Club run reports - 21st January

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

There are those whose Sundays are habitually given over to self-indulgent indolence. They begin, perhaps, with a lie-in followed by a leisurely breakfast of hot buttered toast or croissants. Then it's to the pub for a couple of pints and the Sunday papers before returning to a roast and an afternoon dozing in front of the TV. The toll this repetitive, shiftless descent into torpidity has on their mental and physical health can only be imagined.

How fortunate, then, to be a Wheeler! You can then spend a damp, cold Sunday riding into a gale, cheerfully mending punctures and arriving home feeling as if you have just completed the Queen stage of the Tour de France on a bad day. The careful plan of the leader was to weave our way south to Stapleford Aerodrome, savour our lunch, then enjoy a jet-propelled return with the gale at our backs. Things began well enough and we made it to Moreton in good order. From then on the weaving was more like a slog with vicious head and cross winds - and a puncture. We arrived at the Clubhouse feeling slightly frazzled, a feeling that even generous portions of lemon-curd sponge was not able to dispel. Worse was that the jet-propulsion system was not playing ball, seeming to oppose as often as it assisted as we headed north. It has to be said that by then our legs were not playing ball either and nothing short of a 200w e-bike motor would have brought us much joy.

Strangely there were just two of us to experience all this. We agreed that it was a really great feeling when it finished.