Dreaming

 I knew I had done a good climb up to Green Dene (https://www.strava.com/segments/886772).

You kind of know that when you see yourself a handful of seconds behind Dani, Robbie, Creme Brulé and Dai.

But I didn’t expect to improve my PR by 21 seconds (from 5:14 to 4:53), especially considering I wasn’t on fresh legs.

Before I get too excited I have to admit I was sitting on the group wheels. For as long as I managed to stay in their wheel anyway. Also, looking at power numbers it feels to me we were assisted with a bit of tail wind. 

In any case, I'm very happy with it.

The problem was that my legs noticed the effort. Not the best news considering the pace was punchy at times and I wasn’t sure how the rest of the route looked like and how far the coffee stop was.

We eventually got to Seale and that was my opportunity to get coffee and a scone; plain, with jam and cream. My weapon of choice when urgent recovery and energy is needed.

It worked very well at the beginning (if being a bit over excited and over confident on how strong you are counts as “very well”) but it didn’t last long.

Moved to the front a couple of times and that felt hard. Tried to sprint once (Ripley) and I wasn’t even close (Dai took it).

The always optimistic Javier still had great hopes for the Esher sprint but as soon as the key move happened I found myself with no legs and in no man's land. 

The group from behind caught up with me. Creme Brulé did a monster turn in the front but he was going so strong I struggled to pass him. In fact more than me sprinting it was him just slowing down.

4th in the line.

With my sprinting dreams destroyed I checked Strava as soon as I got home. I knew I had done a good climb up to Green Dene and I needed any bit of positiveness I could get to recover my morale.

Went into the shower dreaming that I’m a climber now. Let’s see for how long the dream stays alive.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9911045147/

Take care

Javier Arias González