RideLondon SCC Style

Prudential, the Pru, Ride London, London Surrey Classic. Whatever you like to call it, it’s now a well known event on the cycling calendar and one that every cyclist has heard of!

Preparation began weeks in advance, most notable of which was a hasty video sent out on how to do a team time trial - we are nothing if not ambitious at Southgate.

The day began early, far too early, with riders getting up at 4am, ahead of a 5.15 meeting at Turnpike Lane station. Getting to Stratford was easy, but then finding exactly where to start became an exercise in orienteering, and our team were sure they took a wrong turn at narnia. After finding the right place, it was a question of walking and final preparation, Paul M went missing for the better part of the morning, finally emerging from a portaloo and demanding a coffee - at which point there was a general consensus that no one wanted to get in THAT queue and he was shouted down. A long walk and wait then ensued down to the start point, punctuated only by the realisation that James D and Luke have literally nothing in common apart from cycling and really can’t understand why they get on (ABBA vs AC/DC......). Finally, and to the epic sound of “Tequila” our squad rolled out.

The first 20 miles were a vain attempt by James to keep the team in some semblance of a train, which fair to say didn’t work, with one notable interloper jumping into our wheels wearing a BabeStation jersey and an “adult fun site” shorts, Luke also noticed they had a hole in them.....

Soon rolling on to Kingston, Luke took to the front and led through his childhood home town, also trying to ignore the cat calls from his fellow riders for having to have a wee in Richmond Park. Some strong turns on the front, especially from Mick De Gendt in TT mode led to the first categorised climb of the day - Newlands Corner. This provided confusion for our boys as Mick said he wanted to stop to everyone except Adrian, who proceeded to smash past the stop and would not be seen again until Green Park.

The next test of the day was Leith Hill, the steepest and tallest of the days hills, which in some quarters is considered a mountain as it has a tower on top taking it above the 1000ft mark. This unfortunately was a damp squib as some incidents ahead led to riders having to walk the first half, only to be allowed to get back on for the steepest gradients, stiff and out of their rhythm, Chris bemoaning the fact that he has had to stop on so many big climbs in recent outings with Southgate (Laurence and Ditchling Beacon anyone?)

A rather good descent from Leith into Box Hill was next, with the main jeopardy being the brakes of a rather badly cared for tandem scaring James D and Luke silly - who would ride a tandem..... !!

Box Hill had its share of drama as James D and Paul M went down after touching wheels, once again due to an interloper trying to muscle into the blue train. And suddenly it was all down hill! A very fast last 30 miles were in store, Luke made friends with Chorley Cycling Club by sprinting past them and shouting who are Chorley CC, only to be caught and told exactly who they are (great club by the way). A race up Wimbledon Hill between Paul M and Luke was the final bump, before James D in his capacity as ride captain joined the two and promptly split the train with a call of “let’s go for it”. A 38kmh last 10 miles with great team work from Paul M, Luke and James followed and suddenly there was the finish! Our boys crossed arm in arm (almost - damn recumbent bike) and some welcome refreshments on the mall (thanks Roxy and John H) followed a truly fantastic ride. Well done to all the Southgate representatives and especially to James D for some great leadership. What a day....