Club run reports - 1st December

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

A cold morning with the mercury hitting 2°C. Six wheelers turned up at the start, all with scarves and wrapped up well. It was nice to see CCD (car crash Danny), and he looked a little stiff. 
As we started to leave, Peter Eldon makes an appearance with a “Tada” and now we’re the magnificent seven! Adrian was telling us all about Mike’s ride last week that (allegedly) took them off road and his bike was a real mess. Such a moaner!
We rode off and everything went surprisingly well with no mechanical or punctures, considering the lanes were an absolute mess. 
We got to the cafe, with a little bit of a wait to get served. However, as usual the food flew out of the kitchen. 
Food eaten and we are off. I started to feel a little poorly (nothing to do with eating sausage and chips) and was lagging behind the honed cyclists. I decided that I wasn’t going to go back to Hertford and Danny kindly took the handle of “Air Force One”. We got to Ashendene Road and Adrian said his goodbyes. Graham said to me “is that Danny” and I said no, “Danny’s in front”. Despite me saying that, Graham followed Adrian and that’s the last we saw of him.
We got to Pembridge Lane and Danny and Peter said goodbye. A totally uneventful ride, no mechanicals, no punctures, no nuffink. Thanks for coming one and all. 

Love and kisses. 

Tony

Category 5 ride led by John Farnham

A quartet of Wheelers assembled at Ware for our first club run of the winter season and although it was quite wintery, it was not actually freezing. The forecast rogue shower found us somewhere between the Pelhams and Anstey but did not bother us too much. Our arrival at The Sunflower cafe in Hare Street brought the irritation of finding it closed for a private party. A plan B was hastily discussed and, as Puckeridge was on our intended route anyway, we dived into Something Lovely cafe instead. Suitably filled up with things on toast and teas and coffees, the short return leg through Latchford, Barwick and Wareside was uneventful and wind assisted. 40 miles, no punctures, mechanicals or tumbles.

Category 2 MTB ride led by Chris Boulton

A team of six rode 31.40 miles,  averaging 10.1 mph and climbing 1,877 feet.

It was a good testing route which everyone enjoyed. There was  plenty of laughter, plus loads of screaming on 
downhill sections from one of the group. It is hoped to run the category 2 MTB more often.

Category 3 ride led by Paul Henderson

A large group of 9 category 3 riders left a very cold Hertford by climbing Port Hill to warm up and onwards north into the chill breeze. We could have benefited from all the hot air heard from politicians of late not just to keep warm but also, more importantly, to keep tyres inflated, with one incident before the coffee stop, and a further 2 after.

Refreshed at Mill End in Rushden, including very tasty complimentary home made brandy flavoured mince pies, we left two of our number there making full use of the facilities, though not including 2 scones Gary, who couldn’t manage his mince pie due to an excessive cream tea!!

Shortly after the restart we suffered a further 2 separate punctures and so cold finger tips and icicles on the nose led to a collective decision to shorten the route back and make a quick dash via Walkern and Watton back to Hertford and then back home before the rain. At least the ride leader was able to watch his favoured footie team under perform yet again.