To sat June's been a bit hectic would be a bit of an understatement. On the sixth, you know, I rode the complete Paris - Roubaix, the following weekend I found myself in the orthopaedic ward to have pins removed from my broken elbow. This was done under general anaesthetic and my consultant told me to expect a couple of weeks off work. My plan to have a reunion with my old flatmates from Uni was in tatters. We were aiming to compete in the Action Research "Ride 24" road relay at the Dunsfold Test Track, better known for being the venue for the filming of "Top Gear".
Coming to after the operation, I was surprised to realise that I felt good, "must be the drugs" I thought, but as time went by I found no pain at all, in fact I only had a couple of small, neat wounds and half a dozen stitches. Perhaps we could do the ride. On Thursday I made up my mind "I'm in!"
Friday was a bit manic as I found packing a nightmare, in the end I filled the car with everything that might possible help me. I picked up Cobbleshock from Gatwick and we headed to Haslemere to meet JJ at his brother's.
Richard and Shelia were perfect hosts making us welcome and cooking a lovely pasta meal served with plenty of Rioja. We retired early mindful of the weekend ahead.
Arriving at Dunsfold we realised that we were perhaps under equiped, out two man tent and gazebo being somewhat inadequate when compared to the marquees everyone else seemed to be erecting.
As we chased around setting up camp and bikes, my old friend Nugg turned up quickly pitching in to get the bikes numbered and set up.
Retrophoenix phoned to say he'd be late!
At ten to twelve, I was ready to do our first stint, we'd drawn 19th on the grid of 88 teams so decided to attack from the gun to sort the wheat from the chaff. I made the front before the first corner and put it in a big gear for the fast tailwind back straight. Peeking under my arm I was pleased to see a long string gasping in my wake. A strong group soon established itself at the front and it became clear that knowing how to ride in the crosswind that was blowing across the long, long runway was going to be crucial.
We decided that an hour at a time would be an efficient way to tackle the event, and I duly handed over the reins to our leader Cobbleshock, JJ followed on and whilst he was getting stuck in millionaire businessman RetroPhoenix made his appearance. At this stage we were sharing the lead with a couple of other teams, but worringly Team Sky Estall Express were more interested in attacking rather than working together, every change we made saw them launch an attack, and eventually the elastic snapped, we had a tactics meeting deciding to stick to our own plan, work in groups and save our strength for the morning.
As night fell, so did the the temperature. The race however continued to be hot and I found my midnight stint a lonely time trial, the landing lights of the runway blurring my vision as I struggled to keep up the pace on the much darker back straight. Finishing I headed for the solace of a massage, and some comfort food, before climbing into my ski suit and sleeping bag in a vain attempt at sleeping. I was dreading the 4am shift, but with it being June the first hints of daybreak were appearing and my spirits were lifted as the sun crept over the horizon. We were doing well to hold on to second place but had to keep things together to hold off team 77 who were just 1 lap behind, Team Sky were still in a commanding position having put a second lap into us.
Twenty hours in and we switched to 45 minute stints, knowing that Sky were going to stay on top we just hoped to lift the pace a little to make sure of second, this proved top be a good plan as we soon had another lap on team 77.
By eleven the crowds were huge, our final hour was to be two lap sprints, hopefully taking less than 15 minutes each so that we could get in 8 more laps before the mid day finish.
RetroPhoenix did a great job at the end to bring us home with 187 laps completed, thats 536 miles at over 22 mph! Sky Estall Express, took overall honours with 191 laps, and we were pleased to also take the veterans win.
Biggest cheer of the day went to Frenchman Jean Michel Teppaz who rode solo completing 137 laps or 393 miles!
With results ready within 10 minutes of the finish it was a thrill to receive the applause of the massive crowd, and share a few moments with some of the best friends anyone could ask for.
The usual question, "Would I do it again?" Oh yes! It's a fantastic event with absolutely first class organisation.
Thanks to; Cobbleshock, JJ, RetroPhoenix, Rich, Sheila and family, Sarah and the team at Action Research, BMI massage and everyone who gave up their time to make it such a memorable event.
www.action.org.uk/get_involved/ride24
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