5- Up's are good

I was hoping for a couple more but it was another 5 - up last night for the steady training ride.

Average speed was up a peg on last week, I’d like to think that's because we are all getting fitter, that’s the idea of a training ride isn’t it, but it was probably more to do with getting over junctions quicker and the traffic lights have thankfully gone at Ollerton. I’ll settle for keeping bike fit over the winter anyway.

It’s a relatively easy start heading down Pexhill but it was a bit blusterry, a portent of things to come perhaps. Starting properly once across Siddington X roads Rich did the first turn at the front followed by Dave then Bartosz, as we turned left at Lower Withington it was Simon who took it to the turn into Forty Acre then your correspondent. This is going OK I thought to myself, getting this far without having to do any proper work 🤪. For sure it was a lot harder at the pointy end, it was one of those ride’s where the wind was everywhere except behind us. That's how it continued, the ride leader didn’t have very much to do apart from keep pedaling, there was wasn’t once a need to shout up “steady” or “easy on”, change’s were pretty slick, it was just a matter of keeping a eye on the time to make sure no one did more than a few seconds more than two minutes.

We've known worse but it was a full on headwind at Chelford. It's a good indication of how well things were going though that as we turned into Congleton Lane we were in exactly the same order as at the start of the circuit and the work was shared equally going up there, still into the wind but a bit more sheltered, there being just enough time for exactly one more turn each before getting back to Siddington. It fell for your’s truly to do the first shift going back up Pexhill, TBH I don't mind that, it's a relatively easy start, but I made sure I moved over and dropped back on the two minute mark. Rich was next in the still exactly the same line as over an hour before, I called him on two minutes and we were well on our way to Dark Lane by then but that was the last of the 5-up. It was Bortosz🥇 and Rich🥈 taking it up the steepest bit at Bearhust Lane with Fred 🥉 trying to hang on and failing 😤. So that’s how it finished, a hard enough steady ride with a hard enough (but optional) final push on.

That’s how it should be, I’am looking forward to the next one already and it would be even better with some new and / or returning face’s. Nigel and Kevin  who had done their own thing turned up at BX just after us, I’am sure they would have had a better ride  with us 🤔 and the Park Tavern could do with a few more customer’s 😎.