Met up with the Wheelers to ride over to Rosliston Forestry Centre for the start of this local clubs reliability ride. The weather was a bit overcast & looking heavy & sure enough just as we left the start there was a shower, I hate getting wet!
The shower soon passed & riders started to settle into groups, looking over my shoulder riding down past Catton Park, with a breeze into our faces, I'd say we must have been a group of around 50. Once thro' this section, feeling good I took to the front after we crossed the A513 & stayed there for about 5km before I decided to take a rest, after all I was doing 2 loops. As we left Whittington a few riders came by & the group started to splinter & although I gave it my best shot to go with them I just couldn't quite get there & after a few km's I was in no mans land heading towards No Mans Heath with just one other rider. As we got to about the 45km mark on the first loop the group we'd been in came back to us, smaller but about a dozen or so, so, time to take some shelter for a while.
As we passed the Forestry Centre a few turned in whilst the rest of us continued for a second loop, & just like last time by we had another shower which again soon passed. Once I'd recovered for a while I took to the front again, this time as we went along past Catton Park & again I managed to stay there for 5-6km until after we'd crossed the A513 for the second time.
I was starting to tire a bit by now, we'd been riding for a couple of hours by now & I'd deliberately not had any breakfast & only been drinking water. Things started to feel a bit harder this time around & I was feeling hungry so I finally had half an energy bar & started on my energy drink. Then again at around the 45km mark on a little climb I had a cramp in my left thigh, I didn't stop but had to slow down & turn the pedals very gingerly for a few minutes whilst of course the group disappeared into the distance...........
The cramp cleared & I managed to keep pushing on to the finish in a time of 3hrs 40mins. I was more than pleased with this so treated myself to a quick pee before riding the 12km home. Once Home it was straight into the recovery drink & snack before cleaning the bike, which was really dirty. There's one advantage of riding on the front of a group in the wet, you don't get covered in crap, if only I was fit enough to stay on the front all day........................
