Charity Ride for Cystic Fibrosis
Leaving the warmth of the Burgess house wasn’t too bad due to the mild temps outside, but the legs weren’t feeling too great. I’ve been riding to work recently and I think it’s taking it’s toll on me-Wednesday saw an excursion into the undergrowth at high speed, resulting in one rather swollen knee as well-not good preparation for the ride. Anyway, CC and me left, Steve deciding to get a lift to the start. He warned us about the mud up past the racecourse, so we avoided that, but it didn’t stop my chain from jumping off. My chain did this a further two more times, so I thought I’d better tighten it up. Time was ticking away, I was already on the limit and thinking about giving up before I’d started-oh dear!
Scraping into Ditchling with a few minutes to spare, I was all in. Mark B handed me a goody bag comprising of a banana, a piece of flapjack and a back of beef jerky-insert your own jokes as we did! 11 o’clock came and we set off at a blistering pace set by Mark W. It felt easier going this way-maybe we had a tale wind? I felt a bit better, progress was good albeit all downhill for a few miles. We crossed the A27 and started the assault up above Kingston-this sorted the men out from the boys, but we needed to stay together as a team and regrouped at the top. Barrelling down the concrete road was high speed; getting across the two fields of cows was another matter. With the stickiest mud I’ve seen for along time, it ground everyone to a halt, apart from CC, who only just cleared it!
A quick nosh at the top saw Mark B trying the beef, which he claimed was good. At this point the eventual winners caught us, and we rode with them for the rest of the ride. Itford Hill was its usual self-brutal-I was glad to be on gears today! Once over the top, we cruised along to Firle and on up to the beacon. I was on a roll now, feeling good and ready for the run in to Seaford. We got to Bo Peep and turned right, catching loads of the other teams, including the Wanderers A team. I hit the front with Mark W and Steve, along with the other fast group and the fun began. Steve started to wind it up and got overtaken by the enemy, so I joined in-Mark said there was a lot of carnage behind me!
Popping out onto the road was a bit of an anti-climax, but meant we were nearly at the finish. Upon arrival, we were told we were one of the fastest groups, which was good, eventually having to make do with second place. Overall it had been a great ride, the weather had been kind and we worked well as a team, vowing to come back next year for top honours.
With the medal ceremony over, we all went our separate ways. I rode back home with a spent CC again, which probably saved me from blowing up! Once at home, I had a quick cuppa with the wife, washed the worst of the mud off of the mountain bike, got the road bike out and rode to Lewes to pick the Landrover up-it felt good at the time!
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