Or maybe this ride should be called Snake bite & looseness!
I managed to get a late entry into this ride, my first Audax on the new winter bike, so I was looking forward to the opportunity to give it a good shakedown!
I arrived nice & early for the start at Darley Abbey, a nice setting on the edge of Derby, having driven there in sunshine with a little mist. It was looking like a promising day.
Of we set at 8.30 prompt & by by 8.35 I managed to get a Snake Bite puncture, Curses! I fitted a new tube as quick as I could & popped back to the car to fully inflate the tyre with my track pump.
Restart 8.55 & of course all the other riders had long gone so it I was playing catch up. I managed to catch the first 3 hares after about 23km & the next 4 who had stopped to write down the first information point answer. By the time I reached the first checkpoint at Moira Furnace I'd passed another half a dozen riders, all was going well except for a loose Space Bar, (route sheet holder). As this checkpoint was so close to home I decided to pop into home & get it sorted, so another little detour got the job done with a comfort break & a bun to boot.
Back on course & it's roads roads that I know, so not too much checking of the route sheet required for a while, & of course I'm passing again some riders that I've already passed once. 'Hare & Tortoise'.
Lullington-Edingale-Croxhall-Walton on Trent-Barton under Needwood-Dunstall, fine, then some big lumps over to Abbots Bromley before rolling into the next checkpoint at the Strawberry Fields Garden Centre at Bramshall, a quick turn around here with a comfort break & I'm away again hoping that the breeze that has been on my face all morning will now be behind me & help on the run in back to the finish.
From Bramshall it's onto smaller lanes over to Lower Tean & the 17% climb that followed where at the bottom of the descent from this climb I bumped into another couple of riders, one of whom's front wheel rim had worn thro' & split. I stopped briefly but didn't have the spanner he was looking for, lucky this happened at the foot of the descent & not on it! Onwards & thro' Croxden & Rocester, still no tail wind, & some more lumpy bits thro' Cubley on the way back to the A52 for a quick right/left & into the outside of Derby. The run in from here is very residential with lots of turn instructions & a short section on a cycle route & the tail wind just didn't happen.
Finally I've finished, an hour or so later than I would have planned & with a really tired & aching back. A little disappointed with todays performance & feeling very tired I won't forget however that yesterdays weather was non stop rain all day & the same is forecast for tomorrow!
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