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Chris Gerhard's Weblog
Sunday March 27, 2005
Easter Sunday Ride
The meeting time has moved to 7am, which given the clocks went forward this morning was a bit of a struggle. Five left Molesey and picked up one from Weybridge before heading out towards Old Woking, via Byefleet. Then down int Guildford over Albury Downs, Past Chilworth Manor into Chilworth.
We
then went over Blackheath and round in a loop via Shamley Green,
where for once we did not get hooted and round via Farley Green to
Shere. At least this weeek we were not hooted in Shamley Green.
We arrived a Shere before the Cafe opened (9:30 on Sunday), so decided to go round another loop to use up the 20 minutes we had. As we climbed back out of Shere someone suggested that it would be a good training to use the biggest gear and just see how far we could get. Muggins fell for it straight away and selected the 53 x 12 gear and was pleased to make it to the top of the climb. We then went past Burrows Cross and along Hoe Lane (that is the one with the arrows on the map) which was an extreme challenge in top gear, luckily the climb is short.
We then looped back to Shere along down hill or flat roads where the 53 x 12 was less of a problem.
After breakfast we returned over Coombe Bottom. I made it as far as the 1:6 sign still in top gear when I learned that it is not possible to change down when you have almost stopped, and since you are not moving forward your pedals are in the an unusual place for removing your feet, something I had never even thought about. I just manage to not fall off before stopping and had to get the bike in a sensible gear to complete the climb. All very silly but actually would help build leg strength if done regularly and I surprised myself with being able to get up any hill turning such a big gear.
An early start allowed us to be back in good time and still get 50+ miles in.
While in the Cafe we agreed that the start time is now 7am from now on for the summer.
( Mar 27 2005, 11:47:15 PM BST ) Permalink
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