Reliability Debut
Thanks go out to Ian, one of our newest members, for this account of his Reliability Ride. We wish him every success as he continues his rapid growth as a cyclist and look forward to riding with him for many, many miles.
After the Sunday Club ride on the 19th January, the mention of the Reliability ride the following Sunday seemed out of the question. The short and especially the long ride seemed out of range for my early days comeback to cycling. The thought of a reliability ride seemed a bit too formal and a challenge that I probably wasn’t ready for.
The ride on the 19th January had already tested my ability with the club ride plus the journey from Desborough to Market Harborough and return. The stop at Moomins at the end of the ride and shivery cold restart for my trip back to Desborough (totalling 35 miles) made the decision that I wouldn’t have the legs for the Reliability Ride. The two hillocks out from Braybrooke leading to the A6 roundabout at Desborough nearly finished me off. Although I did find time for amusement when three vintage pedal mopeds, including a Raleigh Wisp, came past me slowly as I was grunting up the hill whilst they were also pedalling to assist the engines. I was spurred on by a bit of two stroke aromatherapy. Perhaps I wasn’t doing too badly after all.
After looking at the forecast in the week and talks with my trainer about the weekly plan, it was decided that the ride maybe too risky and a recovery ride on the turbo was best for Sunday. Well, we all know what happens to plans! Steve Burgess messaged me on the Saturday and asked if I was doing the Reliability ride. I said I’d chew on it. After assurance that I wouldn’t be left for dust (or mucky brown spray) I redacted the recovery ride from the plan and committed.
Waking up on the Sunday morning, there was a bit of a glow from the sun and the wind didn’t seem too bad, but most of all it wasn’t raining. It was very cold and, on the journey to collect Steve B, I was a bit concerned because there seemed to be ice on the north facing pavements and sides off the road in places. On the journey to Husbands Bosworth, we discussed the forecast, and the conclusion was to get off early and get back to miss the incoming rain. Doing the maths on this meant that I would be riding a higher average speed than I have ridden in my new cycling era. Perhaps a day for personal records!
Arriving early at the HQ, we were greeted with a warm reception, hot drinks, various cakes and biscuits. Being partial to a fig roll or two, I signed in, got a tea and respectfully hit the biscuits. I was mindful that I hadn’t warmed up and was a bit apprehensive of what lay ahead. I got togged up and we headed out in a group that became 9 strong. Steve B got into a bit of bother heading out of the gateway but brushed himself down, readjusted his mudguards and we were off.
After a couple of miles of forehead freeze, I was settling in. The pace was brisk (for me) but comfortable. My first warmup test was the hill leading out of South Kilworth. On the ascent I made the fatal mistake of looking where I didn’t want to go and paid the price by riding off the edge of the road. Unclipped, no drama. At this point I was wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. For a cold breezy day, the going was good and early signs was it felt like it was going to be a good ride. It may be difficult for me to comment on whether it felt windy, being toward the back of the group, but it seemed the hedgerows gave sufficient protection for most of the ride although it was evident how windy it was in open areas and being taken sideways when passing gateways.
The route took us meandering through some lovely Leicestershire and Northamptonshire countryside with some good ascents and fun downhill stints made even more exciting by the challenging road surface conditions. There were occasional patches of ice along the route but good communication and signing ensured we all got through it OK. We had reminders of how windy it was in places where at the higher exposed points, you could hear the wind roaring through the branches of the leafless trees as we progressed against the backdrop of the angry sky. As the ride pushed on, the glow of the sun disappeared and the sky darkened, but most importantly, it wasn’t raining. At the 20 mile mark I was wondering whether I had another 20 left in me, but by the time I got to 25 miles I felt tip top. The road surface conditions were generally quite poor and wet for most of the ride. We were treated to a few freshly surfaced sections of roads which raised an ‘ahhhh, that’s nice’, which gave an all too short respite to the boneshaking surfaces.
Tom was putting in twice as much effort as the rest of us with a deflating rear tyre which was clearly taking its toll. Pumping it up on an earlier comfort stop didn’t do the trick, so Steve (not Steve B) came to the rescue with his natty electric high-pressure pump, on the stint to Harrington, to save the day. They didn’t quite catch the group back up, but they weren’t far behind.
We had a mini break at the A508 junction waiting for a gap in the traffic while the world came past. At Kelmarsh a hedge flailing tractor was laying down a fresh bed of thorns for us to ride over but courteously stopped proceedings for us to pass. For me the miles didn’t seem to be going down very quickly on the section from Orton to Sibbertoft. We had been fortunate for the whole ride that there was minimal traffic which made navigating the poor roads easier. The group had been riding in fairly close formation for most of the ride, but I dropped back between Sibbertoft and Husbands Bosworth as it was hard work riding at pace and dodging the holes. It looked like the front of the group were break dancing with arms flailing pointing out the holes and ruts whilst weaving.
The pace was good from Sibbertoft to Husbands Bosworth, helped by a rear crosswind along the airfield perimeter road. We rode into Husbands Bosworth and round the corner to the HQ. It was clear I was going to record just under 40 miles, so I pushed on up the road and turned back to bag the 40 miles. Psychologically the ride had finished with the objective complete, but I’d like to think I had another 5-10 miles left in my legs. As far as plans are concerned, the return timing was perfect and coincided with the forecast 70% probability of rain from midday and within 5 minutes of being in the club house with tea and cake in hand, the pitter patter of rain arrived. I subconsciously gave myself a wink: Result.
A big thank you to our riding group for their encouragement and support and also to the organisers of this fun event.
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