Ride of the Falling Leaves

Rounded off my season with this local sportive starting from Herne Hill velodrome.
Had a quiet week training wise as a stomach bug laid me low for a couple of days and I seem to have also picked up a cold. Still seems to be lingering so time to get back on the Neovite.
Despite not feeling 100%, it was a good forecast so met up with Mike K and Gavendish for an early warm up ride to the start.
Signing on was easy enough and we did a lap of the velodrome and rolled out. Mike K was putting in some big pulls on the front which everyone else seemed happy enough about. The TSN train stayed reasonably together for quite a while but then gradually strung out about halfway round. Mike was going well on the flat, but I don't think a P3 is the best climbing machine out there. Had a slight bit of confusion at Westerham as Mike and I were under the impression that there would be a checkpoint (it said this on the map) but we didn't hang around long and headed for home. We had a quick stop at a petrol station for Mike to get some water as his ejector bottle system had fired out 2 bottles before we even reached the start. Made it back through the suburbs for a finish time of 3.55 and a welcome plate of pasta.
The route was a bit unispiring given the start and finish legs through the suburbs, but the finish venue made for a nice picnic. Got home with 150km on the clock so a good day in the saddle.