by PhilBixby
Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:10 pm
Well everyone's being very quiet about what they got up to so thought I'd kick off a thread...
...rode up to Boroughbridge for the Brigante veterans race (last vets race of the year for me), seven laps of the well-worn Aldborough circuit giving just over 50miles for the A/B group. The sun shone, amazingly, although there was a fresh and chilly breeze. I was the only representative of the Clifton elderly gentlefolk's team, although local lad Nigel Warnes was also there, riding in Cycleworks colours.
It was a fast race (for old blokes) at around 25mph average. I had a couple of goes at getting away, but failed, and was sitting happily near but-not-quite-near-enough to the front of the bunch when a group of four got away after three laps and convincingly cleared off. There was no collective will to drag them back so a string of attacks kept things moving for the remainder of the race. I was feeling up for a big last-lap effort until about halfway round the last-but-one lap when I got cramps in my thighs, the like of which I've never experienced before. It wasn't just the big muscle but the individual ones just over the knee and up near where the sun don't shine too. So, I spent a further lap desperately juggling attempts at stretching with sprinting back onto the tail of the bunch, until I found a rather ungainly half-crouch which enabled me to "sprint" sufficiently to cross the line somewhere in the middle of the bunch (but still in front of Nigel
)
The winner of the A/B race was wearing an LVRC national champion's jersey, so that made things feel a bit better... (until the ride home, anyway).
...rode up to Boroughbridge for the Brigante veterans race (last vets race of the year for me), seven laps of the well-worn Aldborough circuit giving just over 50miles for the A/B group. The sun shone, amazingly, although there was a fresh and chilly breeze. I was the only representative of the Clifton elderly gentlefolk's team, although local lad Nigel Warnes was also there, riding in Cycleworks colours.
It was a fast race (for old blokes) at around 25mph average. I had a couple of goes at getting away, but failed, and was sitting happily near but-not-quite-near-enough to the front of the bunch when a group of four got away after three laps and convincingly cleared off. There was no collective will to drag them back so a string of attacks kept things moving for the remainder of the race. I was feeling up for a big last-lap effort until about halfway round the last-but-one lap when I got cramps in my thighs, the like of which I've never experienced before. It wasn't just the big muscle but the individual ones just over the knee and up near where the sun don't shine too. So, I spent a further lap desperately juggling attempts at stretching with sprinting back onto the tail of the bunch, until I found a rather ungainly half-crouch which enabled me to "sprint" sufficiently to cross the line somewhere in the middle of the bunch (but still in front of Nigel
)
The winner of the A/B race was wearing an LVRC national champion's jersey, so that made things feel a bit better... (until the ride home, anyway).
