The Extra
Mile…
April 2001
.... well, that didn't help.....and the puncture happened at a difficult
time.....and as for the wind for the last couple of hours......
That sounds like a load of excuses, and maybe they are.
Perhaps I should be gracious, and say that the existing record was too
good for us. But when was I ever gracious in defeat?
In
March, I decided that Dave Johnson and I would ride the London to
Cambridge and back, attempting to beat whatever the Eastern Counties RRA
record was.
I
was a bit surprised to find that it was 4 hr 31 m for what I
initially
believed to
be 109 miles
(later adjusted to 103). I immediately concluded that March would be
too early, and that the ride should take place when we were a bit
fitter. Perhaps we should have tried it in May.
We
set off from Epping Forest at 0700, travelling south through Woodford to
the turn at Stratford. We were ahead of schedule at that point,
mainly due to predictions of long delays in Leytonstone being unfounded.
Back at the start point, we were still slightly ahead as we made our way
to Harlow.
By
now, the traffic was quite heavy, and we found ourselves riding
alongside queues. Progress was "on schedule" to and through a very
busy Bishop's Stortford, and then we saw some open roads.
We
claimed a three minute advantage at Newport, and were moving well.
Then we hit some debris, and picked up a front wheel puncture.
This was more of a problem than it might seem, as the following car was
still recovering from earlier delays and it was several minutes before
it appeared. I can't be certain, but we lost at least 4 minutes,
and so were struggling to get a cushion before turning south into the
wind. I might have measured the course incorrectly, as we were
moving very well but still only 2 minutes up as we approached Cambridge.
The
Cambridge turn was witnessed by Liz Milne, who was probably a bit
concerned to see us just 2 minutes ahead, with a fairly brisk headwind
awaiting us. Any concerns would have been justified, as we then
began to struggle. We'd lost those two minutes by Stump Cross, and
by Newport (80 miles) we were 2 minutes down.
I
was ready to abandon, but Dave wanted to continue. We had lost
another minute by Bishop's Stortford, but held that deficit at
Sawbridgeworth. However, a heavy shower and maybe a bit of fatigue
left us six minutes adrift when we left Harlow. We did a sneaky
shortcut across the M11 roundabout, to place us 6 minutes down with 6
miles to go.
Some hope. The time ran out when we left a rather busy Epping,
and we toured to the finish point.
So
the 1974 ride by Dick Drury and John Leiper lives on. I had a call
from John this evening, and he did concede that he and Dick were quite
pleased with their Cambridge and back ride. That said, though, he
was sure that Dave and I would beat it.
The
course turned out to be 104.5 miles, so we needed over 23 mph to beat 4h
31m 8s. Our 4h 37m 30s is some way off, but I'm fairly sure we can
do a better job next time. It's just a case of fitting it
all in!
Ralph