Following the all clear from the practice nurse and a MTB test run it was so great to get the opportunity to lead the C&DCYCLES Saturday Shop Ride. The route for today has some of my very favourite local roads. Plenty of ups and downs and pleasant quiet country lanes.
18 of us left the shop but unfortunately a newbie who'd bitten off more than he could chew retired in Rothwell. Having set off in two groups the quick lads caught us by Kelmarsh after ruining the unfortunate chap. Today's ride was the perfect mix of regulars and newbies. One ride virgin was my good friend and former housemate Nigel. We had a riot as single men in the 90's but for the sake of both our livers it's probably a good thing that Mrs Lindsley stole his wife (yes I did Nigel's ironing too!) On top form today Nigel exceeded even his usual standards of confusion. When asked about the other rider in white Nige said he'd only seen one person, then realised as he was also wearing white 1+1 might still be 2.
Thanks to brother Dunkley, the coolest of cool beans. Whose mere presence today brought amorous attentions of lady horse riders "you all look so handsome," she said...oh yeah sorry...thanks to Darren we had a route deviation. Lord only knows what Steve had in mind when he announced "we like to be deviant." The deviation in question was to go through Braybrooke, over the river Jordan and the up Griffin Road, a pretty testing climb for Northamptonshire. Excellent detour Darren!
The point of this blog, well one of the points of this blog is to bang on about how good the riding is round here. Once you're out of the towns, away from the traffic lights and the potholes there's just miles and miles of top quality action. That's why the number of other Lycra clad groups we see is definitely on the rise. It might also be why The Women's Tour is gracing us on May 7th with a stage from Oundle to Northampton. The club members lucky enough to have that day off are planning a ride to see the start and finish, if you can I'd advise you to join them.
On return to the shop we were supplied with drinks and cake by Andy. Now he was clearly disappointed not to ride today so we sympathised in the only way we know. Yes that's right unsympathetic banter. We're lucky he has a sense of humour but also he benefits from the character building effects and of course anyone who can't needs to #rule 5.
Tomorrow, they say, tomorrow is just another day. Well not for me. It's Sam's 9th birthday and I can't wait to see him on his new bike!
Happy pedalling!
Ubiquitous action shot
Nigel
Quick stop at Naseby
Well earned rest at the top of Griffin Road
No worries dude
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