A view from behind the bars - The 2016 Orwell Wheelers Randonnée

A few pictures from Saturday

The 30th of April is memorable in many traditions, for example, in 1966 the Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco. In addition, the 30th April is also the earliest day on which ‘Ascension Day’ can fall. And yesterday, the 30th April - it seems, we had a Scott Orwell Wheelers Sportive cycle to honour both of those events; with the sadistic ascending of 2,350 meters of the hills of County Wicklow.


Rosie, Lorna, Sinead, Rory and Ger ahead of the Randonnée (photograph with thanks to Leonard Kaye)

Oh, yes, it was a holy day of sorts, as the hills were wholly alive with the shouts of joy and encouragement from the marshals as we cycled around the 145km of the route. It was great to hear their cheers and doubly so to recognise the many faces of the Club marshals; as they guided us at the junction points around the route. And not forgetting all those who organised and staffed the food stops. Talking about food; I counted 6 opportunities to be fed during the day.

The Orwell Randonnée and baking have a lot in common and I’m not just talking about the lovely carrot cake in Laragh. In baking, good cooks have a great knowledge of the vast array of potential ingredients to use. And they use their creativity to put them together in a different mix. So we all know well the vast array of climbs in Wicklow: the Sally and the Wicklow Gaps, up to Johnny Foxes, The Wall, The Long Hill at Djouce and the hills of Enniskerry; but why did this cruel Orwell baker choose to put all those ingredients into one Randonnée cake? I can hear John and Gregg of ‘MasterChef’ saying; “It’s a larder you are not supposed to bring it all back to your work bench”. Is our course designer a member of the Church of Satan? (Only joking). Yes Fergal we all agreed with you “We reckon it's the toughest Randonnée event in the country…”

And what of Denis’ Wanderly Wagon?

Chapeau! - It was a great comfort to have you cover us all the way around the route. Denis acknowledged to us that the wagon did indeed have magical powers; eventually he notices that every time he put on his screen-washers; it also rained outside (on us) OH Denis, why OH why! did you not like the other mobile Orwell Marshalls (Colm, Dave and Fergal) switch on your heated seat or warm air conditioning unit? On the plus side we loved the tune you had on continuous playing on your sound system in the wagon

On the lumpy hills of west Wicklow, about 100km into the route, the demons began to talk to us. The body sent out the "we are: hungry, cold, tired, and wet" signals. The mind offered a rational response. “Why do you do it?” It wasn’t until the Golden Ball, after party, that the heart offered its input to the debate. It suggests “The heart is warmed, the soul is uplifted, and the post event pleasure is intense. A comedian offers a different perspective. A woman sees a man banging his head against a wall and asks him “Why are you doing that?” He replies “It’s great when you stop.”

Amongst the 300 riders, on the Randonnée, was our little band of about 20 Wicklow 200 trainees. We set off together, but eventually settled into about four groups. We were sad to see Sinead being derailed, at the side of Cruagh Road just before viewing point. It was something to do with the rear derailleur plate or jockey pulley spring! It all sounded very- very complicated indeed. Further on, Tom did not get ‘cranky’ when his crank arm decided to depart from his bike; thankfully Denis and the Scott Wanderly Wagon came to the rescue. Paul, in the other Club car, also rescued: Catherine and her brake blocks, and Laura with a slow puncture.

The banter was great in our finishing band of five; Tom, myself and our three “Steel Magnolias, Anna, Catherine and Rosie. Yes delicate as the magnolia flower, but with resilience of steel. Despite mechanicals and bad weather, like many others, we defied the conditions and cycled on, in the spirit of Ross Nugent, to be greeted at the finish point with generous applause and a photo opportunity to capture the moment. Ok so we were last home on the Orwell Wheelers Randonnée, but we look forward to being in the front of the bunch sprint to collect one of the Orwell Randonneur Medals later this year.

Roll on…
Cheers,
Leonard