Team Pink's epic training ride

With a week's break in our race calender, 7 members of Team Pink (Nikki, Nicole, Debs, Helen K, Helen R, Steph and Kate) and Nellie gathered at the Pearson Sutton Shop at 9.30am on Saturday to head out for a little ride to Ditchling and a bit of team bonding. Nerves about the weather meant jersey pockets were bulging with waterproofs, but the morning proved warm-ish and sunny. We headed out from Sutton, vaguely following the Pearson 150 route.

Spirits were high and we made quick progress, helped by the rowers amongst us setting a good pace on the front – occasionally too good a pace, causing them to be called back into line to a more chatty speed!! As we approached Ditchling the weather broke, with a sudden hailstorm. We paused to don waterproofs and check Nellie was kept dry (nobody likes a mouldy Nellie), had a few stern reminders about rule #5, then pushed on to Ditchling. As we rolled into the village, the tearoom beckoned, but like the committed team we are, we headed first up Ditchling Beacon. The weather rewarded our efforts with more sun, and we all dried out as we pushed up the climb (with relatively minimal swearing). After a photoshoot at the top, we descended, dodging the potholes, gravel and cars, to the village.

The tearoom owners welcomed us warmly, which is more than can be said for our fellow diners, who seemed slightly put out by a bunch of wet, sweaty, noisy cyclists with a pink toy joining them for lunch! Due to the excellent quality of the cakes, and the Team Chat, lunch was longer than expected. Warm and full, we steeled ourselves to get back out on the bikes and head for home.

The route home was slightly more challenging than the route out, with more hills, which prompted the rowers to have little hill sprinting competitions amongst themselves, whilst the rest of us spun up at a more leisurely, sociable speed. We finally rolled back into Sheen at about 5.15pm, with 175k on the clock and smiles still in place.

Starving again, we regrouped at Vikki’s boathouse for much needed pizza, wine, desserts and more Team Chat. Vikki had kindly brought out the wattbike, track bikes and rollers, in case some of us felt the need to ride more bikes! All in all, another brilliant day out for Team Pink.

Quotes of the day:

"Debs, are you from Scotland?" (Helen Ralston, trying to guess Debs accent)

"Maybe we should touch each other more in races" (Vikki) 

Nikki: "Do you think they know how steep the climb is?"

Nicole: "Don't worry, they're rowers. They will keep pushing until they either vomit or fall off their bikes"