Club Spin Report – July 7th

By Brian Hayden
What is it the pros say “a bad day at the office” not that I am comparing myself to the mighty men of the pro peloton but this is what happen to me on the spin last Saturday. Heading out to meet the lads (there were a few new riders I have not had the pleasure to ride with yet) I was looking forward to a good day on the bike. The plan was to have a reasonably easy day and get back in time to watch the first proper climbs of Le tour.

As we headed out the road it was soon obvious that this was going to be a tough day even on a short spin. The first time I realised that I was in trouble was when I noticed that a large number of the riders were spinning their big rings as I tried to turn the pedals with a feeling that I was dragging trailer behind while turning a 53×11. After a gentle word of encouragement to drop down to the small ring we rolled out towards Enniskerry. A little later we met up with our route master extraordinaire, Mr Perrigren, and headed up the Long Hill to Roundwood, I was quickly out the back on this climb. I tried to keep Rob C in my sights but he used the oldest trick in the book when climbing – pretending to be looking at the scenery while climbing all the while keeping the rider behind you in your sights and increasing the pace to ensure you keep your advantage.

A bit of up and over brought us into Roundwood and we headed out over Djouce for the return journey home. Another climb that I struggled over my requests for the lads to head on fell on deaf ears. I thought this was very kind to stick with me in my hour of need, I felt a warm glow deep down inside until Martin informed me that he was sticking with me because he was happy to see me suffer. On the descent I pulled a Nibali on Rob C and I was able to get away so when the next climb came around (Il Pogio) I was able to stay away till we crested the climb and then descended into Enniskerry for final leg home.

A section of the group broke away and headed home while I joined the remaining riders and struggled at the back of the bunch. My poor form continued all the way home when, a couple of kms from home, I was passed by a regular bloke heading off to football practice in his shorts, runners and a saddle that was too high for him that it easily must have been sawing the bollocks off himself. He left me for dust and all I could do was drop my head in shame.

So it was a bad day, I didn’t get the knock but I was unable to find any strength and kept on getting dropped when the road inclined even a couple of percent. There is only one answer for this type of bad form more training, more training and more training.

But before you think this was a total disaster of a day there was one silver lining, as I pedalled over Djouce with Martin I was asked a question that brought a little bright light to my dark moments “so Brian have you had any bad accidents” and my reply “did you ever hear of the story of the time I took down the pro rider Martin Early back in the early 90’s”, “no”, well let me set the scene………….
Happy Days.

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