Captain Bonty arranged for us to explore Surrey Hills.
Christiaan & I was about to embark on our first maiden voyage to the hills on roadbikes... Nerves was all around, but we were rest assured not to worry if we get dropped etc etc.
11 of us met on the bridge. Richard Hemmings our token Brit was there in his baggies and as expected did not get the nod of approval from Captain Bonty.
We went through Esher, Cobham up Hungry Lane & Staple Lane & onwards towards Peaslake.
Today I was riding on Saartjie's bike after Gerhard van Niekerk's recommendation on Boxing Day. Also a Specialized. It is the size of a child's bike & looks like a toy, but it strangely fitted me better. I was well chuffed as I fitted the pedals myself this time.
Like Julie's highlight on her first mountainbike trip was when Christiaan's chain broke, mine was when I had a flat tyre. I can not say how much I welcomed the stop. In Peaslake I was allowed to fill up my water bottle, but had no time for chitchatting or even a cheesestraw.
I've discovered that my hands are short. So when I'm trying to pull the brakes when my hands are on the bars I don't seem to feel in control at all. That freaked me out a little bit as I knew I'm pulling the brakes flat out, but not in control, it was also very frustrating as I want to go faster, but didn't feel confident enough. After the 2nd steep downhill I've decided I had enough of that, so I started practising going down in the drops when I go downhill, that was much better.
Gerhard Bonthuys decided to get us home, we have to do only one more hill, Whitedowns... Seriously a 20% gradient. Are you crazy people??? And with NO granny gear! I'll admit I got off & pushed my bike until Christiaan played psychological games with me & said you can do it... I maybe could've done it, but the problem was I didn't want to do it. So with the help of Christiaan & Bonty I made it to the top.
The home stretch was nice and flat and I was very relieved to get to Hampton Court in one piece & still alive.
Thank you so much for your patience & encouragement Gerhard Bonthuys, Christiaan & Steph.
Jules - if you are reading this, this is where you should stop reading!
We met up with the A-team at Hampton Court for coffee & cake & the C-Team also blessed us with there presence. Here I made the mistake to ask Bonty for a cuppacino with an extra shot of coffee. It ended up being a double espresso which I drank out of desperation. I was silenced for the first time in my life, 90km of road cycling took it out of me... In my need to be able to speak again I ordered another cuppacino with an extra shot just to get what I wanted the first time. Needless to say I overdosed on coffee & was shaking from all the coffee by the time we left the shop.
I got home still shaking & nauseous... Julie threatened me that I'm not allowed to go cycling again if I come back grumpy again to which I've said I'd rather be grumpy from cycling than from NOT cycling... If only she knew the problem was that I had about 7 espressos on that day. Sorry Jules. It won't happen again. :)
A-Team: Simon, Louis, Gerhard van Niekerk, Lee-Anne & Myburgh, Rich Hemmings & Dawie
B-Team: TC, Gerhard Bonthuys, Stephne & Christiaan
C-Team: Paula & Jason
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