AAA
‘EVEN IF IT’S COST ME A BOTTLE OF BUBBLY’ or Lou Ups the Ladies Up Record
Starting an 11mth AAA-best campaign on 1 Nov showed an intent which was not to waver. Spurred on by ‘AAA Team Lou’, Lou Rigby has shattered the Ladies’ AAA points record and gained an incredible inseason 3x3 180AAA points. This report includes Lou’s own post-ride reports to ‘Team Lou’. Lou Rigby has shown that determination and a passion for cycling can overcome the vagaries of weather and the distractions of work; Lou has three part-time jobs to juggle, including sleep-over shift work. Did a mild winter help? Yes, it kept the ice off the hills some of the time. AAA-country is often quiet country lanes, where gritting machines do not penetrate. Local farmers may lay patches of salt but Lou was often thwarted and returned home dispirited when ice suggested the safe approach. So where did Lou ride? Tewkesbury is close to the Cotswolds and Forest of Dean and Wales, so it is no surprise that the majority of Lou’s rides were close to home. On 76% (69 of 91) of rides for 77% (142.25AAA) of points she rode from home. YatMon150 2.25AAA (38) = 85.5AAA, starts in her hometown; Cotswold Corker 100 1.75AAA a 30min ride away in Bishops Cleeve (29) = 50.75AAA + 2 Super Corkers (6AAA). Lou normally kept her rides within 150km, to ensure recovery and winter daylight, though the Neville Chanin Memorial 200 (ridden with Mark and Steve and the McTaggarts (Dick and Lucy) down from Scotland) in August tempted Lou to remember a special (Audax) friend for a 3.25AAA top-up. To celebrate the end of season, Team Lou had a gathering for a finale 36
YatMon150. A secret was to ride midweek; by ensuring a day off between rides, Lou was normally able to ride up to 3 AAA rides a week between her shifts. And then planning DIYs for a Mallorcan holiday (6r=10AAA) and other blocks (Peaks 4r=9.75AAA), kept the numbers climbing. Indeed, once the Winter had abated, the Spring saw Lou increase her rides and by early Summer re-adjust her target from not just winning a trophy but to breaking records. Initially, Lou’s target was the Opposite Sex Award, won in 2011 by friend Ann Marshall. Other notable targets came into view; firstly Jackie Popland’s impressive total of 100.25 new-AAA from 2010, which the Hall of Fame shows as over-shadowing the more impressive and quite incredible 98.75 old-AAA by Sandie Shaw from 1997 (which converts to 164.58 new-AAA). As the months went by, Lou overhauled these figures and began to set her sights on an ambitious 180AAA in a single year (remember, this is an 11 month year!). Even Steve Snook could not recall such a feat happening before! An uncharacteristic lack of male attack for points also saw Lou take the ‘Overall AAA Trophy’, an unexpected, though fortuitous late target. Lou has become a familiar sight at many of her regular Controls, where they could almost tell the time by her arrival! She developed a regular pattern of 2 YatMon150s and 1 Corker100 a week: Shops, cafes, tea rooms began to ask questions after turning up with a variety of male companions! AAA Team Lou (Mark) even provided a smiley stamp for Bisley PO, a Corker regular.
Arrivée November 2012