Page 83 - Cormorant Issue 20 2017

Another
sleepless night on the
oor of a ferry saw the peloton arrive back in Portsmouth ◆◆◆
End of a tough nal ride
at Shrivenham, meaning that by the end of the ride everyone had more than lived up to the sacred Rule #5, as well as Rule #9: If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period. The nal stretch was a wet, gritty and puncture- lled ride, but all groups made it back safe and sound with some broad grins of true accomplishment. Just under
300 miles over the course of four days may not seem over strenuous to those who cycle frequently, but many among the group were not avid cyclists, weren’t accustomed to wearing lycra, didn’t know what chamois cream was, and in some cases, didn’t even have a road bike before they signed up for this challenge. The 47 members of Ex CORMORANT VELO 17 upheld La Vie Velominatus and should
be exceptionally chuffed with a considerable achievement. Chapeau all.
However, none of this would have been possible without our amazingly patient and generous support crew – Col Welsh, Henry L-U, Matt Taylor, Jules Pannett, ‘Mitch’ Mitchell and Mark Bailey. Thank you so much from all of us. And nally, Ben Watts, who did all the admin and heavy lifting, nagged us all to get out on our bikes and luckily convinced the ‘grown ups’ that we were safe enough to do it. Your hard work when you should have been writing your DRP
is massively appreciated by all, and if my views are anything to go by, provided us with four of the most fun, challenging and enjoyable days of the whole course. Thank you.
And as for the mighty Shrivenham Velominati; just remember Rule #6: Free your mind and your legs will follow.
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a new high-end frameset whilst slightly worse for wear in a restaurant – if Mrs Milne didn’t know already, she does now! Exceptional commitment from too many members of the peloton to mention was also shown for Rule #47: Drink triples, don’t ride triples, showing that post-ride recovery is a serious business!
A blustery day dawned for the third day’s ride, during which groups tackled a testing 83 mile route, heading to the north and west of Caen, before nishing back at Ouistreham ready to catch the ferry back to Portsmouth. As a result, all riders could
only but adhere to Rule #67: Do your time in the wind, but some like ‘Big’ Dave Cave, absolutely smashed it. The only slight hiccup on this stretch was a minor incident of a broken fuel gauge causing one of the support vehicles to run out of diesel; there are no rules covering such acts of misfortune/ stupidity* (*delete as appropriate), but the ball of anger emanating from ‘Mitch’ Mitchell as his van got recovered on the back of a breakdown truck and taken to a garage was a sight to behold.
Another sleepless night on the oor of a ferry saw the peloton arrive back in Portsmouth and ready for the nal 77 mile ride back to Shrivenham. The black clouds and the heavy bursts of rain that greeted us at Portsmouth didn’t really leave us until we arrived
Waiting for the ferry
“