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Saturday, 10 October 2009
Audax: Straight on at Rosie's, 202km.
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Audax: Straight on at Rosie's, 202km.
My first 200km audax since May & boy do I know it. It's not one I've ridden before so that made it all the more interesting.
There were 50ish riders entered for ths ride, including I think some late entries for those watching the weather. We all set off on time & a couple of regular VC167 riders from up north set off at a cracking pace. We soon settled into a group of five or six but I tried to be sensible & as I felt the pace was a little too much for me I let them drift away with the VC167 boys pushing on & dropping us all. There was some yo-yoing with a couple of the other riders until I settled into a pace that matched 'John', at about the 15km mark, who I'd met on a few of the Alfreton based audaxs earlier in the year. At this point there was only the VC167 duo ahead of us. We both know the route to Rosies, the first check-in at 62km, having ridden it several time before. As we approached the level crossing just South of Retford the barriers came down, however the duo were just ahead the other side, & appeared to be just starting off. After a wait here we pushed on to Rosies, 62km at 31kph & it didn't seem very windy. After a quick cuppa & refill of the water bottles, oh yeah & a pea, we set of with the duo as a foursome for the ride up to the turn & information point 39km away, flat, open and with a slight headwind. I might have known the duo would try to rip our legs off, we stuck with them for the first 25km, & that was at 30+kph, before we decided to let them go & have a breather, we weren't at the halfway mark yet after all. This route is unusual as from the turn we retrace for some 16km, so we passed the duo a couple of kms from the turn & were invited to turn & join them, we declined the invitation & felt happy with the descision as we felt sure we'd have had our legs ripped up some more if we had of turned. We made the turn & passed several riders on our way back & were grateful of the tail breeze. After the turn off of the out route it was less than 10km to the second check-in at Epworth. We opted to use the local shop & get a reciept as had the 167'ers. Fed & waterd we set off on the final 80km section, this time we'd let the duo go on ahead. No more stops or info's in this secton only the wind on our faces to contend with. We had just one route hic-cup around Whitwell, even tho' it turns out I'd plotted it correctly into my Garmin, we were getting tired & I think I was doing most of the navigation, John had done the ride before & was relying on memory. With less than 20km to go we made a right turn only to find the duo stopped but facing towards us! I had researched the routesheet & route & felt there were a couple of anomallies in this area but was confident of our turns & direction. The four of us continued, in the right direction, but soon came to a climb so John & I stayed at our own pace & let the duo go. My legs are getting VERY tired by now & at this stage John has probably got the edge on me, but we stick together & roll in just a few minutes behind the VC167 duo at 3.50pm. I'm pleased with this ride as I haven't ridden the distance since June & had set myself a target time of 3.30-4.00pm....Spot on. A great days ride with a good weather & company....
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Audax: Straight on at Rosie's, 202km.
My first 200km audax since May & boy do I know it. It's not one I've ridden before so that made it all the more interesting.
There were 50ish riders entered for ths ride, including I think some late entries for those watching the weather. We all set off on time & a couple of regular VC167 riders from up north set off at a cracking pace. We soon settled into a group of five or six but I tried to be sensible & as I felt the pace was a little too much for me I let them drift away with the VC167 boys pushing on & dropping us all. There was some yo-yoing with a couple of the other riders until I settled into a pace that matched 'John', at about the 15km mark, who I'd met on a few of the Alfreton based audaxs earlier in the year. At this point there was only the VC167 duo ahead of us. We both know the route to Rosies, the first check-in at 62km, having ridden it several time before. As we approached the level crossing just South of Retford the barriers came down, however the duo were just ahead the other side, & appeared to be just starting off. After a wait here we pushed on to Rosies, 62km at 31kph & it didn't seem very windy. After a quick cuppa & refill of the water bottles, oh yeah & a pea, we set of with the duo as a foursome for the ride up to the turn & information point 39km away, flat, open and with a slight headwind. I might have known the duo would try to rip our legs off, we stuck with them for the first 25km, & that was at 30+kph, before we decided to let them go & have a breather, we weren't at the halfway mark yet after all. This route is unusual as from the turn we retrace for some 16km, so we passed the duo a couple of kms from the turn & were invited to turn & join them, we declined the invitation & felt happy with the descision as we felt sure we'd have had our legs ripped up some more if we had of turned. We made the turn & passed several riders on our way back & were grateful of the tail breeze. After the turn off of the out route it was less than 10km to the second check-in at Epworth. We opted to use the local shop & get a reciept as had the 167'ers. Fed & waterd we set off on the final 80km section, this time we'd let the duo go on ahead. No more stops or info's in this secton only the wind on our faces to contend with. We had just one route hic-cup around Whitwell, even tho' it turns out I'd plotted it correctly into my Garmin, we were getting tired & I think I was doing most of the navigation, John had done the ride before & was relying on memory. With less than 20km to go we made a right turn only to find the duo stopped but facing towards us! I had researched the routesheet & route & felt there were a couple of anomallies in this area but was confident of our turns & direction. The four of us continued, in the right direction, but soon came to a climb so John & I stayed at our own pace & let the duo go. My legs are getting VERY tired by now & at this stage John has probably got the edge on me, but we stick together & roll in just a few minutes behind the VC167 duo at 3.50pm. I'm pleased with this ride as I haven't ridden the distance since June & had set myself a target time of 3.30-4.00pm....Spot on. A great days ride with a good weather & company....
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Audax: Straight on at Rosie's, 202km.
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