Training: EF-Sandon-Buntingford-EF

Official maiden voyage of my new bike - I have called her Eleanor because she is French.

Rode up to Potter's Bar at 10am in the hope that there might have been a large group for the Sunday group ride...but there was no one. As it was still 9:55 I waited for a bit - and was joined by three other guys - two English weekend warriors and an ex-pro South African rider!

We headed off with me leading out the group. The South African, Werner, and I got chatting about all things South African and how we were finding it out here in England - very cool guy and a pleasure to ride with. He said that he'd stopped racing 5 years before and that he was just getting back into serious riding again - it didn't show - this guy was fast, especially on the hills and we kept having to wait for the other two.

We stopped in Buntingford for a cuppa tea and headed back toward London, though there was a fierce headwind to impede our speed. The two slower guys we not handling too well and they told us saffas to not wait - they knew the way. So Werner and I took off into the hills around Bayford - it was here that I could see how strong Werner was - was struggling to hold his wheel on the steeper parts. Lack of miles in his legs soon caught up with him as we went into the last 10-miles before Potter's Bar - he started lagging behind and said that he almost "blacked-out" on the last hill.

At Potters Bar we shook hands and agreed to meet up again for some more riding - a very cool maiden cruise on Eleanor (saddle is a bit painful, but I'm probably just getting used to it...and the rear mech definitely needs replacing - lots of jumping) and hopefully a cool riding partner for the future.

Distance: 123.3km / 76.6mi
Time: 4:14:47 (5 min subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 29.1kph / 18.1mph
Calories: 5304
Elevation Gain: 1321m / 4334ft
Heart Rate: 144bpm (avg) / 185bpm (max)

View this ride data at Motionbased