Club ride reports - 7th January

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Three as usual for this category, but this time Denis was absent and Brian present. All were hoping to nurture whatever residue of fitness remained after the festivities. We set off on a rather convoluted route to Royston fearing the opposition of a stiff, chilly, northerly breeze. Things went pretty smoothly until Buntingford, but after that the more open country allowed the wind to have its way. That, the gritty road surfaces and general uphill trajectory made for tough going towards Therfield. The eagerly anticipated descent towards Royston provided meagre relief as the headwind meant that for most of the way it was necessary to pedal. Café Moreno offered its usual multiple combinations of mostly fried food, so we were all happy and left a bit warmer than when we arrived.

The return via Barkway and Puckeridge was much the shorter leg and the tail wind boosted our average speed towards respectability.

Category 6 ride led by Carolyn Kelleway

The riders left Allenbury's as a group of 6 to meet the 7th (me) at High Cross. Apparently David had kindly given Tony a bag of old fashioned sweets, which were shared before they set off. Although I never saw any of them!

I waited and waited and then they began to appear, but poor Tony was no where to be seen as he was suffering from a serious bad back. He was in agony. After popping a few pills he valiantly attempted to carry on but that was impossible, so he abandoned and rode back home.

At that point it was nearly 10 o'clock and we had only gone a few miles so, after a democratic vote, we decided to head straight to Thremhall. Leave the longer route to a nice warm day.

We picked up Suj at Spellbrook. After a few floods we made it safely to Thremhall and, lo and behold, the usual lady was not there! So we decided to be naughty and put our helmets on the table and moved chairs. No reaction at all. Fun times!

It was Kev's birthday and he kindly bought us all food and drinks. Thank you, Kev and Happy Birthday

After my most pleasant visit to Thremhall in a long time we set off merrily. Very uneventful ride home and we were back in good time.

Prize of the week goes to Kev for being category 6 wildlife spotter. We passed a number of kestrels and kites, but the star of the show was a huge bird of prey just chilling on a post staring us out. The consensus was maybe an eagle?

Thank you all. Written by the assumed ride leader.