My road riding has been limited of late because I'm loving the cyclocross season. I haven't been on a bike for longer than an hour many times in the last few months and even last weeks club ride was less than 30 miles for me. So...doing 100km to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War was probably a lot to ask of my legs. No matter, I'd seen from the clubpage that this would be a mixed ability ride and if I took it easy I'd be okay...So I turned up at. the shop with seconds to spare (no change there,) and found myself in the 'faster,' group. I had no idea what was going on, I whistled past Andy Ferguson who was clearly trying to organise things to an annoyed look and a statement of: "that's 11 now!" My apologies to Andy and yes you're right it would be nice if I attempted to arrive in good time once in a while. Anyway that group tore off at 20mph+ and didn't drop that pace really until my legs were blown at 40 miles and I became an anchor for them to drag!
Our first stop was at the memorial in Deenethorpe. For anyone who isn't local, Northamptonshire was full of airbases during the Second World War and as a consequence there are now a lot of memorials next to very flat fields that look ideal for a runway! Here's more info about the Group based here: http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/349
For 3/4 of this ride it really was the most beautiful Autumn day with bright sunshine. The Red Kites were out on mass and as usual I have no pictorial evidence to prove this. Gawping at those magnificent birds lead to me playing catch up with the group as we headed to stop two at Spanhoe. As is typical on these rides the banter was notched up to maximum. None of it is repeatable in civilised company, let's just say I couldn't breathe from laughing so hard!
You can find out more about Spanhoe airfield here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Spanhoe
As we headed to Bulwick, disaster struck...Pete announced to the group that his bike was broken and his ride was done. With much apologising he declared he would get home somehow. His rear mech looked all wrong and he couldn't change gear. Much speculation ensued including the proposal to botch fix the rear mech with a cable tie to allow gear shifting. Then I pointed out that he only had a tiny bit of cable sticking out, unlike everyone else's bike. Andy P helpfully added that changing from high to low under maximum wattage can cause the cable to slip. So Pete flipped his bike over to work on the troublesome derailleur. As one we all groaned NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
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It is completely unacceptable to intentionally turn one’s steed upside down for any reason under any circumstances. Besides the risk of scratching the saddle, levers and stem, it is unprofessional and a disgrace to your loyal steed. The risk of the bike falling over is increased, wheel removal/replacement is made more difficult and your bidons will leak. The only reason a bicycle should ever be in an upside down position is during mid-rotation while crashing. This Rule also applies to upside down saddle-mount roof bars.23
Like many of those rules, it is utterly ridiculous. However Pete dutifully turned his bike back over and worked on it in a back breaking crouch. A couple of people helped in practical ways. The rest of us worked on team morale with an array of unhelpful and yet hilarious (for us, less so for Pete,) mickey taking comments. There is a video but it's just in jokes really so I'm not including it here.
Much to nobody's surprise, Pessimistic Pete was in fact 100% wrong, his day was not done and we continued with our ride.
The next stop was the memorial to Kings Cliffe Airfield. It's amazing how many of these bases were packed close together. Kings Cliffe amongst all it's military history also has notoriety as Glen Miller's last airfield concert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kings_Cliffe At this point the second group caught up with us and so we lied and said we'd been there ages. They saw through that so we blamed Pete. Also at that point our good cycling friend Steve Major appeared. I had hoped Steve was riding in the banter bunch but sadly no. He doesn't ride with us anymore and as the Remembrance rides were his creation that just feels very wrong. I didn't have time for any sort of catch up before we were off again.
Just round the corner from Kings Cliffe is Polebrook where Clark Gable was stationed! I know I've linked the wiki page for this place a few times so here's a more interesting link showing what's left of a massive airbase. https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/military-sites/11093-raf-usaaf-polebrook-northamptonshire.html#.W-fxBziTLIU
However we were intrigued by the big letter J on the memorial and the answer to that question is in fact on the wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Polebrook
After Polebrook it suddenly became clear that our early speed wasn't just about our physical prowess as we turned into a biting wind. My legs pretty much gave up at that point and I had to work really hard just to keep up. We did make our way to the designated coffee stop at Denford Church. A superb spread of cakes was laid on inside the church and it was nice to meet Andy P's Mum and his wife. With Sam P already with us on the ride we were abundant with Pendreds! Andy's Mum asked me if I wanted to know "anything about Andy?" I replied that I could also tell her a few things too and we decided it probably was best just to leave it!
The poppy display was exceptional at Denford Church which even without such an event is a stunning example of the Churches typical of Northamptonshire. Here's a better picture to do the place justice.
As I said we were treated to a magnificent spread. The cakes were superb. There was no charge for this but we were asked to make a donation to this very worthy cause. The Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre
It was also at this point that I realised that my Strava may be playing up...anyone else spot an issue above? No worries though, it would probably sort itself out and anyway there's always the chance I'd turned on the GPS on my Garmin Virb...
The stop rejuvenated me briefly but then it was back to Mr Dawdle...I felt like the road was mocking me too.
The last memorial stop for me was at Grafton Underwood which housed an another massive airbase. Here's some links wiki which is good for info but boring compared to this Aviation Trails
Did you notice the ominous dark clouds? Yep well the nice day abruptly stopped and we got soaked! Thankfully for me it was just a short ride through Geddington, Newton and Rushton for me to get home. Normally I do that bit alone but I was joined by a few brave souls who were doing a few more miles! Most notably Andy and Sam had decided 100k wasn't enough and they carried on for 100 miles. 73 miles was more than enough for me but I know they headed to the memorial to Harrington airfield which I drive past on a daily basis. About a mile from the memorial there's a nice little museum for anyone whose interested https://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/history-of-harrington-airfield/
As I dripped in through the house there was a series of lovely surprises for me. Our friend Lucy was visiting. She brought her dogs with her. I've met Ivy the Jack Russell before but the main event was meeting Rosie, who is a sibling of Bruce from his Mum's second litter.
The news relating to my Strava data was not good! The silly phone was showing only 35 miles which I'd apparently done in just 5 minutes...I checked the Virb and guess what no data there too! As I sulked about my lost data the Queen of Cakes handed me an early birthday present and asked if this would have helped? Yes darling it would! What a lovely surprise!!!
All that's left to say is to thank Andy P for a superb route and to thank everyone else for a great ride with great mates...oh hang on...one last thing. There was a ride prank a while ago of putting things in each others pockets. Neil has been biding his time but yesterday he successfully returned a lego man I'd put in his pocket a long time ago! In short we managed to hold a respectful ride for Remembrance whilst still getting up to all of our usual nonsense!
If you've liked this blog, here's the links to our previous remembrance rides. There's some good stuff in there, including some of the other memorials.
2014/11/steve-super-sunday-smashing-remembrance
2015/11/remembrance-sunday-ride
2016/11/remembrance-ride-2016
Happy Pedalling!!!
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