Interesting day at the office yesterday - I nearly didn't start due to the weather but I had squares to bag and a RRtY to keep going and weekends though the month filling up so decided to use it as a baseline on wet riding. An inverted contrast to last year which as a strong tailwind out and headwind back but at least dry.
After 4 hours sleep I set off in to a dark and foggy morning to get the first part of my ECE out of the way, winter gear being the choice for the second weekend running. Foggy and damp all the way to Dunmow and the wind starting to build but no rain.
At the start I scoffed a nice second breakfast and met up with Ted to form the ACME B Peloton, the climbs out towards Bran End were slow for me, takes a time for the legs to come back on song and Ted stomped off up the hill on his fixed... we reformed on the little climb into Bran End where I catapulted off the slipstream to take the lead out position into Bardfield. My plan for the day was to get to the Cafe before the predicted rain started in full, which meant a 2 hour 50km in to a building headwind, I could see a group of 4 or so in front of us, but even pushing on the gap remained constant. Coming out of Bardfield the B Peloton split in two and I carried on with James from Devon at some speed - we soon made contact with a few more riders and a group of 4 through to Belchamps St Paul where I dived off for my first square of the day. A lumpy ride to the cafe and beans on toast and a coffee...
From here it has a retrace of the route for me up the hills I had ridden down and down the ones I had climbed but with the assistance of a tailwind. A lot of the riders from the 200 came past, BFC, Allen, Lee Velo, Bikeability etc most looking a bit miserable. My first bit of byway on the quest for squares was at the top of a climb out of Boxted... just before which I heard my rear puncture a short wait for it to seal and I was off on the bike again.
A lumpy byway gave way to a nice concrete 'footpath' as I rolled up and down through farmers fields. Still cold and wet but totally traffic free...
I dropped in to Cavendish and back in to traffic through to Clair and along an increasingly busy A road till I turned off on another 'footpath' - which was where I managed to end up on my ass in a ploughed field as my wheels slipped beneath me and I failed to unclip in time. Covered in mud and with my Garmin screaming at me (incident detection works great) I pulled myself together, shut up the alarm and wiped off the mud on my gloves. I reflected on how good an idea the Garmin incident detection is in such situations - I was unhurt but it could have been worse and I was in the middle of nowhere.
I proceeded on bagged more remote squares and enjoyed an idling steam engine outside a pub.
The sealed tyre gave out on another trail, and I waited for it to seal again, adding more air I set off again but it blew out. After inserting a tyre worm and pumping up I was back on the road, though my HP mini pump only just managed to put enough pressure in to make it rideable (circa 25psi in 35c) o I think I will need to remember my HV mini-pump next time.
I dripped in to the Arrivee Tom providing a towel and carrier bag... most of the mud had washed off!
Tea and chat and I was then off to do the last 36km of my ECE, I opted to skip our spiritual home (The Compasses, LG) but needed a pint by the time I got back to Chelmsford and was over te moon to realise I had routed past The Orange Tree for the last couple of km. Forward planning at it's best!
Tough day in the saddle - speaking of which I suspect the rain has knackered that as well!