I don't know where to start really. This weekend I have had three absolutely brilliant club rides with C&D Cycles Cycling Club. A nice 30 on Good Friday, my best ride in like forever on Easter Sunday and a challenge with mother nature on Easter Monday. In between there's been great times with friends, a splendid family meal and of course a lot of muddy dog walks. Right now, after 140 miles in 4 days, I'm officially out on my legs and feeling quite pleased with the achievement.
The first thing to say about this Easter is that the weather has been rubbish! However there have been windows of opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. This time last year we were in Queensland, Australia...where the weather was worse! We were in the paradise that is Noosa, being battered by the aftermath (not the actual full storm,) of cyclone Debbie. I have never seen wind and rain like it. By contrast our Easter has just been a bit annoyingly damp! Of course the day after in Oz was back to glorious weather. I got chatting to Neil and he has just comeback from my favourite place on the planet, so at least I had someone to talk to who knew what I was missing!
The ferry to Straddie in 2014
The day after the storm in Noosa, Easter 2017
Foggy, soggy Northants!
The pictures just kind of sum up the damp, dull, grey day. Our spirits, by contrast were very bright indeed. Special mention should go to Richard Golding at this stage for what might be the best banter ever heard on a ride. Quite an accolade given the stiff competition from our perpetual outpourings of nonsense. I will not reveal the full content of the conversation because it belongs to the group. However for those who know...the clue is in my ride name!
The ride route was a regular that dates back to the start of the club in 2013 and is known as Pitsford reverse due to crossing the causeway over Pitsford reservoir. For me it was ideal as I had plenty to do that day and it goes back to Kettering through Rothwell. Due to low temperatures we were all kitted out in full winter gear. I had base layers, my winter jersey, a buff, my long serving full fingered gloves, my fabulous Endura winter tights (extra padding for my old knees,) and overshoes. I looked at all my kit and it's getting very tatty. My gloves have holes in the fingers which are handy for smart phone use but not for numb finger prevention, my overshoes are hanging on by a thread and the tights have lost all of their reflective branding. I know where my birthday money is going next winter! I can't complain though, all of that stuff has done 1000s of miles and was well worth the investment. You can see from the pictures that most of us were kitted out in similar winter layers, however, one rider, Ashley, had let youthful exuberance get the better of him and was in shorts! This is possibly why the 19 year old expert of all things concentric, struggled to keep up with us old men towards the end of the ride!
On Mill Lane, a lovely cycling road, we bumped into clubmate Marcus who was out with his daughter (I wish Niamh would try cycling, I think she'd be excellent.) Marcus is recovering from a nasty injury so it was great to see him on his bike. What a bike it was too! That classic Giant MTB with 26" wheels, deserves a lot of love.
Route highlights for me are the fast drag from Litle Harrowden to Sywell along the intriguingly named 'Moonshine Gap.' The climb up from the causeway is good and the fast run back into Rothwell from Harrington. This was a splendid start to my cycling Easter in some great company. Too many names to mention as there was a really good turnout.
On Easter Sunday, appropriately April fools day, another large group gathered at C&D Cycles, this time for a 50 miler led by the First Lady of C&D, Nat. There were again too many names to mention. Many who'd ridden on Friday but also some of my best riding buddies and the man who started it all, Andy Ferguson. There were many other groups out and a shout out goes to Ian Bird and the KCC social ride who cheerfully greeted me from their bustop meeting point!
One of the aims of the day was to get Andre home by 12.41 due to family commitments. I think his impression of Morph's luminous green brother just made him more aero and therefore more committed to the task.
We headed out on Kettering's infamous Deeble Road where something strange began to unfold. I was first to the top of the hill. "This can't last,"I thought. It did though. I felt fantastic out on the bike and really enjoyed the hills! We all get days like this on the bike but I'd come out just hoping to keep up. My only explanation is that I've been very focused on my diet and I've been working out on the rollers as often as possible. Accusations of EPO abuse or having a few puffs too many of my wife's inhalers are just fake news!
