Club run reports - 15th September

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

What a beautiful day! 14 riders turned up; I was terrified! Lovely to see Franco. 

We had a great first half of the ride. Everyone was brimming with confidence and vitality. Then, Mick “the chain” Gornall, the inevitable happened - yes his chain came off! 

Mark taught me about the gravitational pull of the moon and earth. 

Up to Thremhall Park Cafe, and no incidents. 

At the cafe, the food was fast and good value. Now this is where I have to go off on a little tangent as I understand someone (Kate D’Arcy) locked two bikes together last week, and erm, had forgotten the key. Luckily someone at the cafe had a hacksaw and sawed the lock off. 

We left after 25 minutes and the sun was beating down. We rode off at a nice pace and we got to a level crossing and waited. The barriers went up and in front of me Lisa went crashing down on her left. She wasn’t in a good way, so we pulled over to ensure she was OK. After about 10 minutes we started off again and Lisa advised her front brake was binding. We fixed that and went on our way. All was good you may think! How wrong! We climbed a hill and at the top all the riders had spread out. We waited and waited for Lisa and still she did not turn up. I went back and there she was struggling up the hill. So I checked the brakes at the front, all good, then checked them at the back, and erm, they were literally bound on; she had ridden this hill with a bound brake. Lisa you’re a hero. We got that fixed and carried on.

You may think all was well? Well, you would be wrong, as obviously Mick “the chain” Gornall’s chain once again came off! Roflmao. 

By this time, the field of riders had really spread out and obviously I had “lost” a few as per my rider instructions from Dos Santos HQ. 

Thanks to all and sorry for taking the wrong turn. I blame Will for this as we were chatting away.

Love and kisses 

Tony 

Category 5 ride led by Sarah Wren

Nine started out for the Blue Egg at Bardfield. Newcomer James started with the group but peeled off to head to another engagement leaving 8 to have an enjoyable ride to the café. After 55 trouble free miles, the peace was suddenly shattered at Little Hadham by Valdis’ rear wheel exploding with a worn through rim. He was left to call for assistance, whilst the remainder of the team headed for second tea and cake at Hopley’s.