Training: EF-Ashridge-Ivinghoe-Bison-Shenley-EF

Another tough excursion into the Chilterns with a twist on the usual route, going through Ashridge Estate, over Ivinghoe from opposite to the usual direction, a detour through some flat country before swinging back and up over the dreaded Bison from the hurting west ascent. The weather was mild and slightly overcast with a light wind from the west.

The pace was mediocre over the first half of the ride and I contributed quite a lot of pace making at the front over these early miles. The ride through Ashridge was incredible - beautiful forest scenery and a few deer jumping across our path before passing the castle. At the top of Ivinghoe we'd lost Stav and Ben who'd turned back - they knew Bison was on the cards today!

When we did get to Bison, I immediately dropped back to ride it at my own pace, which worked out nicely as I managed to overtake a few riders on the way up - especially in the grueling middle section of 18% gradient. It felt like I was in a trance, dancing on the pedals. The pace quickened at the top and I'd caught up with the front riders on the descent.

On the straight, flat 5-mile road into St Albans we formed a nicely moving paceline and worked all the way into the town at 25mph. It was in St Albans, though, that I ran out of water (only took one bottle), so I knew I ran the risk of bonking over the next 20-miles to London. I didn't feel like stopping at a shop for a refill and then have to chase like mad to get back on, so I ground it out.

Kevin directed the group through the hills around Shenley and I could feel my energy fading quickly, though I did manage to stay on and even managed to take a few 5-minute pulls at the front. Eventually we made it to the coffee shop in Whetstone and everyone said they were knackered. Longest ride for quite a while, but came home feeling OK.

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Training: EF-Colney Heath-Radlett-Whetstone-EF

Damn Garmin GPS was on the blink today, so no stats :(. Nevertheless, a great club ride was had even though the numbers were a bit on the low side (8-9 of us). I helped out with the pace making for about 5km into the wind - tough work keeping up with the big man Trevor! He had a flat around Radlett and we stopped to help change the tube. The pace picked up on the last hill and run in into Whetstone. A good ride with no major pain after Thursday's big effort.

Distance - about 55km
Time: about 2 hours
Speed: sort of fast

2008 wrap up

Here's my top 5 rides for the year, though there are plenty that I'll remember for a long time to come...

The British Cyclosportive on July 1

Tour de France prologue in London (well I saw it anyway...) on July 7

A grueling summer club ride - the learning curve steepens! - August 5

My first race in many years - December 1

A very cold but rewarding club run - one to remember... December 23

Happy new year to all of you - let 2008 bring many more unforgettable rides ;)

Training: EF-Bulls Green-Welwyn-Colney Heath-EF

A really tough solo ride today. Decided to put the pressure on hard and ended up overdoing it quite a bit. Strange how a 77km ride can end up feeling like a 120km+ ride - it's all about the intensity...

Found a country lane that descended from Digswell hill on the way back, but wish I hadn't. It was a full on Paris-Roubaix style mud bath with loads of sharp corners and quick, steep hills that ran on for about 4km. By the time I exited this lane I was caked in mud. The last 30km were all into the wind and I suffered big time as I tried to maintain a reasonable pace - my HR shooting up very high.

The rest of the day has been spent in quite a lot of pain with aching muscles and butt!

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Training: EF-Mays Lane-Brickendon-EF

Easy solo ride today with working off extra Xmas weight in mind, so slow base miles was the intention. The weather was superb - sunny and cool - a big change from the horrid weather we'd been having recently.

I met another rider going my way on Mays Lane and we ended up riding together the rest of the way as he was from Leeds and didn't know the area too well. Keeping the pace steady, we had a good old chin wag along the country lanes. Before I knew it we were back in Barnet and the ride over. I greeted him farewell and rode home at a dawdle. A very nice ride!