The route was first class. It's the end of the county I don't know as well and we ended up in Cambridgeshire at times. Halfway was Kimbolton school after the usual leafy lanes and picture postcard villages.
The road above, heading to Raunds, sums up what road cycling in Northamptonshire is like. We have lots of quiet lanes like this. They can be lovely to ride on but also, due to the harsh winter they are also an absolute mess with cracked surfaces and potholes. We try to help each other as best we can, calling out and pointing to the rider behind. Sometimes though it would be easier to point out the good bits! Despite all that, it's still great fun and as Mike in the picture above stated: "highly addictive!"
The banter on the ride was once again first class and then more unexpected fun. Andy, Mark and I began to reminisce about 80's and 90's television. Great shows such as the A-Team, Thundercats, Knight Rider, The Professionals, Jamie and His Magic Torch etc...I have no idea what anyone thought as we sang the theme tune to shows like The Littlest Hobo!
I just had to stop to take a picture of the river crossing between Lilford and Pilton. Moments before we'd tried our best to slowly and quietly pass a horse who really didn't like cyclists. Then this scene unfolded with a river overflowing its banks already and more rain to come! You wait until you see Monday's pictures!
This selfie is at the top of the hill coming away from the flood. More groups of cyclists went past. Andre was well on track to get home in time!
So many things happened on this club ride. The most important part of which is that we had a really great time and enjoyed an excellent route. We all learned a new way of measuring gloves from Andy who is keen to find me some suitable replacements for my holey favourites.
I left the group at Warkton to head home. I realised I was close to 100km and therefore had nearly completed the Strava Gran Fondo for April on the very first day. So I headed to Geddington for a few extra miles. On the way I encountered a lady litter picking in the hedgerow. As this is a subject I care about deeply, I stopped for a chat. She regularly sorts the hedgerows out near her home. I find it so sad that we have beautiful countryside that others disrespect. However I find it incredibly encouraging that others are so willing to sort out a mess they haven't made! There's even a growing sport of "Plogging," where runners go out with the aim of filling a bag with plastic based rubbish. Again I thought of Australia where litter just isn't tolerated and you will barely see any mess.
I arrived home in plenty of time with the 100km Fondo in the bag. Then it was time to head to my parents for the best Sunday Lunch in the world. Unfortunately my grandparents are ill so we didn't have all four generations there. It was good to have a couple of my Dad's 'recovery,' ciders too!
The original plan for Easter Monday was to meet at 9am for another 30ish miles social ride. However it was pouring with rain so we swapped to an afternoon ride planned by Andy P. The rain had stopped but there was a lot of standing water on the roads and some very tricky bits to get through.
This was just one of several flooded bits of road we had to get through. The secret is not to get your feet wet but to go through slowly enough that any hidden potholes are not hit with a massive cerchunk! No potholes were hit, however some feet did get wet!!!
I decided to set my Forme Longcliffe back up for me today because I didn't want to risk carbon fibre and nice wheels on these conditions. I also decided to stop using my phone for pics and return to the convenience of my Gramin Virb. The first shot was of Geddington as I rode to join the rest of the group in Grafton Underwood.
Justin caught me up on the way to Grafton. I wasn't moving very quickly as my legs were very tight from the day before. They picked up a bit during the ride but I had nothing like the previous day's power. We met up with another very respectable sized group, especially for the conditions. It was also very good to see Glynn out on a bike for the first time in a very long time. The last time I'd seen him was at the MTB race where I broke my wrist as he was taking pics of the race. We passed that field near Wadenhoe, on another journey through the East of the county.
Grey Day
The club has one rule. It's called rule one! Rule one is that no one gets left behind. Si, pictured above, is just starting out on his cycling adventure and as yet hasn't got his cycling legs. He did massively well to stay with the group and showed real determination on the tough climbs up the Brigstock Bumps and the long grind through Southwick and onto Bulwick. For most of us, helping newbies is just as important as making our own progress, that and an initiation into the world of cycling banter!
More Floods
Despite the wet roads the rain held off. The buzzards and Red Kites were out and I tried my best to get an image of those magnificent birds, especially as we had a very low fly over from a kite at Bulwick. However, even with the virb and the fact they are massive, a good image of a kite whilst riding still eludes me.
