At five to nine outside Richardson’s Cycles I thought we were only going to have a handful of club members out, and I was wondering how the groups were going to work. However at the last moment riders arrived from all directions! It transpired these were mostly these were ‘A’ groupies, no sooner had I asked the A group to gather on the other side of the road, they started to ride off, leaving a few B & C group riders to sort themselves out (must practise my shouting!).
I decided to make up numbers in the B group which was going well until Graveley, when Paul punctured (for the record on Michelin tyres, Lithium?). The C group passed by at this point and after a swift change we should have overtaken them after a few miles, but “hissssss”, Paul punctured again. This time after a careful examination of the carcass we found the flint that had caused the first puncture. Paul had made the classic & easily understood mistake of rushing the first change, not finding the offending object, which then did its damage again a short time later. Make sure you fit those new tyres for next time Paul!
Into a somewhat of a nagging headwind on the way out, it was welcome stop at the Farm, arriving just after the C group & just as the remnants of the A’s were departing. I guess the majority of the A’s rode through without stopping given the numbers, they missed a good cup of coffee & reasonably priced cake I thought.
We got a good push from the wind on the way home, I suffered from ‘compact-itus’ down the Papworth bypass, spinning out at C. 40MPH/250RPM (I don’t actually have a cadence sensor on my bike, it just felt like 250RPM!!) I turned for home up Rouges Lane, hope everybody made it back OK (only about 5 mins. away given that tailwind? 😉
If you made it out I hope you had an enjoyable ride and I look forward to seeing you soon, when hopefully we can be a bit more organised at the start – now where did I put that megaphone…
