Club ride reports - 24th September

Category 3 ride led by Peter Kelleway

Today we were going to Royston. north to south, a southerly headwind, and a few hills thrown in for good measure. Oh such joy. As Denis remarked before I posted the route ‘ woohoo…a short one!’. Oh well…….!!

Denis arrived just after me at Allenbury's. We must have been well camouflaged because Ian arrived and rode past us claiming not to have seen us. To be fair Peter was already there and neither Denis or I had seen him.

Peter suggested he was ‘only able to ride at Cat 4 pace today’. With the route and wind if we were going to achieve that it would have been very impressive. One thing I have learned is that someone suggests ‘taking it easy’ or ‘riding slower than usual’ the opposite will happen. And yes, off Peter shot and we were immediately in catch up mode.

Approaching Colliers End, Denis asked me whether his Botox injection had made his lips bigger . Actually he had got stung by a bee (ouch) on his lip. Fortunately, although painful, it didn’t swell up.

The ride to Royston was uneventful even with the state of the Hertfordshire roads. Having got the last table in the cafe, we started to order. The initial request went something like this. “ Do you serve Latte? I would like a coffee with milk in please. What coffee do you use?” “ No idea what coffee we use. So you want an Americano with milk?” came the reply. “No I want a coffee with milk in please” Eventually, with a little help from his friends, a coffee with milk in (a Latte) was ordered. I blame the jet lag! 

Stories were exchanged from Peter and Ian from their recent travels; Peter on the day trip in France with some of cat 4E,  and Ian in Canada. As per usual, in his attempt to get ‘value for money’, Ian appeared to have created havoc with the Hilton hotel.

And so it came time to leave and tackle the Therfield road (it really should be called a hill) into the headwind. Barely had we started to climb, than we were overtaken by a mountain bike! No shame in this, it was an e-bike (honestly it was, and I told myself it was also on max boost and unrestricted). Thank goodness. Lots of ups and downs into the headwind greeted us on the way back. Ian left us in Dane End to go and try the new (at last!) cycle path from Sacombe round to Stonyhills, while the three of us went up Whitehill. That was my last hill at I stopped at Wadesmill; Denis and Peter had the final climb out of Wadesmill to get back to Ware.

Really enjoyed the company and ride today. Maybe next week it will be sunny, downhill with the wind behind us?!

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

I was quite excited about going to a new place. Ian Bailey had led the cat 6 there a few weeks ago, and only good feedback was coming. So, me being me, I stole Ian’s route and decided this was the place to go if you’re “wiv it”! 

The weather forecast all week advised it was going to be sunny and 20°. When I woke up it was cloudy and the forecast had changed to overcast and rain for 1 pm. Luckily we had decided to meet at 9 (we being Carolyn and I, who, if we had it our way, would be off at 8). 

I rolled up at Allenbury's at twenty to nine and not a soul in sight. I quickly nipped to the men’s room and when came back and Leigh was there. I assumed, due to the weather changing, we would not have many on the ride. I’m always wrong. 

By five to nine, there were twelve in total. Amazing, eh. Who turned up with “new bike day”, yes, it was none other than Ian Bailey with an amazing Titanium T834567D. It was so so light, like lifting a feather.  

It’s nice to see Kevin Paget and Martin Phillips. Unfortunately a few weeks ago Martin had “rolled” his ankle and was out for a while. Nice to see you both. I’ve finally met Kev2 (the real Kevin). Nice to finally meet you. The usual suspects were there and also Adrian, who’s not a stranger anymore. It’s nice to have Steve Gershon on the ride. 

We rode off at 9 on the dot, to Carolyn’s delight. She was beaming, lol. Off we went, through Fanhams, ride ride, yada yada. No mechanicals and a nice crosswind. At about mile seven, I asked Leigh for a temperature update from his Garmin. Carolyn and I did similarly. Now, what she didn’t know, was that Leigh’s “temperature” was made up and was about 5° out from both of ours. Obviously, Carolyn thought Leigh’s was incorrect and so was mine. OK, it was funnier if you were there. I’ll not babble anymore. 

We got to the busy cafe at about 10:45. What a nice place Mayfield Bakery is. The food was more than reasonably priced and the staff were lovely. 

We took our time at the cafe and left at 11:35. Carolyn took us the wrong way (I know eh, amazing). Back on track and we got to Sheering Lower Road, I had to stop us all for a little sing song out side Rod Stewart's house where we took a photo (see image). Obviously, we sung “Sailing”, because “I want to ride my bicycle” is a Queen song and that wouldn’t be appropriate! 

We rode up through Sawbridgeworth and suggested an ice cream stop. Everyone said no. I mean, can you believe it! 

We were now flying along into the headwind. We got to Kettle Green Road which I flew up with Graham and Leigh. We were back to Ware at 1ish - I think. 

Thank you all for coming. Sorry the ride report is a tad boring. 

Obviously, written on the throne. 

Love and kisses.