The Gridiron 100 on fixed yesterday. Some steep pinches that involved low-RPM grunting but nothing that actually stalled me out, despite a big saddlebag packed for the following three days on the Isle of Wight. Down to Bournemouth on the train the previous day and a quick ride to the start with Ian, who I’ve not met up with for a few years.
It was quite relaxed at the start and on the road and we chatted when traffic allowed. Despite a large entry, there didn’t seem to be many cyclists out there for most of the day, probably because we didn’t start till 09:30, later than most. Lunch was a bit of a fail because everywhere seemed overwhelmed by motorists and cyclists enjoying the decent weather.
We rode round together at a steady pace with a couple of his friends until about 30km to go, when I was looking like missing the last Hythe ferry. The plan was to finish the Gridiron, socialise a little, ride to Southampton and get the train to Portsmouth. Due to a relaxed approach to the Gridiron, that changed to pushing pretty hard for the last section, about 5 minutes at the finish, then hammering off to the Hythe ferry, which was late anyway. Squeezed onto a delayed train to avoid manic Sunday evening traffic to Portsmouth and waited for Judith to turn up at our hotel from her own cycle tour. Job done.