I heard a couple of days ago that there would be a last (but my first) Fireflies training run starting from Richmond Park this morning, so – French cold receding – I thought I'd better give it a shot and meet some of the team.
Sure enough, there was a small knot (swarm? conflagration?) outside the Roehampton Gate cafe, and we set off for what turned out to be 125 km and 5 hours' actual riding in the famous Surrey Hills. These are a familiar training ground for London cyclists, and the multitude of relatively short, steep hills are very unlike the much longer, steadier ones in Vercors – or the alps, come to that. However, I just about managed to keep up, lagging behind a bit on the steep bits, but I was rather cold and shaky by the end, in spite of occasional sunny spells.
The roads were predictably dreadful (Gambian ones, where they exist, are smoother and have far fewer potholes). I hit a bump on one fast descent and got into a bit of a wobble, after which paranoia set in about whether the bike's front fork had got damaged by a French pothole. I stripped everything down this evening, though, and everything seems fine. I don't need a terminal equipment failure on any of the multi-kilometer alpine downhill sections.
The Fireflies seem a great bunch. I think we'll get on well.
Details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/321924125
