The Official Results are now in. 1st Place: Jayne Paine. All-day breakfast. Hill Climb, 04.59. 1st place. Freewheeling, 1st Place. 2nd Place: Mick Paddington. All-day breakfast, Hill climb 05.07 2nd place. Freewheeling, 2nd. 3rd place John Wheatley. American Breakfast. Hill Climb 05.21. 3rd place. Freewheeling, 3rd.
The day dawned crisp and clear, with a thick frost covering untreated roads. The Willesden Fryathlon is back! The event took place once again on the busy A355 road from Amersham to Beaconsfield. We have previously been mooned by youths in a small car on this road, but nothing this time. The days of the £1.99 Magnificent Seven Tesco Breakfast have long gone, so it was all down to the Deep Mill for the first leg of the event, The Fry. A sizeable group assembled, though it quickly became apparent that not all were going to attempt the 2nd and 3rd legs, but were simply out for the breakfast. Funny that. Jayne Paine immediately staked her claim by offering to pay for everyone’s breakfast, which would have ensured immediate victory, but she didn’t need to do this as the results showed. Mike Valman showed up as the only rider to have ridden from Denham, having fallen off twice on the icy road past Denham Golf Club, which is currently closed to cars, and quickly reverting to nature. Fortunately his bike and he both appeared undamaged. However, Mike also disappeared after breakfast, possibly for another breakfast before braving the ride back.
Ian had fallen off the front of a lorry, so he and Pauline took up timing duties after breakfast.
The hill crawl is the worst bit in my view, though I am more a victim of gravity than some. It is horrible. The freewheel section is better, it goes on for quite a long while. It can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially when Ian has just tied up your cranks with industrial zip-ties. I offered him a few quid to put them through the spokes of the opposition, but this sadly failed. Great fun. Just a quick road rage incident, and I was off to the AGM.
Dear Commissaire,
Mick Paddington didn’t eat all his breakfast. Sweating and panting, he’d left several items left on his plate. I had my eye on his sausage, and I sat there fork poised for an extra pint but the waitress beat me to it.
Point. I meant point. Although a pint would be nice……..