My dear old things, the magnificent ladies and gents of C&DCYCLES cycling club looked simply resplendent this morning in their smart new jerseys of Everton blue. Sorry I've been listening to too much Test Match Special, have you seen the cricket score? Enough of that. This is a cycling blog.
I knew I was up for a good ride today because I was singing as I rode in. I've had some very bizarre cycling ear worms recently. On Thursday it was:"miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick..." Today I alternated between Elbow's beautiful day and Let's go fly a kite from Mary Poppins. I even started changing the words to 'let's go ride a bike!' I really do worry about me at times.
Bit of a selfie in Oundle
So today's plan was a beginner ride led by Andy with me tail gunning and a fast group led by Steve
with Iain at the back. The fast group left first with the option of anyone wanting to drop down just waiting for us lot. Some new faces, some regulars, some faces we haven't seen for sometime and unfortunately some missing friends. However a very good turnout on a spectacular Summer day. I was particularly pleased to see Mark Nicholls who I suspected had forgotten how to ride a bike on a shiny Red Focus Cayo and lots of others too like John Rice.
The Oundle reverse is an old favourite so it seemed fitting for our first ride as an official British Cycling member club. At Oundle Claire had a brain wave and suggested an alternative route. Well done that lady it was much nicer than our usual route from Oundle to Benefield. Which ever way you go though the Brigstock Bumps beckon, more on that in a bit.
This was the first outing on Clive with the GP 4 season tyres on both wheels. They do feel more spritely so I was determined to test the increased grip. I've sworn by gators for years and these are twice the price so I want some bang for my buck. Bang is very nearly an unfortunate word here. I'd say trying to stick them into a downhill sweeping bend without really building up to it was a bit over confident. I was briefly over the white line in what others described as a 'brown shorts,' moment. Whilst merrily rolling on his (recommended by me,) gators David Tough recalled my error of judgement to Andy (mention,) and I overheard that they need 50 miles before they're up to grip...hmmm someone might have said.
To the bumps and newbie Tom supported by the ever improving Rich McNab started to feel his longest ride in his legs. What surprises me is that despite helping out at the back I got a PR up the bumps! Not as bad as you think then Tom. An even bigger surprise was a puncture for me at the top! Puncture? Andy (mention) who changed my tube with his usual professional ease pointed out that nothing had penetrated the tyre so it had to be a pinch, most likely cause was my fitting skills! Oh well. David Tough (did I mention his new gators,) had another reason to chuckle at these supposedly superior bits of rubber!
Shop selfie - yikes what is Steve doing? Good photo bombing Andy (mention)
Back at the shop today's guest cake was provided by Carla Sharpe. This was in payment for the disgrace of a messy bike that Wayne put into the shop. There's still a shiny bit on his rear hub where I wiped it with my finger and said eurgh! Still good cake and nice to see Wayne back in the saddle.
Claire of the improved route and excellent first aid/crisis management skills was recruiting others to join her and Heather, no not Heather, the other Heather on a few more miles due to her impending Pyrenees Tour trip. I'm proud of Rich McNab for taking on even more miles and joining them as ride London slips into view. Still he should be fine on his shiny new Cayo. So I joined those three, well really I suppose they joined me on my return to Rothwell and then they went off to do a bit extra. We weren't the only ones determined to make the most of this stunning day as we passed Justin and Andy (Brown) coming the other way through Rothwell.
What a great day to be on a bike
Happy Peddaling
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