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Training: EF-Gaddesden-Ivinghoe Beacon-EF

Definitely the coldest conditions I've ever ridden in today! The fog wasn't too thick when we left in the morning, but by the time we got up to Barnet we could hardly see where we were going. Werner was out today and we did about 10km at the front of the group, noticing that ice was building up on our clothing and eyebrows. Werner came up with a good one - "Frozen by Max Factor"...

The pace was quite slow as no one was in the mood for pain along with the pain of the freezing conditions and the roads were slippery and dangerous. After about 50km we suddenly had to make a stop and saw my front wheel sliding out from under me, but managed to control it by hoping onto a grassy patch. Someone behind me wasn't so lucky and went down - but he wasn't hurt.

We then went over Ivinghoe to get the HR going up. I found myself blocked on the way up and unfortunately let the front 5-6 guys open a gap of about 10-15 seconds. Kevin, Costa, Nick and I worked together to close them down and did do by the bottom of the descent. I was happy to see the guys didn't choose Bison hill to go over, but rather another nasty (but far from as difficult as Bison) hill called Bridens Camp which started off steep (11%) then evened out.

Werner suffered a flat here and I stayed with him to help change the tube. After that was a medium paced ride back through St Albans and back through Barnet and to the coffee shop in Whetstone. When I arrived home I saw my bike was in a right state - covered in frozen sludge, so got stuck in cleaning with a bucket, soap and sponge... ain't winter grand!

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Training: EF-Ware-Furneux Pelham-Essendon-EF

A very pleasant ride with the club. After last night's Xmas do, many of the guys were feeling a bit under the weather, so the pace was fairly slow for the first couple of hours, but there was plenty of chatter and fooling about as usual. We were joined by a few other riders, making our numbers about 15 or so. David was out with us today, but sadly no Werner who is probably still recovering after his crash...

A few turned back just outside of Ware, but about 10 of us carried on. The sun was out and although it was still very cold, the spirits were high and it was a great day to be out. On the way back, Ben, Steve and Trevor started giving it a bit of throttle and it felt good to be in the pain box for a while.

After Hertford David and i went to the front to give it some hurt, only to be a bit lacking by the time we reached the foot of Essendon. I dropped to the back once the climb started to do it at my own pace and ended up over taking 5 or so guys on the way up. I continued to chase up Elephant and almost caught up, but it wasn't enough to latch on for the next 5km of flat for which I chased alone. Before Potters Bar I caught Costa, but was caught behind a traffic light. I waited for a few other to catch up and the chase was on again through to Whetstone where we ended up only about 30-seconds behind the front guys.

Coffee was well deserved at the cafe, but as punishment for not staying with the leaders, I refrained from carrot cake...


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Training: EF-Broxbourne-Epping-Enfield-EF

Started with just 4 of us leaving from Finchley, but were joined by Kevin, Vince, Darren, Ben and Maurice at Barnet. I suffered an early puncture (again!) trying to bunny hop an unavoidable man-hole...

Stav, Ben, Andy, Darren and I decided to do a shorter loop as it looked like rain was threatening. As soon as we made our turn, the rain came pissing down and killed the enjoyment of being out in the beautiful Essex countryside.

Taking it mostly pretty easy we made our way through Waltham Abbey and back to North Finchley via Enfield. Another forgettable ride...

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Training: EF-Brookman's Park-Barnet-EF

A miserable, wet group ride that I bailed out of half-way through. I was shivering quite badly and was starting to feel numb in my legs and face by this point. After enjoying a nice tailwind out to Brookman's Park with the group (only 6 of us turned up), I caught a horrible headwind during my solo ride on the way back.

When I arrived home my legs were red from the cold. Hot bath sorted that out...

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Training: EF-Watford-Hemel Hempsted-EF

I decided to go out for the group ride this morning despite the warnings of extreme weather on the news - it was dry but overcast when I left home at 8:25. By the time I arrived at the meeting point, the rain was coming down steadily. About 8 of us set out from Finchley, with Werner and Darren joining up a bit further down the road. I punctured within the first mile of the ride, but quickly had it fixed with the help of Kevin (amazing how easy it is to put the tire back on these new wheels!)

