A Group Audax Ride

A good turn-out for today's 'Audax', sixteen riders ready to test themselves in the sunshine.  There was general interest in the audax concept,  but we had only one real Audax rider, Dave.  As he is an old hand he had little to learn, but he did have the opportunity to score one AAA point, a precious thing at this time of the year.  So Dave stuck to the rules, got his timing slips and so on, while the rest of us softened the edges a bit, for the sake of progress.  Not that we didn't do all of the miles and all of the climbing; we just took it easy on the documentation.

Out of the Day Centre and along the cycle path to Dorking, where Dave got his first receipt and the ride proper started.  Up Coldharbour Lane and across the face of Leith Hill, we in the sunshine but showers on the plain below.  Dave took the proper route down past Leith House; the rest of us took advantage of the newly surfaced Tanhurst Lane and met Dave again on the road to Ewhurst.  At the corner of Barhatch Lane Dave did an extra couple of Kms to get his stamp at Cranleigh, the rest of us set directly off up the hill.  The motivation here was less enthusiasm for the ascent and more eagerness for lunch, which Maggie provided at the top, in true audax fashion.

Ray and Rob - Barhatch Lane

The Tailgate Picnic

The Tailgate Picnic was quite a success, giving us a chance to rest and refuel without taking too much time.  Many thanks to Maggie for taking the trouble.  Lunch over, it was briskly down the other side for a loo stop in Shere, then the next big hill, Coombe Bottom.

We did well on this one, re-grouping for a couple of minutes at the top and then down again along Green Dene before the next hill, Crocknorth Lane.  Not quite so sparky here, but sound enough, and we were soon rolling across Ranmore Common.  On the corner by St Barnabus' Church I made a minor route deviation, as Terry had tipped me off that Chapel Lane at the bottom was flooded.   Most of us went down towards Dorking, meeting Dave, Mike and Pete at Burford Bridge.  They confirmed that it was indeed flooded, but they had been able to pass, with care.  About a foot of water.

Then the last hill of the day - the iconic Box Hill, taken in fine style.

We were pretty pleased with ourselves at the top - Dave needed to return to Dorking to get his final time stamp, but the mood of the meeting was against going with him.  No matter - he had plenty of time in hand, so we all took our tea together in the Spring-like sunshine.

So, a good ride, in good company.  But what about the performance?  Would we have won our Audax badges?  Well, as it's Audax it's all in Kms, and we did 55 Kms elevenses to tea.  It took us four hours to do it, say 14 Kph, so we were well in - the lowest allowable average speed for this ride was 11Kph. So here's the badge - well done everyone!

Mark