An amazing turnout at woodhatch again on a Saturday morning with lots of riders pleased to see a bit of warmer weather and of course the chance to get out on their bikes again! And so it was that there were many familiar faces joining me for the G4 ride....the two Steves, Chris, Damon, Graham, Simon and Stuart.
As it happened, we were barely 200 yards down Prices Lane when it became clear that today as well as the lumpy stuff we were going to have to contend with another enemy....the wind! Met office forecasts were suggesting winds in excess of 25mph and boy oh boy could you tell. Still, we weren't to be held back and while the roads were damp it was a dry and, by recent standards, a warm day. Reasons to be cheerful...well, with just a few miles on the clock anyway!
The route took us out on the long loop to Box Hill via newdigate, giving all a chance to stretch their legs before taking on the climb...for me and many others the first decent bit of uphill work for some weeks! Graham and Damon flew up the hill as if the wind was behind them. It certainly wasn't behind me, and the effort I expended to keep Stuart honest into the wind meant that by the time I reached the top I was far closer to being reacquainted with my cornflakes than I would have liked! But this is what the g4 ride is all about...misery in good company haha!
We pressed on to the tea stop, cafe chocolat in Walton on the Hill, where we opted to take our pit stop outside, as you can see from the pic. And it was outside here that we picked up our first female fan, having been congratulated on the sight of cyclists out in all weathers by a passer by...no guide dog either by the way!
After the stop we said goodbye to 'CFC' Steve, Simon and Chris, and the five remaining took the long and lovely descent down to ashtead. Now it had been windy up to this point, but our route had jinked and weaved and as a result we hadn't faced it's intensity for a sustained period. Until now! We made our way back towards Leatherhead and Boxhill with a wind pushing against us that was bordering on savage. I needed this aero resistance about as much as I need to put on weight, and by the time we got to the bottom of Boxhill I can't deny I was absolutely shattered. You can imagine my joy then when we made our way home the long way round, grinding up the A24 out from Dorking, the 'peloton' fractured at this stage, no thoughts about keeping up, just trying to keep going!
But as I have said on here many times now, this group just doesn't give up. Which means I can't give up. That's what makes me a much better cyclist than I would ever be without these rides. And so it was we find ourselves back where we started, around 45 miles done, nearly 3000 ft of climbing and av speed of only 15 mph which felt much, much harder than it sounds!
Martin B