Post by Bob P on May 6, 2007 23:40:23 GMT 1
After completing the TOG for a number of years I can now tell how I will feel for the tour (suffer) on the climb out of Belfast along the Antrim Road at the start of the day.
Well today as I looked round I saw happy smiling faces on those I knew would suffer a lot before they seen Belfast again, maybe even more than I was at that point! I think last year was easier and numpty was 5 months pregnant at the time.
Good support from Dromara CC today with 13 out, Davy McK, Darren, Ronnie, Anne M, Davy Robb, Stephen, Peter B, numpty, Bob, Fritz, BL, Deek and Marcus ( Hope I missed no one) On the road it looked like 160 + although 123, seen a lot of faces at the tea halt I didn’t see at the start.
All stayed well together until Ballyclare where some stopped to put the rain coats on for thankfully the only shower of the day (for those finishing before 5) numpty and myself had to play catch up on the tandem due to stopping. We had one scary moment dropping into a sharp left at 40 in the wet, trying to miss the cow sh1t and hitting a hole which shot us across the road to the far hedge. Silly me.
After the halt in Ballygalley the pace was reasonable due to a strong head wind especially strong when rounding the many heads along the coast road. Glenarm posed the next challenge, not steep but long enough to spit the group. For us it was a case of what goes around comes around, the tandem loosed a lot of ground in the ascents but more than makes up for any loss on the descents meaning we not only caught up but passed the lot before joining the coast again. 11 mile of head wind took us to the next check point in Cushendall.
We decided to leave as early as possible as the next climb on the near 40mile loop was far from suitable for a tandem. Within a mile the hairbears along with many others went past. We caught them before the viaduct only to see them disappear over the hills. As we had been told about road words on the way back down we decided to take the advised route via the viaduct. Imagine our surprise when we saw those we expected to be behind us sitting knocking grub back at the tea halt when we arrived!
A short trip around the coast brought us to Waterfoot and the climb us Glenariff. Nothing steep but for what ever reason I was suffering, must have been due to stopping. So much so that I had thought of turning round and taking the coast road home. Over the top Fritz and Marcus went on to do their own thing . We played catch up but on reaching the hills again only Peter and Stephen were behind us, BL starting to feel the miles and Deek waiting with him. We let Pete and Steve go on (not that we wanted to follow them up the hills) and hung back for the MTB squad. Some nice bits on the way to the finish with speed at 45mph but BL suffered with cramp for most of it, right until lifting my bike out of his van. Glad I did it,,,, or is that the wine talking?
Great event well run and plenty of food. Weather turned out a lot better than forecast although the wind always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Thanks to BL for the lift and the only photo of the day, even though I had a camera with me!
Well today as I looked round I saw happy smiling faces on those I knew would suffer a lot before they seen Belfast again, maybe even more than I was at that point! I think last year was easier and numpty was 5 months pregnant at the time.
Good support from Dromara CC today with 13 out, Davy McK, Darren, Ronnie, Anne M, Davy Robb, Stephen, Peter B, numpty, Bob, Fritz, BL, Deek and Marcus ( Hope I missed no one) On the road it looked like 160 + although 123, seen a lot of faces at the tea halt I didn’t see at the start.
All stayed well together until Ballyclare where some stopped to put the rain coats on for thankfully the only shower of the day (for those finishing before 5) numpty and myself had to play catch up on the tandem due to stopping. We had one scary moment dropping into a sharp left at 40 in the wet, trying to miss the cow sh1t and hitting a hole which shot us across the road to the far hedge. Silly me.
After the halt in Ballygalley the pace was reasonable due to a strong head wind especially strong when rounding the many heads along the coast road. Glenarm posed the next challenge, not steep but long enough to spit the group. For us it was a case of what goes around comes around, the tandem loosed a lot of ground in the ascents but more than makes up for any loss on the descents meaning we not only caught up but passed the lot before joining the coast again. 11 mile of head wind took us to the next check point in Cushendall.
We decided to leave as early as possible as the next climb on the near 40mile loop was far from suitable for a tandem. Within a mile the hairbears along with many others went past. We caught them before the viaduct only to see them disappear over the hills. As we had been told about road words on the way back down we decided to take the advised route via the viaduct. Imagine our surprise when we saw those we expected to be behind us sitting knocking grub back at the tea halt when we arrived!
A short trip around the coast brought us to Waterfoot and the climb us Glenariff. Nothing steep but for what ever reason I was suffering, must have been due to stopping. So much so that I had thought of turning round and taking the coast road home. Over the top Fritz and Marcus went on to do their own thing . We played catch up but on reaching the hills again only Peter and Stephen were behind us, BL starting to feel the miles and Deek waiting with him. We let Pete and Steve go on (not that we wanted to follow them up the hills) and hung back for the MTB squad. Some nice bits on the way to the finish with speed at 45mph but BL suffered with cramp for most of it, right until lifting my bike out of his van. Glad I did it,,,, or is that the wine talking?
Great event well run and plenty of food. Weather turned out a lot better than forecast although the wind always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Thanks to BL for the lift and the only photo of the day, even though I had a camera with me!
