I like cycling but you can't beat winning at Wembley

The most important sporting matter on my mind this weekend was whether Manchester City would beat United in the FA Cup semi final on Saturday. I and my two children trundled off to Wembley and, as it turned out, had a most enjoyable evening. I was too worried about the match to contemplate my usual Saturday morning 25m ride with friends and put everything on the Sunday morning ride with Solihull C.C.

Those of you who have been reading my earlier posts will be aware of my dilemma whether to step up to the B group. Well I bit the bullet this morning and it was okay, if anything a more enjoyable ride without any waiting around for laggards. The tea stop was at 40 miles and we averaged 16.4 mph which was quite comfortable. Knowing that I have to put some distance in my legs I didn't stop and took a direct route home and with another rider covered a further 25 miles at a speed of 15.8 mph.

When I had lunch with Geoff last week he said that day one is by far the worst of the three so it's good to get that out of the way first. He would advise anyone who has done a bit of cycling to ride with group three. Group five is very stop/start and consequently quite frustrating if you have done a bit of training whereas the pace in group four can be erratic. Group three seems to attract the regular club riders who ride at a steady pace whereas the racers go for groups one and two. Interestingly group three riding at a steady pace was quicker than group two over the three days last year.