One Record Attempt Too Many
(or: Ralph says "Watling Street
is quite Hilly, isn't it?")
Hot on the tracks of the Viking Warrior's attack on my Bath&back record,
I took to the road in an attempt to relieve "David the Pitt" of the
burden of the Birmingham-London shield.
The route requires a north-west wind, and I got a reasonable forecast
for Friday 27th September.
This fizzled out on the day, but Monday 30th looked a little better.
Due to the uncertainty, I decided that I would still ride a 50 on
Sunday 29th. As it
happened, there was still a hope of NW winds on the Monday afternoon.
Andy Burnet and I set off for Birmingham, hoping that the expected Force
2 winds would prove to be underestimates.
We collected Ivy Mitton at Milton Keynes, and arrived at
Birmingham at 1:10 pm. In
the 50 minutes before the 2pm start, I had to decide which route I would
use to leave the city.
Although my schedule had specified the exact course, a programme of
pedestrianisation had interfered with that.
It is no longer possible to ride along New Street!
Even special permissions would have been worthless as most of the
centre seems to be dug up.
I found a simple exit route, but the problems weren't over.
The start point refers to the 'principal clock' on the Post
Office. Well, the Post
Office building is currently an empty shell, which will be shortly be
refurbished etc. Meanwhile,
there are no clocks visible.
Fortunately, I remembered where DJP had started four years ago,
and so I used that point - but travelling in the opposite direction!
I left on time, and covered the first 25 miles (past Coventry, and
towards Dunchurch) in 1.2.30 - with a reasonably helpful wind.
Unfortunately, this wind became more of a crosswind as the ride
progressed (through Daventry and Weedon) and I was down to 2.9.30 for 50
miles at Towcester.
Onwards to Milton Keynes (bypass), and I was 2 mins up on my schedule.
I climbed through Little Brickhill towards Dunstable, and felt
that most of the work had been done in getting that far.
However, my advantage had disappeared by Dunstable, and I was
still level with the schedule at St Albans.
I calculated that I needed to maintain 'evens' for the rest of
the ride.
From St Albans to South Mimms is only about 8 miles, but the climb of
Ridgehill seemed to knock the stuffing out of me.
12 mph is not good news, and I was 2 mins down at the South Mimms
roundabout, where Audrey Hughes joined the attempt.
I continued towards Barnet in the knowledge that despite being
down on the schedule, I was still up on the record.
100 miles passed in 4.32.30.
The traffic in Barnet delayed me slightly, but things eased for a while
before approaching the North Circular Road.
Thankfully the lights were green, and so I was across safely,
onto the climb towards Highgate.
When I joined the A1, I was 1 minute down on the record, with 5
busy miles to go.
As dusk was upon me, I decided to abandon my snappy image, and removed
the shades. Suddenly, I
could see things again. I
zoomed down the hill under the 'Archway', and was swallowed in dense
traffic. A frantic
performance got me to The Angel with 2 minutes left.
As I got to Smithfield market, the time expired, and I reached Albert
Ayton at the finish point in 5.8.14 for 112 miles.
Unfortunately for me, Dave still holds the record with 5.6.40.
Rats.
RD 1991