Club ride reports - 5th November

Category 3 ride led by Pete Kelleway

Today we were supposed to be going to Vanstones. Because of some (stupid) half marathon we changed to go to Stapleford Airfield. (Note from Editor - half marathon was a great experience!). Special attention was paid to the route to avoid any known flood areas or roads that were rivers.

Not to be outdone by the other categories, we tackled the hill climb competition section. I’m sure our results would have been better if (a) we had not had to slow down for a car turning at the roundabout at the start, (b) the wind had not suddenly picked up in our faces, (c) they made gravel bikes lighter, and (d) we were fitter!

We were blessed with sunshine and a very enjoyable route which soon turned into and educational one. “Did you know that in Abridge there is only one bridge”, Brian informed us. Denis promised to tell us what the difference between Power and Torque was in the cafe. He told us how the American’s describe it; which, as you can imagine, was a load of rubbish.

We arrived at the cafe at ten to twelve. I thought they stopped serving breakfast at 11.30, so imagined Ian would be less than happy. To my delight they stopped at 12.00. At 11.58 Ian ambled up to the counter. Being a team played I pointed out to Ian he had two minutes to order breakfast, and let him in front of me in the queue. As he asked, the waitress looked at the wall clock which said 12.00. Deep breath. Fortunately I was able to show her on my Apple Watch it was 11.59. “I’ll go and check”, she said.  An ever deeper breath. “We’ll do one more breakfast only”, came the reply. Happy days. Even better it scored 9.5 on the Bembridge scale because the mushrooms had been cooked to perfection. Graham seemed to get the deal of the day -  £4.99 for a muffins and coffee.

All good things come to an end, and it was time to leave. “If you need something more for the report you can always say my Dad flew planes from here”, Denis told me. How could I not include that little gem?

Safely leaving the cafe, with no altercation with Bradley Walsh (who apparently has a funnier brother), there was a shock horror moment when Ian realised he had not played golf at Abridge as we cycled past. We flew up the two Strava segment hills, raced our way back to Roydon and before we knew it were saying goodbye to Graham, then Ian, then Brian and Denis, leaving me last person standing. As I hammered down over the roundabout to the start of the hill climb without being delayed, I had absolutely zero thoughts of doing it again and swerved off to go home.

Thanks all for the good company and a great ride. Hope the sun shines on our next ride too.

P.S. Didn’t know what to say about the lorry in Sawbridgeworth - either great reversing to get out of the narrow road or why the hell had he gone down thee in the first place?

Category 6 ride led by Ian Bailey

During a week of apocalyptic downpours the cat 6 WhatsApp  chat buzzed with discussions of fords and floods, leading to at least three ride revisions. Plus, the original ride leader spent the week coughing and spluttering, so we set off on a substitute route with a substitute leader. Said leader had decided (after owning Garmin for over eight years) that today was the day to use his Garmin for navigation; he wasn't seen much for the first five miles or so as he stopped repeatedly to get it working.

Despite the leader counting eight, we set off in fact with ten riders, including an unprecedented three Kevins: Kevin, Kevin and Richard.

Despite poor leadership, the group hit Sam's competition hill early on and, like a flock of migrating Canada geese, soared up it in close formation.  Or something like that.  I'm sure that the website will soon be confirming the exact details as the timings are uploaded.

Due to all the route work in advance, we crested the peak of the ride at Stocking Pelham, then descended to Bishops Stortford without once having to risk sending Bruno into waist high waters.

The cafe break was good value, friendly and quick - a number of us remarked that we should go there more often.

The shorter return was uneventful apart from a Kevin attempting to escape - fortunately Claire was able to chase him down.  And as we rode back along Cold Christmas Lane, Tony was able to recruit a new member to the group.

Overall a lovely morning out and the headwind on the way back wasn't as bad as we expected.