Brrr, my Garmin shows the temperature for the first half of this ride as -1°C but after the café stop it warmed up - to 0°C! There were times when the east wind hitting our faces made it feel much worse. We could have been in bed - what were we thinking going on a bike ride on a day like this?
Can't be bothered to explain the name of this Audax other than to say there were four pubs with the name "Compass" that were used as info controls. Not feeling up to it I didn't ECE this one, and I believe I made the right choice. My poor choice, however, was in not liaising properly with John & Alex so we missed each other at the start as I opted to commence at 09:30 instead 0f 10:00. Due to my lack of good health I decided that I would probably suffer quite badly somewhere en route, and that I wanted to be alone when it happened and not slow others down. And lo & behold, my su
Dealing with life's difficulties can be tough going; I am still coming to terms with Only Connect moving from a Monday to a Friday. The current catastrophe is the the Great Lettuce Shortage. I suspect it was the underlying cause of category 6 numbers jumping from 5 or fewer in January to 14 this week. Cycling can help put great challenges into perspective, or at least take your mind off the impending doom of an iceberg famine.
What started out as me going to the LV Velo on my tod as a xmas present to myself ended up with eight of us making the journey together (sorry nine, we took a spectator). On Tuesday I set off from Hertford East on the train, picking up the others en route. We arrived with plenty of time to spare (intentionally). This gave us the chance to watch a couple of the sessions before our hour began at 13:00. This wasn't necessarily the best thing to do as despite being on an almost empty circuit people were crashing and making some of us onlookers more nervous than we already were. Eventually
Set off down the old A120 from Thremhall Park at 07:40 expecting ice and a headwind - and got neither. Got through Braintree and then dropped down to Kelvedon for the start of the calendar event at 09:30. Again this went fairly smoothly although the cold easterly wind did start to get up a bit. Got back to and then set off from Kelvedon at 15:15 for the return via the lanes. Got to Leaden Roding at about 17:00 by which time it was getting a bit more than just cold. The last 90 mins back to Thremhall did have its freezy moments but overall it was a good day out. The Oyster audax was ma
Due to the low turnout of only 3 members, we decided to huddle together with Gareth's Cat 3 group of 5 to keep warm on a very cold day and went with them to Thremhall Park, instead of Hatfield Heath.
Category 6 led by Mike East
Minus 3 degrees at 9.30 and not much warmer thereafter. Beyond Codicote the decision was made to give the Chilterns peak at Wandon End a miss and seek solace, warmth and sustenance in the base camp at Emily's, Whitwell. A pacy ride back got us to Hertford before 1 pm. Four riders, 30 miles.
Seven Wheelers, including those who turned up expecting a Cat 3, set off from Allenburys at the advertised 09.30, wondering where Barry was. Up the old A10 to High Cross, brushing aside the ascent of the hill to High Cross as if it wasn’t there, the peleton then turned into a particularly muddy Marshall’s Lane and headed for Sacombe Green, Dane End and Great Munden. Captain Bob did offer the option of taking the route via Haultwick, but there was no enthusiasm for this, so via Great Munden Church it was.
This ECEing lark works quite well for me - don't have to get up so early to drive all the way to the start. This time it was just a short car journey to Sawbridgeworth and at 07:30 I set off from there to do the fortytwo kms to Witham. Arrived at 09:30. Soon was en route to Stansted Airport via a jumble sale at Leaden Roding. The return into the wind was a bit of a drag (150kms) and then I retraced the route back to Stansted (204kms). Then the last 10kms to Sawbo. By then it had gone very cold so was pleased that the car was there. Was fuelled by the thought by finishing the ride I w
An undulating route out into a moderate headwind via Bengeo, Dane End, Puckeridge, Braughing, Berden, Arkesden and Strethall which included a broken mudguard, spoke and a puncture (Paul's first ever) and Leigh losing 2 bolts from his cleat, all coped with or ignored with the minimum of fuss.
