Pearson 150

View Stuart's route on Garmin

Finally managed to sort out the privacy issue with my Garmin!

Having seen all the other blogs I felt guilty not having written for a couple of weeks so here goes. The end of April was my sisters big birthday (18th century costume) in France. More drinking and eating than cycling but I did still manage to cover a few miles between St Malo and Cancale. The following week was the usual round the Island cycle on Saturday with the Velo Sport Cycling Club but some intensive trips after work with the crew from Big Maggy's . The first one nearly killed me as I was expecting a gentle cycle of 25 miles. I had been out with a client for lunch having had a most enjoyable fillet steak with a glass of wine. No problem I thought until I turned up at the shop to meet a couple of Group 1 standard cyclists who would be joining us!!! Oops. All I will say is that the steak was very nearly consumed a second time. Having said that it was the most exciting of all my rides to date and at a blistering pace. My legs were all but finished at 40 miles and I could no longer maintain the pace. Fortunately they slowed down for the last couple of miles before I collapsed at home. The following week I was at the HOO meeting with David and Stephen comparing notes with a couple of visits to the local cycling shop. Like Stephen I managed to clock the miles over the weekend 40 Friday, 40 Saturday and a charity 50 mile event on the Sunday. All good training for my first Sportive due the following weekend. Also like Stephen this would be my longest ride to date at 150km.

I was very fortunate to join the Big Maggy's team of 8 going to Weymouth on the fast ferry. Unfortunately the fast ferry was late to depart as it was only running on three of its four engines and the others were restricted to half power. The slow ferry arrived 4 hours late but spirits were high. The Hilton Hotel in Croydon very kindly allowed us to take our bikes into one of their boardrooms over night for safety. Just as well as the bikes on the roof of the Skoda were worth twice as much as the car. In bed late and an early start were not ideal conditions and I missed meeting up with Bradley due to the rush to join the L2P start. The ride pace was about right for me, being more used to a faster pace but shorter distance. My only concern was if I ran out of puff at the end. I was determined to keep in the pack no matter what. My loss of weight was a big advantage on the hills but this was nearly always given up on the run down the other side. My fear of going round corners at speed meant I was constantly on the brakes and then having to catch up at the bottom. Something to work on! The feed station just out of Brighton was a swift affair. By the time I had managed to eat a couple of slices of Swiss roll and visited the WC the group behind were in the queue to top up the their drink bottles. Next thing I heard was we're going in 60 seconds. Fortunately my second drink bottle was full so I quickly joined the first group. Those left left behind formed a second group but never caught up. I was with only one other from the 'Jersey 8' but we managed to keep together for most of the way. I did get dropped with a few others a few Km later thanks to the b*****y traffic lights. Two or three minutes is a long way to drop behind and I had finally given up the chase when about 2/3 minutes later a very purposeful looking team '316' in red lycra came flying past. I plucked up courage and I decided to catch a ride. The pace was much quicker and 5 minutes later we had caught the leading group 3 riders. Phew and thanks team 316! Other than a small strain in my left leg I finished none the worse for wear, despite the wind and the odd shower. I too feel much more confident and look forward to my next sportive in France in just under 3 weeks.