Friday the Thirteenth, a day of 2 halves...
We awoke to an early deluge of rain this morning, which made the roads treacherous for cycling. The weather report had it forecast rain in the morning and perhaps some sun in the afternoon, which, if correct we could still manage our third and final training segment ride. It was a matter of having a leisurely breakfast and waiting for it to clear up. Tough when everyone is so keen, well Kev anyway, he is forever checking the weather and routes on his iphone. Marcus on the other hand, just goes with what ever, ride, no ride, let's see how the day pans out...coffee anyone?
By 3pm it was as if the rain ever happened, a beautiful blue sky and warm sunshine, we were quickly changed and out and heading towards our first training segment at Sa Rapita. The ride along the coast route was fast but not uncomfortable, a good warm-up for the high level intensity to come! On the way we picked up a Swiss triathlete who asked if he could join us, no problem, he looked quite handy, so could prove useful, especially as the segment was based around team work!
After an hour plus of brisk riding we arrived at the designated course for the first segment, which was a freestyle 'cut & chase' format where 2 selected riders (drawn out of the hat at the previous evening's night out) would have a minute lead on the remaining group who then had to work together to try and catch the 2 escapees before they reached the turn approximately 10-12mins away...each pairing riding the course once! This was going to be tough as the road was and out & back with open stretches and a strong crosswind to hinder the riders progress. I did make a promise that if any team made it to the turn without being caught will have a coffee & cake from our favourite haunch, Aladdins on me...safe bet I thought!
First pair to go was 'have-a-go' Glen and 'Peligro' Kev, and to their credit rode superbly, holding off the Spenna, Warren, Marcus, myself and the Swiss triathlete, only being tagged 1/2km or so from the end. Next pair was Spenna and Waz, who quoted 'i'm more nervous for this than being on the start line for a 25m t.t.:-/
They meant business working well together while our chase disintegrated only to get the turn to watch Spenna and Waz celebrating...great effort...I'm sure it was the freebie coffee and cake that ignited the flames in their wheels :)
Jokes apart from the others about myself time wasting buying coke and water Marcus and I were the final pairing. Fortunately getting to the turn and some, before the others arrived in dribs and drabs, looking the worse for wear, but really happy with their first training segment of the day going well...top effort by all!
By the time we headed back to Arenal we had already completed 3hours and still had and hour or so to ride back including the team time trial segment. Once on the coast route we started, short turns, high cadence on 53 x 17, sweet! Everyone was doing a turn, until the change of direction and a few rolling sections made for hard going, leaving a few missed turns. 8km's on we passed a big group, but they didn't take the bait and left us to carry on and with a little over 10km's to go we called it a day and rode the rest of the way at a steady recovery.
A case of 2 halves, I should say so, rain and possibilities of no ride, then, sun and 4hrs and 130km covered with two training segments...can't be bad!
What was noticeable was that no one was 'mardy' and just gave a full-on effort, which the evening would pay testimony too...most had a relatively early night, having just two beers instead of the usual four :)
Well done guys, serious stuff done here today!
Ride summary - route: rolling, 130km, training segment: 2
