Update and club run report - 11-03-2010

Ed’s diary of the club run to Aylesford Priory - Sunday 7^th March.

Firstly a welcome to Aiden from Greenhithe who rode with us.

On a cold morning circa 4°C with a biting Easterly wind the following met at our usual meeting point: Eddie, Mick, Mark M, Austin, Alex, Steve, Dave, Garry, Paul, Mack, Rob, Phil, Alan T, Len and Roy plus Lee Aldridge ( apologies if I have missed anyone here).

I must mention that all riders had helmets on.

Austin was a late arrival as his rear mech had done the dirty on him as he was leaving home so Alex suggested he get his other bike out and meet us at the Bull. In the event he was given a lift there by his dad as he had to execute a pedal change before setting out for the 2^nd time and time was pressing.

Roy, Len and Alan T elected to take the direct route up and over Wrotham and sticking to the A20.

The rest of us went via Eynsford, Otford, Ightam, Basted, Crouch, Comp, Offham, West Malling and East Malling.

Alex was up for the sprints but the rest of us didn’t compete to any extent either because it was so cold we couldn’t muster the effort or we knew we weren’t going to win anyway.

The effect of the bad weather over the past few months meant we saw more potholes than cars and they were the more problematic as well. Added to this there was a short section of icy road on the exit from Kemsing.

It seems Rob had an argument with a car driver as we waited at traffic lights by our left turn off the A20 into Aylesford. A brave man that Rob especially as he is only 55Kgs, must be a martial arts expert or just have more balls than me.

I had visions of drinking tea out of those squash able plastic cups, but no, this time the café presented us tea in mugs.

The ride back had a tough start as we all had café legs and were exposed to the Easterly wind for a few miles. So it was back via the Motorway bridge, which was the easiest part of the ride, through Cuxton and up the drag into Cobham of Dickens fame and then towards Longfield.

At this point the easy pace lifted by a few miles per hour and the climb up and over the railway bridge took it’s toll with the group splitting. Phil, Ed and Mark M took it in turns to lead through to the ‘pimple,. Marks turn being in the order of 1mph faster than either Phil’s or mine’s and to cap it all he rode up the pimple on the big ring.

Mick was full of praise for the determination and effort Paul was showing and remarked how he was improving.

Phil, Mick, Aiden and myself said our goodbyes to Mark M as we turned onto Shire Hall Lane and he pressed onto Dartford. It was at this point that Mick and Aiden slowed to talk and when Mick caught us up he said he had just given Aiden directions on how to get back to Greenhithe. I bet he got well over 60 miles in that day, for my part it was 56 miles.

After saying goodbye to Phil and then Mick I saw a rider ahead of me whilst descending Vicarage Road into Bexley Village and as I got some 50 meters from him on the climb out of the village towards Blackfen I recognised the silhouette of Rob, who when I made contact said he had taken the route through the Joydens Wood Estate.

The subject of cramp came up in conversation and Mick remarked that Reg Smith, who most of you know of, had never experienced it. So I spent a few minutes consulting the Anatomy and Physiology book I have at home. Under muscle cramp the reasons given are:

Ÿ Muscular strain - a hard ride could produce this.

Ÿ An Iron imbalance.

Ÿ A water imbalance.

To help prevent cramp I recommend that you don’t ride a heavy gear and that you use a ‘sports drink’ on any ride over an hour. On our club runs I suggest you drink half a litre of ‘sport drink’ between breakfast and setting out to the meeting point and of course drink whilst riding. The usual concentration is two measuring spoons per 500mml at current temperatures and dropping to 1.5 and even 1 as the ambient temperature increases. This doesn’t mean you are taking in less energy as the temperature get higher, rather you are drinking more water whilst at the same time consuming the same amount of energy as before.

Ed