Mrs Mark reminded me later on today that braggarts will not inherit the earth - that's not how it actually goes however I hear what she is saying but I'm going to ignore her just this once by pointing out that today I managed to win not 1 not 2 not even 3 but 4 yes 4 sprints. Granted there was only me trying for the first three of them but the fourth, well I won that one fair n square - I will talk about that later...A cool start from Stretton with a great turnout of 16. Today the weather was a will it won't it rain, do I don't I bring my rain jacket. Decided to take my chances with no rain jacket and off we set in a counter clockwise direction. A nice steady pace to start with but because I'm my mothers son and mummy being a Maltese person who thrives in the warmth but literally freezes in the cold, the coolness of the day had me shivering for miles upon miles before the first sprint of the day warmed me up greatly and made me a happy person.
Onwards we rode sometimes fast sometimes slowly on the flat roads of our route with nothing much of interest to write about except at one point our NCC pelaton was overtaken by this big bald guy that stood out greatly as every bit of flesh we could see was tattooed, his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his face and his bald head. We let him go seeing as he looks the type of guy you just don't want to mess with if you want to keep all your bones intact. We let him go for perhaps 500 yards until Phil J pushed one of my buttons by shouting "GO HUNT HIM DOWN" or something like that and off I go along with young Martin and old(ish) Gaz. Down in the drops I went giving a fair bit of welly but he was riding at a fair old lick himself and it must have taken 5 minutes at least to catch up to him but now caught what do I do now? I glance behind to notice that the other two had backed off slightly so I rode up alongside and had a good old chat with him before he turned off for home in Hale Nr Altrincham, jolly nice guy he was...
The next stop was the lavender farm tea rooms Nr Dunham. Tea, cake n scones and off we rode for the final leg of the trip. Again nothing much to say except I kept on the lookout for 30 signs and won a couple of sprints but in fairness to everyone else I think there was only me that really put a spurt on so hardly good victories! However the last 30 sign of the day had 3 of us sprinting for it. Matt was on the front with me close behind and young whipersnapper Martin behind/alongside me. I spot the 30 sign approx 500 yards away so mentioned something about a sprint when Matt took off and it definitely was sprint well and truly on and this time I had real competition. So off goes Matt and he's a bike n half in front, I give it loads and slowly catch him and come alongside, Matt gives another burst so I give it a kick which gained me a few inches, I kick again and again and again until I've passed Matt, I look to my right to see Martin's too close for comfort so kick again and manage to just keep him at bay before crossing the imaginary finish line at the 30 sign. I think Martin was just being polite, I reckon if he wanted to being a youngster an all he could easily have took me if he so wished...
Today I got the best out of my Scott Addict, the stiffness that this bike is well known for was very evident every time I 'kicked', every kick I gave it was rewarded with an immediate response that allowed me to win that last sprint. Today 'Scotty' did me proud ;-)
My Stats
42.82 miles, 2 hrs 35 min, Av Speed 16.6mph, 1545 ft climbing (Bikehike)
Random photo taken last week. Zach my 10 yr old faithful Dobermann
Zach is our 4th Dobermann.
Prince 1983 - 1993
Lori 1984 - 1997
Shawn 1993 - 2000
Zach 2000 - hopefully forever
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