Middleton Cycling Club were hosting their 69th annual club awards presentation and dinner at the Bower hotel in Hollinwood today at 12.30pm. This didn't give me much time to get some riding in before the big day on Monday where my wife is getting induced and out should pop a crying, cute? baby.
On Sundays I would normally swim with the Tri club 9-10am and go for a cycle to Tod so as I needed to be back home for about 11 ish that was out of the question. I text Pantani to see if he wanted to come but I guess he was all asleep. I made my drink, determined not to forget it this time and ended up leaving without a drink again or food!!!
I set off about 8 ish and was going to take it very easy, an average of 14-15mph was showing this but I was getting bored to hell and stood up on all the climbs for variation. I have decided against this recently as it zaps a lot of energy but uses different muscles to sitting down. Route today was towards Oldham, Lees road, Oldham Rd, past Greenfield and back via Mossley and Ashton. Would love to have gone up Holmfirth rd but was unsure how much time it would take. Took a good 30mins to warm the sore muscles up and after an hour I upped the pace. Lots of spells I would get on the drops and sprint standing up but I never gave it my all just in case I got so bad I couldn't cycle back.
THe saddle felt very hard today but wasn't bothering me...no wonder I put on bib longs without any padding. Arrived home wishing I could have gone out for further and longer. I also long for a good chain gang or just anyone to ride with instead of on my own all the time. Not many people like getting up so early (ahem Pete) and the lack of cyclists on the roads today prove this.
Distance 35 miles
time 2hrs 11mins
Avg Spd 16mph
Ascent 2200ft
The awards dinner was good fun, way better than expected, lots of people turned up but I hadn't seen 75% of them before. Guest speaker was Phil West, who was a top track rider and has ridden with some big names like Newton and Wiggins. He is now a talent scout/coach. He was a very good speaker and had 2 vip revolution tickets to give away which was won by playing a game of 'heads or tails' . I picked up my trophies for track champion and the shared hill climb championship. Also picked up 2 plaques engraved with my name as a keepsake.
Food was reasonable at best, veggie soup followed by either very dry turkey, dry salmon or nice looking but very dry beef with minimal veg and 4 small roasts. Pepper corn sauce was the saving grace. Dessert was xmas pub with a miniscule amount of brandy sauce, apple pie with an even smaller amount of cream or an orange tort which was actually the prefered choice. Coffee ( extremely weak) and teas finished off. Good job I had 2 sausage butties before I arrived. The money was spent on silver service ran by kids and a chef of similar ilk. Nutters , on Edenfield Rd would have charged £2 a head extra for an absolute belting meal and the drinks would have been cheaper! At least the venue was only 10 mins away from my house. Terrible ( my word of the week) value for money.
Entertainment aspect on the other hand though was high with funny banter and chat and the time just flew by which is always a good sign.
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