Ride report by Ronny (with brief addendum by Rob)

When I volunteered for the second (translation: slower) “A-team”, childhood memories of dodgy TV shows from the 80s came immediately to mind.  Rob, our team captain, did a great job. Emails were exchanged the week leading up to the event and a ride strategy was formed.  Judd got early team kudos for reconning the circuit and then sending us his polar computer readings complete with altitude, speed (interestingly displayed as minutes per kilometre), heart rate and hand written annotations.

The remaining members were: Schneiderman, Paul O, John B, Ben S and myself.

Arriving last, I was greeted by the team and an injured but brownie wielding Lorraine (who tried to use them to lure some of the Plan B Wealth Management boys into her car).

Our strategy was simple, stay together, ride safely and have fun.  We were towards the back of the A distance group, drawing Jj as our team letters (Pete and the others drew W).

The start was uneventful, we negotiated the windiest part of the course well and worked through the first lap. We were a little confused at the turnaround (that was my fault) and it wasn’t until the third lap when we finally got the hang of it (the trick is to enter it single file) but kept the paced steady heading back for the second lap.It was great to have John and Judd’s family cheering us on each lap whilst Lorraine took pictures of us (amongst the ones she took of the Plan B boys). 

On the second lap, Rob began helping John up the steeper hills which prompted a discussion on what constituted a “push” versus a “touch”.  After a short debate, we all decided that the difference begins when one starts to close the hand –  so, an open palm was deemed a push whilst finger action constituted touching a man’s bum.  The debate then moved on to whether John might ride faster if Rob began to “touch” him. Although team captain, Rob felt underqualified for this job and we made plans to try to recruit someone more qualified like a urologist to our team solely for this purpose next time.

We made good ground on the other teams on the downhills and caught about half of the teams that had already passed us heading out.  After another turnaround, Judd got a puncture. At first he didn’t want to stop but we decided to pull over and fix it. Paul, John and I rode ahead slowly while we waited for the others to catch up.

All together again, we managed to finish as a team, proud we weren’t lapped by Pete and boys and with smiles on our faces.  We found Lorraine handing out cans of Coke (another fanciful plan to lure the Plan B boys to her car) and then had lunch.

Rob deservedly won the “Le Petit General” award for keeping us together, making sure we had fun and most of all, for clarifying the intricacies of how to acceptably touch a man in lycra during a ride.

In all, we all had a lot of fun and we’re hoping for at least two “A” and two “B” teams for each event next year, so keep an eye out for the Cyclosportif calender and get your yearly licences for ‘09 so you don’t have to get a day licence each time.

Addendum by Rob (from here on to be known as the “pusher”; NOT the “toucher”)

Two points (thanks Ronny for a great report):

Judd’s flat – not sure how this happened but by the time it came to pump the changed wheel, Judd had managed to hand off to both Ben and me who then took turns pumping it up! Nice work if you can get it, Judd!

Fun – this was a great event, well organised and a great turn out. While I think we’ve all known that we have a great bunch of guys and girls in the SPR crew, it’s at these events and riding in a ‘team’ style, you really get to appreciate how lucky you are to be part of something like the Rouleurs. Thanks from the SPR2 crew to Pete for providing the platform for what everyone has come to really bond to. See you out there!