hairy leg brigade

A bunch of bike riders who worship the journey and the coffee at the end more then their cycling image, some of them even have beards!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

An Alex of a week

Talk around the team was to have a training camp/challenge of sorts, 5 consecutive days of riding "The North Road". It was meant to be this week except we missed Monday. Lucky it wasn't as even though I rode it 3 times, 3 times I failed to finish with the bunch.

Last week I had a week off. A week to get energised about riding again, stretches, weights, controlling my diet. This ended in a feeding fest with no more stretching and straining then required to scratch my ear. One day I went out for lunch, had lamb shank and 2 beers. At 4pm that day I got the munchies and got stuck into a couple of pieces of frozen pizza from a stash I have. Seeing that jaffas are back in stock in the lolly jar, led me to get a couple of cups loaded with jaffas and stash them away somewhere for when there are no jaffas in the jar. Then I proceeded to fill my mouth and pockets with a supply for the afternoon. Thinking of my stretch/weights/weight loss promise for the week, I planned to skip dinner that night. This turned into eating spaghetti bolognese, seconds with 300 g of shredded cheese stirred through, finishing my son's meal to the disappointment of the dogs and 2 ice creams in cones.

Tuesday: dropped off about 80% through near the Brighton Savoy hotel. Just didn't have it in me. My lungs felt fine, my legs felt fine, just could not turn the pedals any faster. A gap of a bike, 2 bikes, I get back on, I fall back, the elastic breaks. I arrive at the end only a couple of minutes back on Alex and Joel who have the pleasure of seeing me fall of my bike as I try to balance whilst my chain drops off.

Wednesday: Recovery day. I go out with Ash. The pace a nice 36km/h out to Mordialloc. All is going well but I still do find the odd hill a bit strenuous. At the turnaround point the pace lifts and Ash has told me that on previous occasions this is where he gets dropped. He does a bit too much work to bridge a gap. By the time I give him some respite in the form of a wind break, it is too late. He is tired and the pack slips away. I decide that he will be right and I need to jump back on. I push hard but all I get is to catch more fragments left behind the main group. Although I felt strong bringing the dregs of the peleton to the end, I hit the wall on the way back to the office and can barely hit 23 km/h on the bike path. Mouth full of jaffas helps me get my recovery on the way.

Thursday: I am hyped, I feel I have recovered from the last 2 days. I do a final stretch, the group moves off the start, I finish stretching and ride in pursuit. I find it hard to catch up. What was I thinking, a bit of extra stretching has set me up for being last. The second set of lights catch me out as they go red, I ride on but a toot from a motorist stops me. I want to show that cyclists do follow the road rules. The last 2 riders make it through and there I am, the blinking lights of the back of the pack are starting to disappear in front of me and it has not even been a kilometer.

I chase. I can still see the faint red flicker, or is it just a car behind a fence, a tree, the obstruction causing the flicker? All I need is a set of lights to go in my favor. South road, and just that happens, I reach the back of the pack just as they leave. I am on, almost. Ash starts to drop back, I go past him, still 2 bike lengths back from the pack. I ride on. I am on, I am not, I am on, I am out! Again the flashing lights start to dim through the increasing gap. Damn, I get a red light. I ride on still with the hope of catching, I catch up to another rider who has been shed by the speed of the peleton. He moves in behind me and I keep riding. I am comfortable at 44 km/h. If I am riding this strong by myself, how was it that I got dropped?

My compatriot in the chase does a turn at the front. We see some flashing lights in the darkness of the morning peak hour, he ups the speed, is it the group, or just some more dropped riders? Yes it is the whole group, we are motivated again and start to take short turns at a high tempo of around 51 km/h. All we need is another set of lights in our favor. Warrigal road comes up, 3 sets of lights in a row set out like the net of a fisherman, damn, we get the red and the group disappears. Is it all over? as we move off, I am still in hope, worst case I can cut the final corner, maybe I should cut it here just to be sure?

Another set of lights at the base of a long downhill has netted our quarry. A whole pack of cyclists, just standing still, only their red flashing lights showing any sign of life. I can almost reach out to them. I chase, i put my head down, almost there. The lights change and they move off, I am only 200m behind them. I approach the lights and they turn amber, I stop. So close.

Again I ride on. With the other rider we switch lanes to cut the corner. We weave through some dense traffic, and point our bikes down a hill to beach road. On the way up the hill is a pack that rides a different route through the suburbs, beyond them there is the still empty road that will reunite me with the north road ride. I am half way down the hill, just 100m to go and a right hander and I am in. I look up and across flash the single file of riders, the North Road ride. Again I am behind them, again only 50 meter, 100 meters the head wind is impossible. I am barely able to stamp out 30km/h, 200 meters, gone.

I merge back into the suburbs to try and regroup with the pack that rides through the suburbs, I see them, but the wind is still just as strong around the houses and trees, I am 300 meters back. I never give up but I never catch them either.

 

posted by MichaelM @ 11:29 AM 

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