North Cheshire Clarion club run 2 May 2010

That was flippin hard work....

A cold day in May saw just 4 of the Clarion faithful assemble at the usual place and time. As soon as I saw who had turned up I knew I was in for a hard time and I wasn't to be disillusioned. As soon as we set off we set a pace of 19+ mph and for the duration of the next 70 miles that speed was maintained on the flats of Cheshire and there was many many miles of flat...

Needles to say by the time we reached our cafe stop, the Venetian Marina Cafe in Cholmondeston Nantwich, my legs were a just a little fatigued probably due to the fact that we had a 15mph wind that helped us for the first quarter of the ride and then became a side and head wind for the rest of the ride combined with the relentless speed we rode. Also there was very few opportunity's for rest as we only stopped on one occasion on the way to the cafe and that was because Andy wanted to check out what looked like a fake stone war memorial made out of sheet metal dumped on the edge of a field somewhere out yonder. Other than that stop and the occasional traffic light or junction it was a constant 19+ mph or a fast balls out climb on the hills and inclines we came across - balls out to me that is...

After the cafe stop the same fast pattern was resumed but I tired quickly and found it hard at times to maintain the pace. I was concious of the fact that since the cafe stop I had done nothing on the front so when I managed to work my way to the front my stay there didn't last long due to the fact we hit a hill and I was overtaken by the climbing goats.... I did try, honestly I did :).

So to sum up it was a fast 70 mile run - I (we) worked very hard for long stretches at a time with no letup - we only stopped twice for more than a minute (plus the cafe stop) and my legs were quite shot come the end of the ride but there was a few plus points, OK there was one, the dark clouds that dominated the horizon did stay on the horizon, did feel a few spots of rain but that was all...

My Stats
70.89 miles, 4hrs 10min, Avg speed 17mph, 1621 ft climbing (Bikehike)