Hard Day In January '19 - 10th Anniversary Edition

We had a group picture taken by @clubman in the pub at the end, but I'm not sure how it turned out? It was a bit dark in there. In any case, I'm curious to see any pictures he's taken :)

Also, 50/14 is actually an inappropriate gear ratio. Mine was just a tad high, not really as noteworthy :P

@clubman got a good one in the pub after we were done probably better for putting names to faces

New page fail

@clubman, are you able to post the picture?

I'll now try to load the pictures that I have.

I apologise for being so slow and, more importantly, that I did not get more and better pictures, but some times that's how it goes. I had hoped that some clever editing might help and this was part of the reason for the delay, but editing can't improve everything.

Sorry, pictures won't load at the moment - I will seek technical help here and try again later today.

Another try - the group at the finish - names to faces

I'm not sure of every one of you now- there are some gaps others will have to fill in.

But here are those I'm confident about-from left to right:

Camel toe, Swiss Chap, Pastry bot, Cagimaha,?,?,? jonny69,?, Jaeyukdapbap, Ruserius and Four Green Fields.
Apologies to the ones I'm not sure about, but I don't want to muddle you up.

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Start

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Savage

Christmas Common Climb

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Another , same spot.

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Eton Wick (on the way out).

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Same spot

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About to leave the cafe

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Trophy Presentation

And that's really all that are worth showing you, but I hope these are enough to give some idea of the day.

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Yep, you got me in the right place!

Nice to see some pics of the ride.

Looks great.

Some good pics there, thanks!

I took last week off. Yesterday I found out I'd burned through a LOT of brake pad on this ride!

Thats nothing, you should see how much material on the inner thigh area of my bib tights i burned through!!

Oh man, tell me about it, had to change the pads mid last week because it was just getting ridiculous...

Camel toe, Swiss Chap, Pastry bot, Cagimaha, Christono, Lobster Shorts, Scrabble, jonny69, Seager, Jaeyukdapbap, Ruserius and Four Green Fields.

Thanks for the pics Chris! Was hoping that Christmas Common one would come out nice.

We've both got that fixed gear steep hill body roll winch position down to a tee.

Next Year

I hope we'll all be around and capable of a 2020 Hard Day.

I will try to get some engraving done for the trophy -just a plaque with the names of the past winners. It is still in my possession, but I'd be happy for some one else to be 'custodian'. It would be sad if it got lost, especially if it has been engraved.

You may remember I had the idea (actually during this year's ride) that it might be possible to get a cycling celebrity from the past to come to the pub to make the presentation. I had Martyn Roach in mind (if you don't know this name try googling), because he is local and did a great deal of 'Hard Day' style riding on fixed. As it turned out Martyn was at the CTT prize presentation dinner that day which was the reason I couldn't get hold of him. There are other possiblities, but I think most of them would be at that dinner, so if other people think the 'celeb' idea is worth pursuing we will need to avoid a clash with the CTT next year.

While I'm here, let me recommend Keith Bingham's Blog.

http://freedomcycle-bingers.blogspot.com/

Keith is always worth listening to because he was on the staff of 'Cycling' (as Cycling Weekly used to be known) for many years and had a long stint as their chief reporter. He's about my age and has retired from the mag. but, I'm happy to say, he just can't keep away from cycling journalism.

The current post is relevant since it includes a description of the Harp Hilly 100, and other early season rides of this type. Although he doesn't mention the year he's writing about the names he fefers to will tell you it was some time ago.

Gerry Butterfil (referred to in Keith's article), although not a rider I knew at all well, is some one I rode with occasionally. I remember riding back to the HQ with him after a Vets' road race in Surrey during the 1990's. I think it would be fair to say that neither of us had distinguished ourselves during the event and we were both 'f.m.b'. on the result sheet. For some reason Gerry saw fit to engage me in conversation "I've ridden against Eddy Merckx you know ". It was certainly true he had ridden as a pro, but what followed was a bit surprising: "Yes, and I know how to deal with him - when you're at the front with him, just don't let him half wheel you."

I really didn't know what to say to that - I couldn't bring myself to say "OK, I'll keep that in mind when I come across him in a vets' race somewhere".

Thanks for the pictures, Chris, and you and Dan for the IDs.

Thanks for sharing this route (post 95) I did a variation and got lost around Bisham. Will share the full route when I do it from West London soon.

Snaps are back:

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