Straight Outta Hackney 2024

Ride Details

Series 5 Audax Season 2023-24, Ride number 11

Ride Stats

Ride Notes

Something new for this month - riding in a totally part of the country…. and in the BIG CITY! Having travelled up to London by train from WSM on Friday and negotiated the route out to my Daughter’s place in Harringay without any issues.

The event day started slightly overcast and cool as the participants assembled at the depart in a community centre in Harringay. Once we were off I had a minor glitch as I dropped my GoPro which luckily didn’t get squished before I retrieved it. From there it was a case of sticking with the main group and negotiating the route “Outta Hackney”. At about 25km we emerged into the countryside and the guys on the front started to pull quite hard - I managed to keep up for a while but then the elastic broke and I decided that I’d better back off or I’d blow up completely later in the ride. At this point I was in between two groups - chasse patate as the saying goes - although the quieter roads and views were welcome after the city/suburbia and rolling on the tops, on my own, was a very pleasant way to spend Saturday morning.

Pretty soon the first control was in sight and I managed to roll in with some other riders - 2 hours 48 minutes for 72km which is speedy by my usual standards. After a quick sit down with a coffee and flapjack in the gardens I moved on as it was getting a bit warm. On the road I was passed by Matt and I followed him at a distance to the 103km mark for the info control. OH! We’d both missed it but decided to ride on together towards Cambridge and hope others had the answer. At this point Kate and Philip, who’d earlier done a big turn on the front of the main group, came past on their lovely Fairlight bikes - they’d seen the control and kindly gave us the answer. Matt felt he could hold the wheel but I struggled to keep up on the fast roads into Cambridge, even though I had a tail wind to help. Being a free control I needed a Garage/shop so stopped at the first available - it had a Greggs and I treated myself to a Chicken Curry Slice which is, of course, the food of champions. Matt was there, and we left together to neotiate the outskirts of Cambridge, taking the short option and not going right into the centre.

Once back out in the country Matt got going so I rode at my own pace, as it was by now quite warm, and stopped at the village shop in Puckridge (control #4 at 170km), before heading towards the finish.

Things became a bit sketchy around Cheshunt and I was passed by James and Marcin. Being more used to urban riding than this old country bumpkin, they were kind enough to let me wheel suck all the way down through North London (even waiting atafter I caught a red light). This meant I didn’t have to keep looking at my Garmin and could concentrate on negotiating this last section without any hiccups…. which was the case until we got to Tottenham where the game at White Hart Lane had just finished. I now got a new, and pretty unique, Audax experience - riding through the middle of a foootball crowd!

Back at the arrivee there were quite a few there already and I took a few photos of my super-domestiques before the excellent post ride food and bevs provided by Justin and the team.

I had a great day out and, if you are reading this thanks to Justin for the event. Also, Philip and Kate for the big turns on the front, Matt for the company on the road, and finally James and Marcin for helping me negotiate the North London urban jungle.

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