We made a left at Potter's Bar and onto a route I'd never been on before. The rain and wind had picked up considerably by this point and I considered turning back at Shenley, but soldiered on despite the conditions. The pace was kept nice and steady all the way through Watford and up past Hemel Hempsted. The rain was becoming worse and worse and I was finding mud being flung into my eyes, making things even more dangerous. I could tell no one was having fun...

Eventually we turned onto a motorway with the wind behind us. Werner and I took turns at the front here, pulling the group along at 45kph+. We then encountered a rather long hill on which Werner promptly took off, leaving the rest of us behind. Didn't see him again as he turned off towards Potter's Bar. We continued on through to Barnet and eventually made it to the coffee stop in Whetstone. Everyone was covered in mud and grime and completely soaked. I helped myself to a well deserved slice of carrot cake along with cappuccino.

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Race: Hillingdon Race 1

First race of the Imperial Winter Series. There were two of us from Finchley Racing Team competing in the 4th Category event - both of us South Africans racing for the first time in the UK. We'd raced before back in SA, but separately and many, many years ago. Werner is 29 and I'm 31 and we were competing against guys that were for the most part 5-10 years younger than us, so it was a bit daunting. We have been training together with our club in London for the past 6 months, so we felt reasonably in shape.

After a few laps around the 2km course as a warm up, 55 riders lined up for the start. We had no concrete tactics - today would be a test of what the field was like and how we'd do against them. Werner was keen to break away from the gun, whereas I wanted to sit in, conserve energy and try for a break with 1-2 laps to go. The race was 30 minutes plus 5 laps, was completely closed circuit and featured only one really sharp corner, 200m from the start/finish line. We were given the go from the race official.

I managed to clip in and accelerate away pretty quickly and arrived at the sharp right-hander in about 15th wheel. the pace was manic throughout the first lap, but i managed to keep in the slipstream and in the top 20. My teammate was constantly in the top 5 places, looking for a break to go with. I was happy just not being dropped. On about the 5th lap i saw a gap had opened at the front and Werner was in it - 4 guys got away.

The pace increased for the next lap and i was just trying to hang on to the wheel in front of me, but soon realised that holding the wheel was not good enough. I saw another gap open up ahead - about 10 guys were chasing down my teammates group and they were leaving my group behind. Someone from behind must have noticed this because he went sprinting after them. I jumped on his wheel, hoping to get a lift to the leading chase group. We chased for a lap and eventually caught them. During this chase someone shouted at me to hold my line, but I hadn't done anything wrong - I told him to shut up take a chill pill. My god... I was trash talking. It felt cool and nasty!

The pace suddenly slacked off, but i knew there were still 4 guys up ahead which included Werner. Someone asked loudly if we'd caught them. I replied loudly that we had...and dropped them already! Hopefully they would believe me... We cruised along at a medium pace for another lap, but then some guys saw the breakaway on the opposite side of the course and the chase was back on.

The pain started creeping up on me as the pace was quickened - I could taste blood in my throat and my legs were turning to rubber. the pace was affecting other riders too - one guy cornered too wide and leaned into me from my inside, pushing me across the road, but managed to control it, both of us coming out OK. He apologised but I smiled - I was digging the danger and thrill of this race. From about this point I started feeling pumped with adrenaline and moved up in the pack.

My teammate's break was still out ahead, but with 2 laps to go I could see that we'd dragged them back to about 20 seconds. On the last lap the pace seemed to relax somewhat - I think they knew they weren't going to catch them. Just as i though about moving up in the pack for a possible sprint for 5th place, someone accelerated away off the front and the pace went up to 45-48kph. I couldn't further my position and by the time we arrived at the line i was toward the back of the group for an eventual placing of about 20th overall.

I found Werner after the warm-down lap. His sprinting was about as good as mine and as a result placed last in his group - 4th overall for the race. We were both fairly satisfied, but spoke about ways to improve our sprinting during the drive home. Next week we'll try again...


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