doing it, but not last year as My co-rider went sick 2 days before the ride. Then there is a 5 day 500miler on the road, that I would like to do, but will be one week later, and may be too near. Then at the same time as the 500 miler there is a 3 day Mountain bike festival that will take in a few different challenges to what I normally ride. Orienteering and plenty of hills to see if the legs work up against the youngsters.

Problem is I want to do all of them, but the choice will only be for one. I'll have to see how the training goes, but entries will close very shortly on all 3. What decided to look at all 3 was the ride today. Fantastic ride. Not really as it was too slippery for us to get comfortable on the uphills. The Tandem was sliding all over the place and riding style and pedalling effort was greatly modified. As soon as we put in power,we had wheelspin so steady up the hills with the pilot pushing down on the pedals, and me pulling up. It steadied out the torque into the back wheel and was hard for me, but we managed it. Then as we got on the road, we still felt good, so after a coffee, did an extra 10 miles on the road with a few slopes. At one point we had a couple of roadies pass us, and gave them 100yards start before going for them. When we caught them, and they were shifting, we were a bit breathless, but they were shattered. They had to show us amenity riders how a bike should be ridden, but it also proves how the winter training has gone.

Pics attached as the wife went out walking the dog and took her camera. This is the 1 km hill with 150 metre rise- our easy entry onto the hills and is a 15% climb average. normally good grip but temp below freezing so the clay was frozen over the wet chalk which gave NO grip. In the one with the Sun, look at the trees on the right- You can see how desolate and windswept this hill is by the angle of the trees. Picture of the solo rider shows the track condition and this is one of our group. Started riding 5 years ago, bike is nothing special, but over the years Has been upgraded to something that suits him and he weighs 112kgs. He has put on weight in the last year, despite cycling. Must be all the muscle he is putting on.