Met up with the Potters Bar group this morning - the 2 English guys from last week's ride and an Australian that I hooked up with on the way out. Werner didn't pitch up and I don't blame him - the sky was pitch black, it was cold and the forecast said there would be heavy rain. We agreed from the outset that it wouldn't be a 70-80 miler like last week... more like 40-50 miles - unfortunately I didn't bring my HR monitor with me, just the GPS.
The pace from the start was fairly brisk, with the Aussie and I at the front taking pulls through the light drizzle. At Whitwell we encountered some sort of cycling fun ride with lots of men, women and children having taken over the road. We weaved through them and since I was leading the group, missed our turn and ended up doing a big loop around the surrounding hills and back into Whitwell. One of the English guys punctured as we entered the town again so we waited for him to change his tube.
The ride back via Codicote was into the wind, though it wasn't too windy. I led most of the time and actually preferred it as there was lots of water on the road being flicked up from back wheels. At Welwyn with 30km to go the rain really started coming down and all I could think of was getting back home - I was absolutely soaked. Pushing the pace over the last few hills, I started dropping the other guys, so freewheeled on the down slopes to wait for them. By the time we got to Barnet I could hardly see where I was going and the busy traffic made the going dangerous with quite a few close calls. Thunder and lightning started up on the last 5km.
Made it home in one piece - wet, but not really very tired.
Distance:98.9km / 61.5mi
Time: 3:14:22 (5 min subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 30.6kph / 19.0mph
Elevation Gain: 959m / 3146ft
View this ride data at Motionbased
