'The Surrey Rumble'......it's a sportive that is run by my cycling club @TwickenhamCyclingClub. I signed up for it last year as well as it is always a popular sportive with my triathlon club @ThamesTurbo.
http://www.twickenhamcc.co.uk/tcc/surrey-rumble/
Quick recap on last year, I had less experience cycling in England, the weather was absolutely miserable, rain chucking it down, sleet and snow in some parts and after taking the wrong turn and ending up on the long course I got rescued at 90kms roughly as I was freezing, couldn't feel my feet and worst of all my fingers to change gears and brake.
BUT............that didn't put me off and I decided to do it again this year. I had more experience than last year, I was better equipped gear wise and I had been cycling 90km's per weekend on average so I was feeling good. The weather ........well yesterday it was blowing a gale, we had hail and it just didn't want to stop raining......so I was a bit sceptical of even getting to the start line.
I arranged to get a lift in with my mate @LizPinches and a return trip with my other mate @ChadNewton, both Thames Turbo triathletes. I packed everything I needed the night before - all my kit including change of top, arm warmers, extra socks and I was planning on wearing 4 layers etc etc. I had booties to cover my shoes and gloves (which I later discovered are definitely not waterproof, but thankful to @HelenSmith - more about that later).
Woke up this morning and it wasn't raining although it had been during the night. I got up, got ready, ensured I had 3 gas canisters, 3 inner tubes as the roads were bound to be shit due to the ongoing rain, so debris would be everywhere. Once breakfast was had, I set on my way to Liz's house who then kindly drove us both to the start line.
This was the last time I would see my mate Liz (she is quite fast, a lot faster than me), we registered, I got scanned and off I went. As I was leaving to start the ride, the rain decided to pay us a visit. I had not planned to ride with anyone, I was just simply wanting to complete it. Mileage in the bag.
The ride was fine, despite the pissing down rain, I did manage to pass quite a few people which boosted my confidence and I took the descents with pleasure, remember what my mentor had stated to me in the past, get down low and place my arse as far back on the saddle as possible. Felt good although White down which I love to speed down, I had to be careful cause of the debris and the wet :(
I have no idea what happened but I passed a guy slowly as he was looking at his map and we both confirmed we were going the right way, then I saw another guy take a right yet there was no signage so I decided to continue on, when I continued on and on I decided I best stop and refer to the map. To be fair I couldn't tell heads from tails, no signage made it impossible for me and with the rain bucketing down I simply didn't want to take my already drenched gloves off. Then to my surprise the guy I passed said we were going the right way so off I went again. I continued on and bloody ended up in Goldaming. So I decided to stop at Waitrose, take off my wet clothes replaces them with dry clothes I had in my little backpack and thought I would use google maps to get to the check point, Manor Farm Craft Centre. Once I saw the navigation would be get me there I was like cool, I am going to attempt to get back on track.
I set off and was feeling quite good, mentally reassured and was happy cause I could see I was going to finish. Well all went well until it told me to take Route 22. Route 22 for cyclists was some off trail track which on a road bike simply wasn't going to work, so I thought lets get the Sat Nav to reroute an alternative way. The alternative got to me Guildford. Once I saw the train station, I decided enough was enough. It was still raining, I couldn't figure how to get to the checkout, although I could have probably taken a cab and then cycled on from there (damn I should have done that).
Got to Clapham Junction by train, to find out no trains to Richmond, so ended up on a train to Barnes where I then rode from Barnes back to Richmond.
Lots of lessons learnt today:
* Don't bother doing a sportive in shit weather (doesn't make me happy)
* Learn how to download file onto Garmin (then I wouldn't have got lost)
* Learn the roads, maybe even hire a car and recce the course
I am not a fan of this sportive purely due to the time of year it is on. The Surrey Rumble is a beautiful and challenging course, one I will have to do with some mates in the summer.
Well done to everyone who did complete this race today, my hat goes of to you, especially in the miserable conditions we were faced with today!
Thanks for reading
My next race is the Kingfisher Triathlon Club Aquathon, my clubs second Club Championships for the year. Lets hope my swim has come on by then.
Till next time
Smooches
xx
PS. What my mate Helen told me was to wear a pair of latex gloves on the inside of my actual gloves, extra warmth and waterproofs the hands :)