What else can you do with weather like this??

Encouraged by the wettest year in history (well certainly feels like it), I replied to the Oxshott PTC email regarding spin classes, booked in and was soon heading in that direction for a 'spin' class.  Dave had setup a session in the Squash courts with a big projection on the nice white squash court wall.  The plan for the session was to warm-up, ride 10 x 1 min, then 2 x 8 min climb sessions and a warm down.  Joining me on this European ride was Dave himself and Sam Teague - both of them Spin Instructors.  Having established the pedigree of my fellow riders, naturally I grabbed my SWRC shirt (modified for Alpine climbing, with full length zip) and figured I would show them how 'A' Group do it...  :-)  Obviously I had ridden the 15 miles there and was going to ride home too....and that was my excuse....



Rarely do I smile during my turbo sessions, but certainly the group (small) atmosphere was great and I was punching the air as I sprinted for the line at the end of the intervals.  The climbs were tough with attacks to vary the intensity, and the video editor had a particular dislike of Contador - but who doesn't??


Full schedule commences Jan 7th....sure beats sitting in my garage.....

A tale of 3 cafes

an enjoyable ride was nearly made far less enjoyable yesterday by a lack of a tea stop.

1 The village shop at Ockley- shut will jan 2nd. Not surprising.There was always….

2 Tanhouse Farm ---Ferme. Disaster. So off to a taste of Portugal...

3 on the one way system in Epsom for espresso and Portugese egg flan.Delicious and as always ours were the only English voices in the  cafe-bar.

Nick

cent cols photos

For anyone who is interested here is a link to some photos-quite a lot actually-taken by the professional photographers paid by Rapha to cover the event.Some of them are very good and give a good idea of the event. There are a few of me demonstrating a degree of discomfort It is easy to spot the riders on the Zoncolan-look for the weaving …. PHOTO LINK 

Nick

C Group Sunday 23 December 12

A serious lack of cycling miles this year, before and since my heart operation towards the end of March (heart valve repair and triple bypass). However what better incentive to swing my leg over a bike and head for Cobham this Sunday than to wish the C group a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The sensible group leaders Paul and Linda had deferred the weekly ride to Sunday on account of Saturday’s persistent rain and indeed the Sunday morning was pleasantly dry, mild with a SW breeze. The lack of miles meant what used to be my normal 9 mile warm up from Kingston to Cobham was surprisingly taxing but I had no intention of joining the C’s for the day’s ride – the journey out to Cobham along the old Portsmouth Road and back via Oxshott and Claygate would suffice for the moment.

Paul and Linda - C Group guides for the Surrey Lanes and teashops.

The C group assemble at Cobham Sunday 23 December before setting off to Tanhouse Farm for a rewarding assault on the Farm’s cake selection.

Steve Tidman unashamedly and rightly proud of his co-ordinated clothing. No doubt Santa visited Steve early this year. Best wishes to all South Westerners and particularly those on the hard road to recovery – Paul, Maggie, Matt and apologies to those still on the mend whose names I have missed out.

Some Elfy "C" Group members.

Can you recognise any of these "C" group rogues ? This is what we do when its too wet to ride !!!!

Where is this?

oooops .......

Some of you may have wondered where I've been. Sure I moved to East London but even that doesn't account for such a lengthy absence.

On Saturday 27th October, I set out on my regular Essex training ride. I seem to recall it was a bit chilly but aside from that nothing remarkable. According to my Garmin I was 32 miles into my ride when disaster struck. I was on a small lane when apparently I took corrective action to avoid a pothole and ended up hitting another and went over the bars and landed pretty badly. Luckilly I was spotted by a nearby householder and they were able to alert the emergency services and keep an eye on me until they arrived.

The next thing I remember it was a few days later and I was in hospital and only able to see from one eye. Apparently I'd had to be airlifted to Romford hospital and I was a bit bashed in, I'd taken impact on my face and damaged my right cheekbone and a nerve serving that eye. I stayed in hospital 10 days and was well looked after (incidentally should you find yourself in hospital the tea is very recommended). Joyce my wife was hugely supportive and I will never be able to thank her enough for all she did (and is still doing!).

Anyway I was eventually let home to recuperate. This quickly gets pretty boring, just sitting around the house all day - after about a fortnight I was desperate to be back at work - mainly to have something to fill the day!

We're now about 7 weeks in, my health is good, I'm back at work, my memory has improved and I'm just waiting on that right eye now. Last week I set the turbo up - it was so good to be on a bike and exercising again - if anyone has any tips to make this more bearable though they will be most welcome (especially as it could be a few more months before the eye starts to co-operate again).

I'm well on the road to recovery now and I'd like to thank all the members who got in touch - it meant a lot thank you. Of consolation to me is the fact that it is winter and riding is a bit limited right now - as long as I'm fit for spring!

Weirdly I'd been thinking about driving to Cobham on the day of the accident and riding with the As - if only.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year

2008 - Chris Hoy
2011 - Mark Cavendish
2012 - Bradley Wiggins
Will Cycle sport ever top this?

Rogate Downhill

Here's another venue not too far away to visit if you want to improve your mountain bike skills.

Connect London

A's clubrun to Hindhead

We had 14 and one of the largest group out on the A group clubrun on Saturday. It was a little cold and never really getting up above 3'c all day. I had over dressed but only overheated climbing up to Beacon hill where we all stopped for lunch at the National Trust tearoom at Hindhead. Since the last time I was here, the tunnel under the hill had opened to traffic on the A3 and the old twisty road over Hindhead had closed. This meant that the road to the cafe is now at the end of of the road from the main junction. Richard French was out but headed straight home from the cafe.

Nick, Colin, Matt, Niall, Andy, Richard H, Trevor, Ralph, Graham, Mark, Barry, John.

SWAT in Swindley

With home commitments on the saturday ,Matt and I  took advantage of a stunning day to go for a mtb ride in Swindley Forest.Matt knows it well and I had never been.There are a lot of mountain bikers there -and understandably so.It is a vast area and there is a wide range of forest roads and lots of single track. Two or three sections gave us a great time-including the imaginatively named Corkscrew which merited a couple of turns.
We rode one section of built up large humps in a valley and Matt said he had seen the ambulance helicopter there in the past -collecting what he described as the Young and Reckless. Ten minutes later we came across said helicopter picking up the a Middle Aged and Should Know Better. He had ridden into a tree -v easy to do there -but seemed not too badly hurt as he could stand .

There is a bit of a climb ,even more imaginatively named K2 ( they really need to get out more these Mtb types ) .Matt and I may not be able to jump high and scream downhill like the youngsters shown in the photo but we can at least ride up hill.

This is a great place to ride and well worth a trip for a larger group from the SWAT.

http://youtu.be/TOyTieSevPg

SWAT MTB ride

The South Western All Terrain (SWAT) mountain bike riders were out again today due to the drop in temperatures the last few days. They met up at Newlands corner near Guildford, Richard having ridden out from home.

The start at Newlands corner

Looking out from Hackhurst Downs

We met a load of riders coming in the opposite direction who were riding an EVANS cycles event. We found a few of the riders at Leith hill tower too.

Leith Hill tower

By the time we were heading back the temperatures had risen from 1 to 3'C. All in all a very good day out with no accidents or mechanicals.

St. Martha's mount