Penge Peloton Report Sunday 13 January 2013
A.k.a. ‘Half way to Hell & Back’ or ‘Chilly with Dips’ or ‘Ice Cold but no Alex!’
Well the forecast promised a ‘high’ of 2 degrees on Sunday, but as it was dry and not icy, plus with a number of us having a date with ‘The Wall’ and its cousins in around 40 days or so, we had to get out there into the wilds of Kent.
It was so cold this week that as each of the intrepid Penge Club riders left their warm homes they were heard to say to their loved ones ‘I am just going outside and may be some time’
Before we set off there was a quick fashion parade somewhat reminiscent of Bromley schoolgirls after a trip to Primark on a Saturday afternoon, but the conversations here consisted of ‘are those gloves thick enough?’, ‘I wish I’d ordered a Penge Gilet’ ‘ooh that Italian helmet – OMG’ etc.
Anyhow enough from Penge fashion guru Mr Wok Gone, from around 8.30am a merry bunch of 10 pedal’ers (later 8 – a couple of pace setters joined us for the first bit) set off on a 48 mile Odyssey (as Tolkien may have put it) to hit some of the peaks we would be facing in February’s Hell of the Ashdown. It seemed apt to be taking an early ‘entrée’ uphill at Jackass Lane leading up to Keston Parish Church – I prayed it wasn’t going to get any harder than that – I obviously needed to pray harder… and pedal faster.
The Stats:
Date: Sunday: 13.01.2013
Activity Type: Cycling – Road Cycling (obviously)
Trip Time: 04:34
Riding Time: 04:02
Punctures: 1
Mechanicals: Nil – A day off for Winnie – sort of!
Riding Distance: 48.06 ml
Altitude Gain: 3357 ft – Yes we climbed this much!
Avg Temperature/: 33.3 oF (for those who like this in new money that is 0.5 °C)
(Note: Melting point of ice is 0.0 °C or 32°F) – Found this out after we got back!
Avg Speed – 11.9 ml/h (measured by the ‘Cannonball’ – so add another 2 or 3 mph for others)
In Summary
Well it was a good ride all in all with hills including Star, Ide and Toys all ‘conquered’ (well, for most, more like survived by the cycling Cannonball Conrad). Oh, and did I mention it was a bit nippy?!?
Penge Cycle Club Sunday Ride = Cold front + warm backs
