Two Counties 100, 15 July
Posted on Wednesday 18 July 2007 by John Snuggs
The weather forecast promised meteorological Armageddon (as usual - when will we ever learn), so the first mistake was to take ye olde all-steel bike with mudguards. I didn’t get wet all day, apart from a little light and cooling precipitation that was welcome on what turned out to be a good day for skin leakage (so I was glad I didn’t take my h*lm*t, and Mr Bloom was glad he forgot his).
The second mistake was to allow style to defeat club camaraderie and to turn up dressed in tasteful colours (i.e blue - and I’m still waiting for someone to donate the rest of the Quick-Step kit now I’ve got the hat). I spent all day with the matching but garish Purple Peloton.
Getting to the départ was a cinch - in fact we were so early we started to get bored waiting for the start.
In the end, the 100km (actually, 113km) crew was Keith, Andrew, Camille, Paul the Giraffe, Inez the Dormouse, Roger Cline, the ’steemed sec and me (apologies if I’ve missed anyone).
Later we found that Denise and Nick W were on the 150, while Simon Miller and Robert (not the famous blues singer) Johnston did the 200.
The 100s (or 113s) set off at 10.00 and kept up a good pace. But not quite good enough for Keith and Andrew, who were off the front fairly quickly.
I stayed with the purple grupetto and the ride turned out to be pleasantly uneventful, apart from a few dithering motorists who decided to sit behind for miles, worrying us when they could easily have passed (and eventually did, with enough encouragment and a small amount of effing and blinding from us).
Hertfordshire Wheelers, the organisers, had very sensibly decided to controller all three rides two-thirds of the way along each route at a large and diversified pub, so there was fresh (and in the case of the bacon sarnies, very good quality) food and cold liquid just when you needed it , and just when the real rain decided to happen - for about five minutes. Here we managed to catch up with Keith and Andrew, meet up with Simon and Robert, and just miss Nick W and Denise.
The grupetto managed to stay compatto (apart from the bits where the fixed-wheel nutters - you know who you are - couldn’t go fast or slow enough), and we arrived back at Hertford before 17.00.
Then the third mistake happened.
The Fabulous Five left the arriveé in a bunch, but the temptations of Port Hill proved too much for one’s self, so I let gravity be my friend, passed the fixies and rode back to the station via the town centre. I got there at 17.05 and waited for the rest to catch up. And waited. And waited, And took the odd performance-reducing drug. And waited. And let the 17.12 train go.
Worryingly, the other four didn’t turn up. I retraced to Port Hill, found no sign of them and went back to the station, where I met Nick and Denise, who hadn’t seen them either. So we got the 17.42, me still worrying about the others.
Of course, it later transpired, if I’d had the sense to go UP THE STAIRS to Platform 3, I’d've found them sitting on the 17.12 - they’d gone the backstreet way along the cycle route, as suggested by the Wheelers. For the first time in living memory, a cycle route proved quicker than the road.
In all, 135.8km in just under six hours. Nice.