EF-Welwyn-Hitchin- Whitwell-Welwyn-EF (114.4km)

Today's club ride joined up with the Welwyn club, Shorter-Rochford and others for a tribute ride for Pete Bissell who recently passed away at the age of 21. He was the under 23 British RR Champion and was riding as a continental pro in France. His sudden death was a big shock to the cycling community in Britain and especially so for a lot of club riders in North London. Almost everyone in my club had known Pete since he was just a boy, so it was fitting that we join the tribute ride.

We were running slightly late for the meet at Welwyn track so had to push the pace quite hard early on in order to get there in time. When we did arrive there were about 50 riders in the Welwyn track parking lot waiting for the ride to start. After about 20 minutes of waiting and a quick announcement from Darren (who was especially good friends with Pete), we got moving. The icy conditions were a bit much for some in the early miles and a low speed crash brought down 4 riders. Our club guys decided to take the main road instead and we were the first up Digswell Hill.

Waiting at the top of the hill for everyone else to catch up for 10-minutes or so made most of us realise that it was best to split up the ride into various abilities. A group of about 30 of us took the lead and the other slower riders formed groups along the road behind us. By the time our front group arrived in Codicote, were were already far ahead of the other groups so we decided to keep going at our own pace.

On the Hitchin road I had a brief chat to Darren, expressing my condolences... these early miles were done at base pace and was a time for reflecting on Pete Bissell's life and what a great character we was. The mood changed when a car tried overtaking our group only to find oncoming traffic coming straight towards it. The lead oncoming car broke hard and veered off the opposite side of the road, but a car behind this one crashed into the back of it. It didn't seem as if anyone was majorly hurt, so we continued riding. The car that did try overtaking us finally had it's chance after narrowly avoiding a head-on collision, and accelerated past at a manic speed - some people!

After Hitchin Trevor went to the front and upped the pace for a few miles and I helped out a bit in the front along with Andy, Vince and Darren. One of the Shorter riders came up to the front and asked us to slow down as riders were dropping off the back like flies. Trev eased off, but only slightly. After a long, cold descent into a valley, we made a left onto a new road for me and up a hill called Gray's Hill... and it was bloody hard! I managed to stay with the front 5 riders until about half way up, but then went into oxygen debt and made a reluctant decision to ease off and drop back. One by one riders started overtaking me until I was riding in no-mans land - 15 riders cresting the hill, me, then a mish-mash of single and paired riders crawling along to the top.

I decided not to wait for others to catch me up, but instead take up the chase alone - bombing down the other side and then through a small village littered with speed bumps. The front group was out of sight, but I was aided by a slight tailwind and kept the pressure on as hard as I could take it. After about 10-minutes I finally saw the tail of the group and gave it one last big dig to catch on. Recovering at the back of the group I glanced back to see who had made the bridge as well - there wasn't anyone there.

The pace relaxed along the Whitwell road, back through Codicote and returning to Welwyn where half the guys turned off to have coffee and lunch at the track's restaurant. There were 7 of us left, all from Finchley RT. Stav and Nick had turned back ages ago. With 25-miles to go I was already feeling wasted and of course it is exactly at times like these that Trev and Vince go to the front... The pace was high and my legs were turning more and more to lead on every one of the small hills we climbed. I felt extremely grim on the last hill up to Potter's Bar as I hung on to the front two at 20mph.

Everyone expressed how complete devastated they felt (except, of course, the main instigators of the pain dealing!) when we arrived at our coffee stop. ! My body now feels beat up and violated....just nasty!


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EF-Brookman's Park-Radlett-EF (60.0km)

The Finchley boys are definitely upping the pace by a few notches! After doing a few long turns at the front I felt pretty tired - the excess of food and drink over the holiday period catching up with me. After the first hill, Trevor and Vince decided to cancel our little social gathering by turning the ride into a hammer fest deluxe!

Gone were the usual two lines - suddenly everyone was at 95% and hanging on to the wheel in front of them - one by one the unfit were dropping off the back. Shouts of "f****ing hell, EASY - so and so is off the back" kept coming forward, but Trev and Vince were having none of it. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hang on all the way, even on the last flat section along Mays Lane when the pace was at 50kph+. Even Stav managed to stay on and surprisingly attacked everyone when the pace started slacking off. He didn't last long!

Arriving at the coffee shop, I was speechless and coughing badly. A few new years resolutions running through my head.......

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EF - Brookman's Park - Barnet - EF (38.9km)

Easy solo ride with effort on the hills only. Surprisingly quick time despite lack of pace. Was going to go out with the club at 10am, but I woke up too late... Saw them gathered at the coffee stop on the way back home.

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