Time for Tunnel Training again!

It was recently announced that the Ten Minutes of hell time trial would be on again in 2013. It is being held on 24th March and is a great opportunity to race against some of the Country's best TT'ers. Check out last years event here.

So, in the spirit of how the club really began, I arranged to take the Palefish CC Sunday spinners to the tunnel to stretch their legs and start the training for next years event.
We met at the Twelfth Man at 7, after only one ride in two weeks, and still feeling the effects of a cold, I wasn't sure that riding out into the dark cold morning was a good idea! Surprisingly there were 6 other adventurous souls who decided that going for a bike ride early on a Sunday morning is better than a lay in and a nice cooked breakfast! It was also good to see 2 new club members, Chi and Neil, join us for their first Sunday club ride.

We arrived at the Tunnel entrance, where Mark and Rich were waiting for us. After a quick safety briefing (we are getting serious now!) we all headed into the mouth of hell! As we rode in, we passed Ken exiting Hell. We didn't go too fast today, it was a sighting lap really, but we didn't hang around either! I don't think Mr Dowsett has anything to worry about, but I didn't feel to bad and I hope that I will be able to beat my time from last year.

After the Tunnel foray we rode to Eureka for a brew. We rode through the lanes, which as the sun rose and the mist lifted looked fantastic. We are lucky to live on such a picturesque peninsula.
When we arrived at Eureka, a bit later than last time so we kept out of Anne's bad books, and we met up with another 2 new Palefish CC riders, Steve and Derek.

There was less cake consumed, and more Toast this morning, a sign that the colder weather is here.

The 12 of us left Eureka and headed back via the usual route of Puddington, Burton, Ness, Parkgate and Lower Heswall.
At this point 5 of the lads headed home and the rest of us carried on to West Kirby, Hoylake and Moreton. A quick loop through Upton saw us back at the 12th Man.

I found the ride quite a challenge at times today. It is very surprising how a small cold can knock your fitness so far backwards in such a short space of time. I think I will have to make sure I keep well this winter if I want to do better at the Tunnel Time Trial next year!
Hopefully I can get back to three rides a week, and if the weather holds up maybe get out into Wales again in the near future!
Yesterday a few of the lads rode out to Llandegla to the Mountain Bike Centre for a brew. It is good that the club is now big enough to sustain two rides at the weekend. As we intended at the start, there will always be a ride for someone every weekend.