That was fun.
Highlights that I can think of. (I've probably forgot a few)
The Autumnal scenes in the Chilterns. I do like riding through woodland in the Autumn.
Seeing so many people on fixed, even though they weren't using a sensible gear like I was. But, whatever.
Managing to ride up the Stoke Row hill on my sensible gear.
Seeing so many people out on the ride. Whoda thunk it on a November 200?
Chatting with some of those people.
Comedy Charlie Chaplin moment on a descent. Flying down a hill with lots of bends and there's a man walking in the road with a ladder. As I come round the corner, he decides that this would be an excellent time to walk across the road without checking that anything (like me, for example) is coming up behind him. Que for the ladder to rotate as the man makes his way across the road.
2 counts of my, "A few," line to newbies asking me if I've done any Audax before.
Getting a tow from Jeff/Geoff, who knows mattc and whose home was used as the finish of mattc's 600. Just when I needed it too, I was getting a bit feeble at the end, but he helped me recover a bit. We did bit and bit and had a chat.
The descent into Bix, which I expect most won't have liked very much. It bought back memories of riding the Crackpot. I have a bit of a perversion for those grotty lanes. If you enjoyed it, then I'd recommend the Wessex SR next year. (It's not
all like that)
The pasta at the finish, which seemed to have magical healing powers. My legs hurt at the finish, but when I got up to ride home after the pasta, they felt
OK better. It even tasted good too.
I hope the man who crashed is OK. He told me he was, but he packed not long after.
I hope the headwind wasn't too rough on the slower riders too. It was a bit of a bugger and had me down to 13mph at times.
Also hope that the two ladies I saw walking up the Stoke Row hill got round OK and they didn't get demoralized by some loony riding past them on fixed. I might have been more encouraging if my head wasn't filled with, "Nnnnncomeonpedalsturnwillyannnnnnnn :sick:nnnnnnn."