Prudential London-Surrey 86

Well, that was a rough old ride.  People's experiences will have differed depending on their start times, but basically you got a dry bit, a wet bit, a very wet bit and then a fairly dry bit.  There was a very great deal of water around, both at the sides of the road and across it.  At Oxshott and Esher there were hub-deep floods under the railway bridges, and there were still large puddles across the road on the Embankment, a couple of miles from the finish.

I thought the event was well run.  I was shepherded into my start pen, along with thousands of others, on time and got away promptly.  The peloton effect of last year, which enabled greater speed, worked well for a bit but fell off once the rain started, for obvious reasons.  But there was still a high level of camaraderie and, if you close the roads, 24,000 riders can have a good day out without much mischief occurring.  

Spectators were, unsurprisingly, fewer, but the charities put on noisy and encouraging displays to support their riders.  I thought the cheerleading pom-pom dancers at Kingston were complete heroines - they were dancing in the rain on my way out, and were still there, still in the rain, on my way back a couple of hours later.

I was disappointed - as were many others - that the route was shortened because of the weather and Leith Hill and Box Hill were removed from the course.  I had been looking forward to these.  But the reason for the change was the fear of crashes on the descents due to standing water.  It is hard to argue with this, as there was a lot of standing water.

On the way out I saw John Beer at Hampton - I shouted but I don't think he saw me.  Most rain capes look the same.  On the way back I saw Terry on the cycleway near Denbies.  We did see each other and he shouted kind words of encouragement.  Stephen Roche was in the wave in front of me at the start - closest I'll come to riding with a Tour de France winner - and I saw Laura Trott and her Dad at Weybridge.

My plan had been to improve on last year's time by cunning tactics.  I planned to save time by not going in to the busy food hubs, and by not having a puncture.  This half worked - I didn't go in to the food hubs.  But I did get a puncture four miles from the finish.  Hey ho - there were a lot of punctures about on the wet roads.  While I was fixing it a marshal ran up and asked if I had requested medical assistance.  No, I said, but if one of those Mavic support cars is about it would be very handy.  He looked as if I was a loony and ran off to find his medical emergency.  No sympathy.

So I did get a better time, but by the not entirely satisfactory method of riding a shorter distance.  Accurate apportionment is mathematically improbable, so I'll have to wait until next year to find out.

As far as I know all of our riders finished, and I bet they were pleased with themselves and have tales to tell, too.  I look forward to hearing them.

Mark