pacey ride

The clocks went forward an hour and I (Steve) seemed to lose an hour on the group today!!! Totally hammered it from the shop to the start of the inclines around Haigh Hall area. Then the group split as the climbs really began. We went through Blackrod, Little Scotland and to the foot of Winter Hill. I hung back, slipped an energy gel from my pocket and straight down my mouth in anticipation of what testing climbs we were about to face. Then we swerved left and also whizzed past the Anglezarke sign. All that psychological build up and Steve Charlton decided to lead us from the foot of major climbs and head for the cafe via Coppul and Charnock Richard etc....
I hung onto the group as the pace quickened, but was feeling really dodgy. I paced Helen back onto the bunch, but was really struggling myself. About 4 miles from the cafe I started a coughing fit and threw up. (Blaming it on my sister’s salmon last night). It was lucky for me that I had decided to wear my overshoes, they saved me getting my new shoes covered in Wheatabix and carrots.
Managed to reach the cafe and sat outside as it was heaving with riders today. Strange thing was that I noticed nobody sat near me. Might have had something to do with the unusual pattern on my tights and the vile smell circulating from them! Still a decent ride and another 50 mile + ride in. Hope to get some decent training done this next few weeks, but won't be calling into our kids for a feed anytime soon! Thanks to Kev (who's flying at the moment) for hanging back for me.