club run reports

Cat 3 ride led by Ian P
A very pleasant ride out from Ware to the pop-up cafe in Great Chishill (just outside Royston).
 
Well I say cafe but it was actually the front room of a very nice bungalow next to the church. From May onwards the cafe is actually the church but out of season it is volunteers’ front rooms!
 
Friendly welcome, quick service, fresh homemade soup and cake and excellent price...what's not to love!!
 

Cat 3 ride led by Barry
Ten riders rode out to Royston via Colliers End, Old Hall Green, Wood End, Ardeley, Cottered,Throcking, Sandon, Therfield and back via Barkway and B1368 to Puckeridge and Barwick. A sunny but very windy return with no mechanicals. 50miles

First Ladies Ride led by Emma
6 ladies departed from Senova cycles for a steady ride out to Church Farm. A gentle breeze kept the pace good on a rather chilly icy morning. Cake and laughter filled Church farms summer house and new cycling buddies were made. The wind was not our friend on the way back but we battled on to beat the rain. An enjoyable cycle had by all- and the best bit-puncture free!!!

Mike led the Cat 6 run: " A group of 15 that used to be the easies - how times were so much simpler then, before we just became a number - meandered to and from Bishops Stortford, enjoying a short but calorie filled sojourn at the Mocha Cafe. The Gatorskins behaved themselves today, and there were no mechanicals. A minor collision between two members unseated one, but there was no lasting damage. Great to have Lee back cycling again after his recent misfortunes. "

Cat 6 ride led by Bob

One puncture at Braughing. Took so long to fix that the 9 who buggered off and left him to it had finished at the café in Puckerkidge by the time the victim and his three friends got there!  32 miles

Cat 5 run led by John F
Only 3 members braved the arctic winds and occasional sleet on our way to Buntingford which was shortened slightly by mutual content. Outward through Much Hadham, Little Hadham, Furneux Pelham, Little Hormead, Hare Street to Bunt. Wind assisted return through Westmill, Nasty, Old Hall Green, Colliers End, Barwick ford back to Ware. 36 miles.

Cat 6 ride led by Capt Bob
The Three Dannys Ride.  No punctures etc and Capt Bob only took one wrong turn!  31.5 miles, 11.1 moving average. A warm and pleasant stop at Ardeley.  Occasional ice spotted but no tumbles.

Cat 5 run with John F

Ride with John F Cat 5 

Ride with Peter W Cat 3
3 brave Wheelers set out for Redbourn with no incidents.  The ride there was on main roads and return was on minor ones.  No ice related tumbles or mechanical issues!

Interesting ri de on Sunday

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Not a good day for cycling.  A heavy overnight frost put paid to many riders' cycling aspirations.  About a dozen turned up at Hertford with most attempting the easy.  Apart from one or two tricksy bits, the lanes were mainly navigable but as soon as we turned from Datchworth to Watton we realised the folly of our ways.  From Watton it was straight back to Hertford for an early bath.  One or two tumbles, but thankfully nobody was seriously injured.

Due to Ian's sudden inability to retain his food, six leaderless meds met at Much Hadham to study his proposed route to Writtle.  Good route, one problem.  Nobody fancied the return, into the wind.  As Ian had returned to his sick-bed and after much soul searching, it was decided to head north to Royston instead.  The fifteen easies, being made of sterner stuff, had no such problem as they made their joyous way to Hatfield Heath.  It was a fresh winter's day - bit of rain and not too cold.  No mechanicals that I know of.

On a very cold, icy morning and with Clive's First Training Ride from Ware, not so many turned up for the med or easy at Hertford.  The few easies met, had a conflab as to whether to cancel or not and then made their way carefully on their chosen route.  The four meds found that the slightly larger roads were ok but an element of care was necessary on the lanes.

Xmas Lunch today so only seven took to the roads on the sole HW ride.

Not much not to like today.  Weather glorious for the time of year.  Nearly forty out to take advantage of it.  Over twenty turned out for the easy so the group was split with both groups arriving at Ardeley within a few minutes of each other.  The fast\med consisted of three but they started earlier due to family commitments.  Thus many of the usual fast\meds joined in with the meds, so thirteen went to Shepreth.  Sadly many of them chose to ride at fast\med pace.

Few drops of rain, and most stay at home!  Nine Hardy Ha-Ha's swam, snorkelled, floated their way to the rearranged destinations.  The four on the medium decided that Royston was a channel crossing too far and so stopped at Puckeridge where they were met with open arms at Something Lovely.  Didn't even have to sit on bin liners!  The five easies felt that swimming to Whitwell wasn't a good idea but that Codicote Garden Centre was just about doable.  It was good to see that the appalling weather didn't stop a few getting out although I expect that our sanity will be questioned over and over

Five braved the journey to the start of the medium at Thaxted.  From there they went to Stradishall for their constitutionals.  This left the rest to either easy or med\fast.  Most took the easy option with twenty-four riders strung out on the lanes to Buntingford.  Eight of these stopped at Westmill in order to ease the possible congestion.  All met up in Bunts and rode back.  In very wet conditions, Mike's rear tyre gave up so he fixed it.  Then it did it again.  By this time the easy ride had left its leader behind with just one for company.  The tyre was refixed but when it gave up the

Only meds & easies this week.  The weather must be a-changing.  The biggest group consisting of 15 took off to Harlington in the depths of Beds.  Made a change to ride on some roads not normally associated with us.  When we arrived there was a wedding pageant at the garden centre so JohnH was allowed to park his banana next to the vintage cars so that it could be babysat!

At 08:00 the rain was falling by the bucketful.
At 09:00 it had stopped.
At 10:00 it resumed with more buckets.
Nearly 30 turned up at Ware as the rain had stopped, and then got soaked on the outbound journey.  The meds never made it to Royston but the easies (being made of sterner, more waterproof stuff) got to Sheering for their morning constitutional.  The return journeys were fairly uneventful and moderately dry.