15+ Viceroys took on the 80 mile Tour of Cambridgeshire this weekend. There were a mix of riders and the plan was to ride out together and then see how we all felt naturally grouping into faster/slower groups. To enable us all to start as a group the “challenge” riders moved into the “Sport” start pen which meant the start time was a bit later.

Meanwhile, Lara arrived ‘pretty shattered from lack of sleep in the days leading up to it. Chris and I managed to catch up with all the other Viceroys and we all sneaked into the same pen. I really wasn’t feeling it, but it was nice to see everyone and look forward to a cycle together. I was a little worried about Chris as he has ridden his bike twice in the last year and his ‘preparation’ was 3 WattBike sessions!

Our pen slowly filtered out onto the closed roads and we got separated pretty much instantly! I found Andrea, David and Nick and we cycled together. A queue up a hill due to an accident separated Andrea and I from the others. Andrea then decided to cycle hard to catch up. Panicking we wouldn’t be able to hold 47kmh with 75 miles to go I sensibly suggested we ease off!!

We caught up with them again some time later and wheel sucked to recover. 2 hours in Andrea told me it was starting to hurt, but I felt really good. Knowing what she was like on Ride London I was pretty sure a bite to eat would have her back in no time.’

The mass Viceroys group eventually got rolling around 12.30 and Geoff tucked in behind a Johannes who he knew would be able to ride at a strong early pace (a correct prediction!). Geoff reports: ‘I was hoping to break the 4 hour mark so knew I needed a 20mph average and with the wind behind for the first 30 miles wanted to be ahead of this level at that point and Johannes was the perfect wheel to follow. Continue reading →