Just back from dropping off the hire van and I just wanted to add to what's been said already.
Fantastic weekend with a great bunch of people. I shall now attempt to reduce my memories of 24 hours of riding into 24 bullet points.
• The Friday night BBQ, with the unbearable tension of Jenga and exceeding my self enforced three pint limit. "The first rule of Jenga club is... "
• Carol's spicy onion relish.
• Gravy Monster and Jonnyboy's 'How many bikes can I fit in a van' competition. GM won by a tandem.
• Lot's of beautiful retro metal on display. Too many to list.
• GT Midnight Aurora overload.
• MrK's Haro...
• The NWA team breakfast/strategy meeting with Ed Edward's guest appearance as motivational speaker/pain guru.
• Laps 1-4: Tempo | Laps 5-8: Chimp Suppression | Laps 9-12: Hurt Locker | Laps 13-18: Unleash the Inner Chimp | Laps 18+: The Seven Circles of Hell.
• The opening lap run which put me straight into the hurt locker.
• Quality tunes and heckling from the RB massif. "Use the beard" and "Don't climb on cheese"...
• The endless climbs, plasticine woods and the increasingly alarming braking bumps.
• Finding plenty of lovely pace booty to follow up the climbs.
• Passing lots of modern full sussers on the ups and some of the downs.
• Clouds of dust on a bone dry course.
• The two lap Baltic night shift where I ran out of water, food, energy and breath.
• 15 minutes of oxygen in the first aid tent at 3am.
• Not letting the Kenda Klimb beat me.
• Hearing tales of Sidewinder's double puncture. I only wish I'd been there to help Dave.
• Snapping the seatpost binder bolt on my Dyna Tech while preparing it for the night shift. Thanks go to Gump for finding a suitable replacement.
• Superstrong getting the fastest time on the Kenda Klimb on Saturday morning; 48 seconds! 'ave it!
• Tad and Dickyboy's solo epics. Well done those men.
• Sinnett177 telling me to go and have a picnic somewhere on my last lap.
• Cheering in the Retrobike team finish.
• Returning home to explain why I've let myself get sunburnt and I have yet another frame. Cheers John.