Gently Bentley 200km (Audax)

This is probably what I needed. A solid ride, lots of kilometres, lots of short efforts.

If you ever find yourself with that need here is my advice.

Enter Gently Bentley. Get in GC Denis’ team. Make sure Bidders, Noel, Amir, and Sacha are also part of the team, let them do their thing, and try to hold their wheel. 

That’s it. Adam and GC Denis will take monster turns in the front, the others will add their bit and you’ll get a solid ride, lots of kilometres, a lot of short efforts, jelly legs and brain hypoxia. 

Guaranteed. 

Excellent training.

I blew up at kilometre 120. Jelly legs.

Unfortunately for me I caught up with them again at kilometre 130 and they were mean enough to slow down to keep me there for the rest of the ride. Me and my jelly legs.

The lack of oxygen in my brain made make a mistake at the last control. Somehow the last sprint was mentioned and I implied to everyone I had been thinking about it.

My problem was that I had been thinking about it for a while and I couldn’t remember what the last sprint was.

Yes, me and my jelly legs were thinking on how to beat them all in the last sprint. Yes, I have ridden Gently Bentley 8 times (I checked), every single year since 2019. Yes, I couldn’t remember the last sprint. Yes, my comment, which I can’t remember now, left it very clear to everyone I had been thinking about the last sprint.

It must have been a severe lack of oxygen in my brain. 

It was the Esher sprint!!!! The worst sprint if you have jelly legs.

I didn’t care. I was determined to beat them all. 

Should you visit A&E hours after you suffered a severe lack of oxygen in your brain?

The Esher sprint came and I was last wheel of the group (which proves that race kraft is not affected by lack of oxygen in the brain).

The problem was that in the last ramp everyone and their cousins thought of themselves as sprinters. The GC riders (too many races watching Pogacar), the TTers (too many races watching Ganna) and the rouleurs (too many races watching van der Poel).

The sprinter was fourth.

Great result considering the jelly legs and the lack of oxygen in the brain.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17819359647/ 

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González