As we got back to Grafton the group splintered as we all headed home. Justin, Rob, Ashley and I headed back towards Geddington and Andy back to Thrapston. Ian and Glynn made sure Si got safely back to Kettering. My legs were absolutely ruined. That social thirty was turning into a 50 miler! It was only a few miles home but on my own I would have found it tough. However Justin and Ashley (in better clothing today, that's him on the left,) led the way to Geddington and I hung onto their wheel. Then after Justin left us, Rob powered us on through Newton and onto Rushton, all I could do was keep up. thanks to their help I was soon home though!
I've mentioned before that this blog gets like Bridget Jones diary at times. Since Christmas, the Queen of Cakes and I have shifted some serious lard with the help of MyFitnessPal. However this weekend we took a break from all the clean eating and calorie counting. We came home from my Mum's on Sunday with some of her magnificent carrot cake and this was just the recovery food I needed. Cycling and cake go together very well and as we all know, if you've done the miles you can have the good stuff. I washed this down with a new favourite beer and something I intend of trying to make myself. Until then, 'Spill the Beans,' coffee porter is only 99p fom Aldi (other budget supermarkets are available!)
I'm lucky enough to have the rest of the week off. No cycling for a couple of days though because these legs need a rest! Sam is 13 on Friday and I'm hoping we can get a MTB blast around Wakerley Woods in on Thursday. No club ride for me this Saturday because we're going paintballing which will be great fun!
Many of you know that I'm a Nurse and very proud of both my profession and the NHS. Our National Health Service is 70 years old this year and as well as providing my career I have much to be thankful for. Cancer, heart disease, elderly grandparents and our children have kept the NHS very busy. I should also mention that I've definitely had my money's worth from the Emergency Department (formerly known as A&E.) To mark the 70 years many of us are taking part in #NHS1000miles. It's not that big a challenge for Lycra Loonies like us so I'm not counting my cycling miles just the steps that my fitbit records. For both cycling and fitbit I'm on 670 miles for the year so far, so my 1000 miles will be done before we're halfway through the year. Cycling will overtake the steps now and I'm hoping for around 4000 miles on the bike this year. To keep things going I'm going to have to work something out, like trying to do 1000 miles on the MTB. The Facebook page is fantastic with people posting pictures from all around the country of great places to run, walk, ride, swim or paddle! It also has a lot of great pictures of people out and about with their four legged friends.
My four legged friends!
One of my favourite Sportive/Charity rides is Cycle for Cynthia, in aid of Cynthia Spencer Hospice in Northampton and MacMillan Cancer Support. As I mentioned we've had a lot of cancer to deal with as a family and taking part makes it feel as if I'm doing my bit to help. Kettering has a sister unit to Cynthia Spencer in the form of Cransley Hospice. These are amazing facilities that support cancer sufferers and their family through the last days of the battle with this hideous disease. When I'm working in Kettering my office overlooks Cransley Hospice. Funding has been very difficult for the hospices recently as the NHS has felt the pinch of austerity. They need every penny to keep their vital services running! So this bit makes me very proud as we are having a Cycle for Cransley sportive on June 17th. The event is sponsored by KLM taxis, owned by our good cycling friend Mike Deely and will be supported by C&D Cycles. We've had a sneak peak at the 50 mile route and I can tell you it will be a very nice ride, there's also shorter distances so that everyone can get involved. Massive kudos to both Mike and Andy for their efforts with this event. I'm hoping to support in any way possible and hopefully to raise a lot of money for this great cause.
Finally it's time to put an argument to bed. A phrase we all know and understand is: "There's no need to re-invent the wheel." I think if this was true, instead of riding on glorious steeds of carbon or lightweight aluminium' we'd still be on something like this:
Here's a good article I found all about reinventing the wheel. So that's it, the argument is settled...oh okay, it probably rages on!
I think that's enough for now. I've loved my Easter of cycling and I'm looking forward to warmer drier conditions and a lot more miles!
Happy Pedalling!!!
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