I think the person who was most pleased at the outcome of today was the bacon sandwich man. He had probably contracted to sell 500 bacon rolls, and been paid for the same, only to find at the start of the day that only 250 turned up to register. I can imagine the conversation "but I've got all these rolls and this bacon, you've got to pay me what we agreed".
I wonder what happened to all that excess bacon, do you think he disposed of it in an environmentally-friendly way, or that it will be finding its way into Mrs Miggins' pie shop tomorrow?
Imaging his joy when about half of those 250 failed to even complete, some of them will have gone straight home. From my my point of view it was great too. No queue for a bacon roll, result.
Eight hours earlier, you know something's wrong when the morning hurts your eyes, as dawn breaks and you can't stop yawning, those two earlier rides and a hectic Saturday are not the ideal preparation for a 76 mile sportive around the lumps and bumps of Worcestershire and Warwickshire. And 4-5 degrees C, and strong headwinds, cold ones which were with us the whole day as they did indeed swing conveniently round in the second half of the ride. And rain, lots and lots of rain. And, to cap it all, snow. Not just a dusting but a proper blizzard at the top of Saintbury Hill.
I've known colder days on the bike, I've known windier, I've even known wetter. But never all three together. To begin with I felt sluggish and after 30 miles, decidedly hypothermic. But I ate something, drank a bit, pushed myself to keep up with the greyhound that Skip was, and by the time the steep climbs came I was fine, and by the end, although I couldn't feel any of my feet, and my hands were funny, oh and my face was numb, but I did manage a bit of a sprint for the last couple of miles.
I watched the Strade Bianchi last night, Spartacus looked magnificent in the Italian sunshine, bronze time-trialling superman, with a sheen of sweat and a dusting of white dust as he cruised into Sienna in the early evening warmth. That's all a bit h-e isn't it? Never mind, he's a good-looking bloke, and a wonderful cyclist. But I bet he'd have bailed today, because today was a day for rules 5, 6, 9 and 10.
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/
Skip took the honour of the first woman home, I was just glad to be under cover. On our way home in the car we didn't stop shaking for about 30 minutes, I think she was still cold by the time I dropped her off. She will also be blogging not just on her usual site but also on Cyclosport, so check her out and spot the differences. Hope she gets the snow into it somewhere.
http://www.thecyclingmayor.com/
http://www.cyclosport.org/
Charlie coped manfully with the conditions, but do not be fooled into thinking this was a flat ride, there were two chunky hills and over 4k feet of climbing. Today has also made it into my top 5 bad weather days on a bike, but more on this another time. Grim though today was, it pleases me greatly that I can still recall with a certain degree of fondness 4 worst days on two wheels. Whilst I can not say today was enjoyable, it will remain deeply satisfying, not least for the fact that we finished, where others looked out of the window at the gathering storm and choose to pull the duvet around their weak and feeble carcass.
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