Club run reports - 30th April

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

On the way up to Allenbury’s, I met Mike (Hill-Dur) Spicer. You know, the one that loves hills. We met at 7.50 to get to Allenburys on time. As usual Hill-Dur was moaning at the non-existent hills from Cheshunt to Ware. We arrived at half past eight, with Hill-Dur now moaning about how early we were. That’s enough about Mike, for the moment!

Kev turns up, then Danny Hood and Franco. Danny warned us of the road closures down to Stapleford. I was pondering whether to change the route and decided against it as Danny would show us a way around the fully closed road. Phew. 

More and more kept on rolling in. Eleven in total, including me. Leaving on time, we rode through Ware and up Widbury Hill and ... bang. My chain smashed into the frame at the front and into the spokes on the rear wheel. More than my pride was hurt as my soft parts smacked into the top tube. Peter B helped me get the chain back on and all was good, well apart from something seriously hurting in the nether region! 

We turned into Hollycross Road and all was well. The usual banter ensued with the usual gutter chat from the girls! OK, OK, that’s a total lie, I need to bulk out the report don’t I! 

Many a hill was traversed in Essex today and a nice detour from Danny kept us on track. We made good time getting down to the airfield, arriving spot on at 11. 22 miles covered, we were all ready for a bit of grub. Food ordered and within minutes the buzzers were buzzing and the food was arriving. It was such a lovely day, the temperature was 24°C, so we sat outside and enjoyed watching the planes taking off. We set off back all fed and watered - we knew it was going to be hilly. As we left, we saw the category 4s and gave them a little wave. Obviously, we had got there before them, as we are the mighty cat 6s!

Ryan’s bike did a fruity like mine and the chain had trapped itself around the front mech. All was not lost, as I gave the chain ring a slight move back, pushed forwards and the chain was back on. All fixed. On the way back, a breakaway group went out in front and missed the detour turn off. Not a biggie you may think, eh. We have Google maps don’t we? So, I sent Hill-Dur the location and set off for the roundabout where we said we’d meet. What I didn’t know is that Google maps isn’t dynamic and the breakaway group went to where I “dropped the pin”, which was three quarters a mile back down the road - lol. I was obviously hoping I was going to win the club record, by losing seven on a ride. I was hopeful! :-) Danny and Franco, needed to shoot off and said their goodbyes. 

We all decided we would meet back at Allenbury’s, but achieved it by Stanstead Abbots. Damn, the record was not broken as all nine were together again. We got back to Allenbury’s in good time. A very hill route with only two mechanicals holding us all up. 

Thanks all for coming, and special thanks to Danny for helping with the detour. 
Obviously, written on the throne. 

Love and kisses xxx