Dr L ran the level 3 group on an impromptu Lullingstone route on Sunday, we left the park just after the KOM group with MG calling out a cheery “see you at Lullingstone but we’ll probably be leaving as you get there!” Oh how he regretted that later.
It was a small group with Caroline, Tom, Chris, Jayne and Isobel leaving through New Eltham and then through St Mary Cray and up Chelsfield lane – everyone doing well, Isobel just storming every rise, Chris looking impressive on the Allez and Caroline absolutely dogged in her determination.
At Chelsfield village the team had the choice of the Skyride route with its poor surface or a more direct route with a small hill (Dr Livingstone borrowing heavily from the Richard Williams “it’s largely flat” playbook) which was duly chosen – not sure the doctor will get many Christmas cards this year. So we went through the village and then up Rock Hill with Caroline selecting a suitably low gear and churning steadily up stopping only for a breather on a side road and then continuing finally attaining the top – Chapeau Caroline, don’t think I could have done that in my first year.
Fast downhill crack to the café saw us arrive ahead of our team mates although they did experience a puncture, with a poorly Bradders arriving solo after about 10 minutes and so the team was swelled by JB for the return leg and the chase to South Darenth was on with Dr L pushing a faster pace and then we calmed down a bit for the run up to Wilmington where Chris and Jo left us, shedding Jayne and Isobel in Bexley and then there were three for the final leg back to the park arriving just ahead of the KOM group – a good performance from them considering the route they chose.
Special mentions to:
Chris – amazing improvement since the bike change
Isobel – just so impressive
Caroline – the Energizer Bunny.
Combative point to Caroline.
PS much better weather than we were expecting.
No comments:
Post a Comment