Easter - curate's egg

I'd taken a week out to do a few more hard rides after my first excursion into racing this year, also to do a bit more rest as the clocks had gone forward and it always takes a week to recover from the 'time shift' as we embrace our inner Time Lord and get ready for spring/summer.
Two contrasting events, firstly on the Good Friday the City RC (Hull) '10' on the uber fast V718 (A63) between Goole and Kingston upon Hull along the Humber estuary, this was the beginning of my OldSkool adventure last year and again it had a section devoted to the non-aero time trialing but this year I decided that this event would benefit from the modern approach so armed with my best bike and new Rudy Project 'Wingspan' helmet I set off on the 1 1/2 Hr. journey up country. To be fair the weather was not cruel but it was biting cold with an Easterly wind getting in on the Easter theme, I went for a 20 minute warm up on the damp roads and then stopped to fiddle with my bike only looking at the clock when my 10 minute man rode past on his way to the start. I thought I'd better get my skates on and belted up the road and to my gradual anxiety I'd forgotten how far it was to the start and I was doing 25mph into the wind trying to get there as the minutes ticked by.
There was an ambulance and several police cars on the course, I thought the event might have to be cancelled, it transpired that a rider had snapped his stem going down one of the large potholes on the course and fallen heavily leaving a patch of blood on the road (so I was told) and as I rode the event there were indeed quite a few large and deep pot 'craters' on the racing line some as big as a small car making the choice of out into the traffic or inside through the dirt, I went down one and my bars moved but it paid to keep your head up on the fast return
I made it to the start with several minutes to spare (Phew!) and after removing several layers of clothes and sweat I was away, now the outbound road slightly more uphill but I did not panic at the start but keeping my revs up as high as I could in a medium gear catching only the one rider (a late starting lady) I was at the 5 mile point in 11 minutes although I didn't know that at the time I just took it easy on the greasy roads around two roundabouts and then back with a tail wind my speed shot up to 30mph+ and did not drop much below until the final half mile when I mistook a parked car for the finish and only started riding again when I saw the chequered flag ahead
I stopped the watch at 20:40 a mere 5 seconds off a PB, I thought my watch must have started late in the rush to the line or at least be wrong, a handful of seconds away from my best ever effort on the 2nd day of April on a cold windy day with potholes and a badly timed finish but when I got the the result there it was 5th fastest Vet (12th in the day) only a minute behind winner Barry Charlton (Lyme RC) 19:41 not a bad result and a very good Friday
Mens Event
Womens Event
Contrast this with Mondays effort in the Leicester RC Hilly '29' around the lanes (tracks) of NE Leicester, I rode out once the early morning rain had abated to the start in Queniborough, a chill wind deterred me from removing my most fleecy legwarmers (with rub already applied!) I suffered a race of misery and pain as I toiled to heave my frame over every hillock and slope (not solicitors) I had put a 23 bottom sprocket and used it on several occasions as my speed on some sections dropped below 10mph into the wind to Beeby & passed Russian farm (Siberian winter) and on Borough hill. I was caught for 5 minutes by the winner James Perkins (Zenith CC) at half way as he powered over the top of a rise in the big ring as mine slipped onto the inner, he only just beat former Hill climb champion Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan)who had gone off course at one point. Eventual 3rd Scott Walker (i-ride) had caught me for a minute at 6 miles and best Veteran Rob Weare (Leamington C&AC) who had beaten me by a mere 30 seconds on the Friday put nearly 8 minutes into me to be 4th. I staggered home into the wind after letting some air out of my tyres and ruminated that it would take more than a new helmet make me a climber.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The expression "a curate's egg" originally meant something that is partly good and partly bad, but as a result is entirely spoiled. Modern usage has tended to change this to mean something having a mix of good and bad qualities.