No Dictator for the RBWR today, apparently he had somewhere better to be
. Where could be better than Richmond on a sunny winter Wednesday morning
No 2IC either
, so the choice of the route came down to 3IC.................PMM Man(dun dun dun da)
.
So as could be expected the route was to be Finger Post Rd (regroup at the top at the go-cart track), & then out to the top of Colebrook Hill, with another regroup at the top, then its everyone for themselves on the way back, which I think were his exact words.
As the race...ooops sorry ride began the 16 of us sundered up Fingerpost at a reasonable pace (about as fast as I could go actually
& I was being a spongebob, which seems to be my nickname now, thanks Ross, who from this day forward shall be also known as "Softy").... anyway things were going along nicely until, Rob fresh back from the tour de France decided on an early break away, the rest of us didn't seem to mind as we were aware of the regroup at the top, except Christian (the birthday boy, or old man back as he is currently known as) decided to chase him down, to great effect I must add, pipped him at the top, I thought maybe they weren't listening to the route & the regroup point
why waste energy that will be needed for the trip back
or maybe it was just posturing
but then the rest of us didn't seem to care.
& we were secretly hoping Old Man Back would use all his energy reserves up. (not likely though).
The trip up to Colebrook Hill was uneventful, but PMM man being the 2IC dropped off the back to help any stragglers along, or was PMM man the straggler
or was he playing the conserve energy & use up all of my energy trying to drag him back game
,possibly the latter I think.
Anyway to the trip back.....the pace was pretty hot, as what was to be expected, until we got to the steeper hill before Colebrook Golf Club, that's when someone that's supposed to have an Old Man Back hit, surprising everyone that was cruising along at the back (mainly me), after a mass panic & nearly popping a pooper valve to try to stay on I realised that 3 had broken away, Old Man Back, Softy & John. That left a bunch of 10 for the chase, luckily we had Daisy (hope I spelt his nickname correct) form the Dome bunch up front powering away in chase, but being the ever helpful group that we can be we let him smash himself over the next few lumps while the rest of us recovered, Once we recovered sufficiently we set of in chase of the front 3, swapping the lead & working like a well oil machine,(well sort of anyway)expending a hugh amount of energy that we never had in the chase. But alas to no avail, we weren't destined to catch them
. I believe Softy won the sprint for the line of the 3 in front.
Oddly enough of the 5 of the chasing group that was left there was a little bit of testosterone kicking about, unbeknown to me. As the sprint line was coming up I heard Logan shout "car back", causing everyone to fall into line so it could go past. Oddly I didn't see a car
all I saw was Logan sprinting off, sneaky, then PMM man & John realised & took off after him, David & I though "why are they sprinting for 4th" so we cruised in behind & watch the action unfold. Well PMM man, using all his leftover energy managed to drag him self passed Logan, thinking he had the sprint won he eased off, which allowed John (not the John in the front group) to slip by for an easy 4th place. That's the second time PMM man has eased off when he's though he had won, & the second time he has lost
.
For a final recap.......the weather was sunny.....Softy won the sprint....Old Man Back is a year older....the coffee & chat was good.....and everone was a winner at some stage along the route...what more could we ask for