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hippy
After some last minute nail biting in the end I did the ride on my fixed commuter. Very heavily laden with a ton of gear in a pannier. Geared at 67" which is my usual commuting round town ratio. I have to say, it was cold. My fingers and toes were pretty much numb the whole day.
Cycled up to Marylebone and saw about a dozen riders waiting for the 0630. The hall was totally packed with people when we arrived. Some had stayed overnight. Ate toast and biscuits and scanned for other fixers. There were at least a dozen.
Just before 0800 when we were waiting for an official start there was no-one coming out to blow the whistle so one by one we just went. The first two hours were probably the hardest. Icy roads, fingertips and toes going numb with a fine sleet shower coming straight at us. The ice tended to be toward the side of the road so I rode as centrally as I could and felt fairly confident with my new dynamo lights.
At the first control I could hardly hold the pen but realised that I had a 2nd pair of thin gloves so I doubled up. Wow, felt like coming indoors. Toes were still frozen but with hands warm I could focus on the scenery again. Sugar coated fields and mellow winter sunshine.
By 1100 pretty much all the frost and ice was gone and I was actually starting to overheat. Little Henries in Pangbourne was so packed with riders that I got my sticker and got out of there. The queue was too long and I'm too stingy for cafes. Got snacks at the co-op across the road and headed off. But that was when the climbs began and I had an extra 2-3 kg in my pannier. But I wanted a nice quiet spot to have a break so I pushed on. Most of the climbs were pretty gentle and none that required getting off and walking.
I paced myself and took it fairly easy. Stopped for a break whenever I needed. Started to get dark around 1530 ish and my dynamo light came into their own. This was the first audax that I had done at night on unlit roads. Quite thrilling. The cars were all very courteous and some even giving too much and you had to wave them past.
In the final 30k one guy latched onto me as his lights weren't up to showing him the way and he was a bit lost too. I think he must have been a bit fed up with my slow speed because he hopped on to another faster group when they came past. We rode for an hour or so in silence which was kind of ghostly but felt like a long drive with a passenger. We tried conversation but it just slowed everything down.
Got in with a time of 11h 45min. Looked like most people had come in much earlier. It wasn't easy but having paced myself I felt comfortable and it was faster than I had expected. So glad I did it in the end and it reminded me why I do this.
Woo hoo. Bring on the next one!