Club run reports - 17th October

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Eight category 3 candidates gathered in Ware supplemented by Valdis who had been thwarted by the sneaky move of the Cat 6 riders to migrate en masse to Hertford to start their ride. He set off for a lonely ride only to find himself engulfed by the cat 3 group who had chosen the same route. Valiantly he stepped up to the plate and joined us. The dry weather forecast had encouraged some to set off mudguardless. In the event the forecast was about as accurate as last week's and the outbound leg was characterised by steady drizzle which loosened the mud, thereby providing a fine coating to bikes and riders.

We followed a conventional route out through Stortford and Elsenham, then on to less familiar roads through Broxted, up the steep slope to Great Easton and then to Lindsell. Augirdas’s state-of-the-art tubeless rear tyre repeated its performance of the previous week by puncturing and failing to self-seal in the approved manner. At least all the consequential pumping will have helped development of his biceps!

Coles Café in Great Bardfield accommodated us, despite being surprised to find nine customers all at once. Graham's attempt to solve the bike parking problem by padlocking his bike across the café's entrance door was generally felt by the group to be a bad idea. There were several unfair comments about age and Specsavers.

The weather was better on the way back with a breeze (= headwind) and sunny intervals. It was a lumpy route though, through Thaxted, Newport and Stocking Pelham.

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

This morning I woke up with the joy of autumn, thinking to myself what to wear etc. So I plumped for bib tights (fleece lined), two base layers and my lovely warm Wheelers’ jersey. Just “just in case”, I took my rain gilet as well. 
It was the long waited time for Shenley as Brickenden Lane had been closed for months; to say I was excited was an understatement. 
The  meet point was Hertford and I turned up at 9 am, but not a soul in site. Yipee, I thought, then I remembered the meet time was 9.30! 
As I sat there, the 5’s started to turn up for their earlier ride off. Captain Bob turned up and announced he was coming with the 6s. A few more turned up, plus Hanif, to my surprise with shorts on and a mountain bike. But no, he wasn’t coming with the 6s, he just wanted to say hello. Nine others turn up and then I got the text from Daniel Horn, “I’m at Ware”! We waited for him and rode off at 9.38! 
The forecast said likelihood of rain was 14%, but, you guessed it, it started to pour down and we were ten miles in and sodden. Oh well, you only get wet once. 
We rode through Brookmans Park with no issues, and onto Shenley. As usual, the cafe served quickly and efficiently and we were in and out in thirty minutes. 
I then tried to clip in, but it was impossible, took my shoes off and they were caked in mud, Richard had decided to park his bike in a quagmire and I just followed. OK, so it’s not Richard’s fault, but I need someone to blame :-).
It was really plain sailing on our return. The weather had turned out to be nice and not much happened apart from my slipped chain. 
Sorry, it’s a boring ride report, but I’m absolutely shattered and need rest. 
As usual, over and out, from the throne!