What must rank as the first official training ride of the year for the Swedish Ride Club took place on Sunday.
The event was the Spring Onion which was a 120km hilly loop out of Leatherhead, around the Surrey Hills and down into Sussex.
Fiona had registered for the ride with some friends and stupidly I left my registration too late so was riding unofficially. Luckily the route started two miles down the road from my house and went past the end of my street. I recognised the first 20 miles and a marking system of red arrows painted on the road worked really well. As the start was quite late( first off at 9.00) and it was raining I decided to go it alone on the basis that Fee and her superfit chums would catch me up. As it turned out I rode alone for most of the sportif which wasn't a bad thing.
Despite the shortish nature of the ride it took in some tasty hills which made it pretty tough. It was also raining and misty the roads were strewn with gravel and mud so you had to keep your wits about you. Even a level crossing closed on me at the last moment. I was glad of the rest and it gave me time to tuck into the flapjacks.
The previous night's rain had really washed a lot of debris out of the hedges.
At times I couldn't help thinking this was more a race for Luca and his MTBs than a road bike with skinny tyres. I couldn't believe I didn't puncture. NB for Sweden. Sadly, I understand, lots did.
By the third hour a group of three official riders passed me but they were the only ones I saw. I did a little jiggery pokery with the course and arrived at home 4hr and eight minutes for the 61 miles covered. I hadn't worn my Garmin so can't give you the altitude climbed but you can see from the elevation ( graph) it's not to be sniffed at.
On the good side the route managed to avoid most big roads and took in some beautiful scenery,loveley villages and some super climbs. The down side was the state of the roads, potholes, debris and mud.My beautiful clean 'best bike' was covered in mud ( pic doesn't really show how bad). It also made a right mess of my SBR top.
Fiona clocked 4,20 for her longer 65 miles and, over a cup of tea and slice of cake after the ride, she admitted that at 50 miles she had had enough. She certainly looked pretty worn out( despite the Lanza suntan) which takes a tough course knowing what a tough competitor Fee is.
The conversation turned to the 'big one' in June and just how much tougher that would be. We also discussed some of the planned training events for the SBR team and how important it was to get some long, flat miles in the legs before Sweden. I feel a few rides to the coast coming on.
