Yay! Look at me, riding with the fast girls again! Ok, so they all had a pretty busy weekend, and PoshTotty was coming back from injury, but here I am! Not only that! Not. Only. That! I was 'ride leader' (notice I didn't use capitol letters there!). But today there was, me (of course) then PoshTotty (Old girl, you are stating the obvious now!) then we had Karen and Jo, but also we had a newbie, Alex, a friend of Yogabear!
I arrived at the shop exactly at 10, and there was no one there! I was afraid I had missed them all, as they all so fast! But I waited a couple of minutes and then they all arrived. First Alex, followed by Karen, Jo and Poshtotty. We are missing all the others, but I am sure we will all be riding together again soon.
As Posh was wanting a nice gentle ride it seemed that Downe Village was the destination. Of course, for the ladies, this is a gentle one, for me is eyeballs out puffing out my backside, but it's a good training route for me! I will get to their standard, if it kills me I will! So I lead the way, and I was immediately in a dilemma. Do I go really fast as I can, just so the girls don't get too bored, or just poodle along, nice conversational pace (for me that is), hmmm. A difficult one. From where we start, wherever we go it's all uphill! I just know I can't pace as fast as the girls on the hills! Give me a down hill and I'm there!
So it just left me just trying to do something in between. We were heading up hill and I was going as best as I could. Their girls came along side and chatted to me, when it was safe to do so of course. And then Alex said she would take up the lead for a while! I had just realised, they were all slip streaming! I was doing all the hard work! Of course I am jesting, we were not going that fast to cause a slipstream!
Once we were on the road that leads to Downe the girls all went before me "See you at the top" they said, apart from Posh, she was still behind me "I right here" she said. So I kept on pedalling all the way to the top! The others were waiting there for us, and as usual, photo time! This is them, looking lovely,
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| Jo, Alex, Karen and PoshTotty (Mary-Anne) |
and this is me, looking blimmin knackered!
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| Me......having a kip! |
Oh, and this PoshTotty, always good to get a selfie!
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| You need to do a selfie!! |
We carried on along Single Street. Today, as there were five of us, there was no need for me to do the nasty little hill, you know the one, the one that defeated me last week! As there were plenty of them to tackle the hill it only left me to ride on the hard bit. The skinny path way, with the dangers of the barbed wire fence and the fear that another cyclist might come in the other direction! Someone had to do, and I felt it was my duty, as a Panagua lady to tackle this difficult part!
I always feel so much better once we are all back together and riding up Berrys Green Hill. I can do this road, even though it's uphill. It's still uphill, and I seemed to ride up it easier, shall we say, than the hills so far. Maybe its psychological, maybe I know that at the top of this road is the wonderful undulations (mostly down hills) and then Cudham Lane! The long down hill! It certainly does put a smile on my face and energy into my boots.
We took a break at the Shampan, and Karen shared her snack. Absolutely delicious it was too! Some sort of coconut thing with chocolate! Tasted far to delicious for looking like a healthy snack! Then it was time to do the next bit! Down and up the undulations. I was really enjoying the longest part of the down hill along Grays Road, until I was faced with a car coming through on my green light! They had temporary lights set up as they were busy tree cutting, or whatever it is they are doing there. But it was totally obvious the car coming through had jumped the lights on the other side!. I had to pull up at the bottom of the hill, so losing the momentum of getting back up the other side! Tut, I was not pleased!
And so it was time for Cudham Lane! "Go on then Old Girl" they said, get going. They all know I love a down hill. I set off, I picked the pace up as much as I could. I was so enjoying the flat bits and the slight uphills and then it was the downhills all the way to the bottom. I was just so enjoying it, "Come on then!" said Posh as she sped past me! Now she has certainly conquered her fear of the down hills and was just flying out in front!
We got to the bottom and turned around, just a few seconds more and then other three came down and joined us! Brilliant, you gotta love a down hill! And now, we go back up! Up to Farnborough Village! Boy do I hate hills!! But at the top of this one is a lovely cafe! Look, this is what we had...... although Karens arrived a little late........and she sat there and waited patiently too!
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| Ok, so we started it before I captured it on camera! |
After our coffee and munchies we went home. A great ride, a toughie for me, but so nice to be riding with the girls again!
Geeky stats......with a bit missing, nothing has changed there then! Ooops, I just remembered why there is a bit missing! My Garmin stopped after I bent my wrist and accidently turned it off! And why did I accidently turn it off....I hear you ask? Well, here's the thing. I was tired, I was getting up this last hill, turning left and trying to continue to get up the hill! Before turning left I unclipped my shoes, just in case I need to put a foot down, but I must have clipped back in again and didn't realise. Now, remember I was tired, it was a hill and I struggled to get up it!
I turned my handlebars into the kerb, and it hit, I tried to put a foot down but of course it was stuck. Cue one large pink lady falling slowly (thankfully) to the left onto the soft grass (again thankfully). I giggled, I looked around to see if I was seen and the got up quickly and walked up the rest of the hill! Hmmmm, next time, make blimmin sure it's unclipped!
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