How did you manage to ride our latest Reliability Trial?

Yesterday saw 7 riders start day 60+ mile event running to the west to Goring and Benson. The starting field was much depleted as the event clashed with Mothers Day. Fortunately we were joined by one of our female members who had used the fact that it was Mothering Sunday to get out on her bike such modern times we live in.
Peter Bell was as usual at the start offering good advice and support. As we were such a small group we all rolled off at 8:50. The group managed to ride at a comfortable pace which allowed all riders to keep together until Goring. The road between Goring and Benson was very exposed and the stiff head wind fragmented the riders.
On arriving at the midway control point all the riders discussed their likely finishing times. At this point Derek who had ridden the full course the day before decided that he would call in his support crew. Mike Woods and Andy Paine were running late as they had previous Mothering Day arrangements. With this in mind they headed for home at a pace at which the remaining riders felt was just a bit to fast for them. After refueling on energy bars and the odd banana the remaining four riders set off.
This group stayed together with all riders regrouping after climbing up to Nuffield via Brixton Hill. From here to the top of Pishill the group split into two with Jorg leading Gurpal and Nigel pacing Sarah. As the riders plunged down Pishill the riders all found their own pace, but we regrouped to come it to Henley together.
The last part of the ride started to take its toll as we approached Marlow. Jorg was riding strongly so he had left the three remaining riders to complete the last 6 miles at their own pace. This saw Gurpal leaving Sarah and Nigel at the rear as they left Marlow. The last two riders were spurred on by having a carrot out in front of them and by Maidenhead Bridge they had got within 10 metres of Gurpal.
Unfortunatly Gurpal managed to extend his lead as the chasing riders failed to negotiate the roundabout cleanly because they were held up by the oncoming traffic. Getting this close encrougaged Sarah to dig deep and she was rewarded by passing Gurpal within the final 500 metres of the ride. This saw a reaction by Gurpal who cruised past again. I must regret to say this saw me rise to the challenge as we both sprinted towards the finish line.

As usual Peter was there at the end to check in all the riders and to record their times.