Friday even saw the cyclists setting off for a 23 mile ride around Derwent Water which turned out to be a pleasant but thankfully uneventful ride for everyone. On getting back to the Sawmill everyone showered whilst I gave the bikes a quick wipe down after the ride ended in the rain before we walked the mile down the road for refreshments and replenishment in the pub to end the day.
Saturday dawned wet, cold and miserable but with the promise of brightening up later on. There was a choice of a few routes for the day, a couple of hilly rides or a flat 'bad weather' option. The flat option was mentioned and seemed to be the choice until just before setting off when it was switched to a ride up Honsister Pass. After packing the car with everyone's kit we set off and straight away Jon snapped his chain. We tried five different chain tools and were unable to break the chain as it appeared to be riveted and not pinned. If was decided that I'd run Jon down into Keswick to get a new chain whilst the rest of the riders rode to Keswick and we'd meet up and collect butties for later in the day. After fitting a new chain we met the others with Jon's chains jumping on his gears a bit and stocked the car with butties.
We set off along the Borrowdale Valley and realised the Keswick Sportive was taking place so there were plenty of other cyclist out on the roads. Jon was still having trouble so we adjusted his indexing and things seemed a little better. As we hit the Honister Pass the pace obviously slowed right down and the group split up as everyone rode at their own pace. At the top of the pass the riders regrouped and took on board some food before starting the descent but Jon was still having trouble with his gears so we checked everything was indexed correctly and it was.
On the descent it was difficult keeping up with the riders in the car and mentally challenging keeping and eye on them, an eye on the road and an eye behind for all the sportive riders (yes I'm aware that's three eyes). After the descent and some undulating riding Jon was still having trouble so we loaded his bike into the car and arranged to meet the riders in Cockermouth after I'd dropped him back at the Sawmill. I think the issue with Jon's bike may be that the chainrings were quite worn so his cassette is probably worn too (hard to tell with all the crazy profiling these days) so under power his chain was slipping.
After a spirited drive back to Cockermouth I met up with the riders again and we had lunch. Then we set off for a lap around Bassenthwaite Lake before heading back into Keswick and the trip back to the Sawmill. By this time the weather had really cleared up and my car was filling up with more and more sweaty clothing (it stank last night).
All in all a good weekend with some things to think about for the event itself.
I've been back out riding today doing an hour and a half which is my longest ride since recovering from my abscess. It seems really weedy but I'm just returning slowly and not rushing things so six hours bagged for the week isn't a bad start. I'm going out for a couple of hours with the T2T riders on Wednesday night so will get a good picture of where I am then.
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