3 groups set off from St. Ives into the blustery WSW wind that made the ride out to Thrapston hard at times, or maybe I found it hard as I elected to ride with the A group!
The A group split into 2 after the first few riders (inc. your truly!) missed the LH turn to Shelton in Upper Dean. Eventually we realised the mistake & retraced our steps to get back on course, to find the road closed further down due to bridge work. A quick bit of cyclo-cross through the undergrowth was required!
On arrival at Thrapston, the tea room (or shall we say tea cupboard it’s so small!) was already full, even if we could find a seat it was obvious we were going to take a long time to get served with one overstretched person being run ragged trying to deal with everybody.
Making a snap decision to go onto the Little Chef up the hill for a stop, some of the A group headed out & met the B group coming over the bridge, most of whom decided to do the same. Actually this stop turned out to be a good call, plenty of space, the room was warm, service friendly (waitress filled up water bottles & brought them to the table!) & the coffee met with Palo’s approval (an expert on the subject by the sounds of it!). There is also the option of Burger King, should you wish to splash out & ignore the calories! So in future the Little Chef will replace Daisy’s on this route. I understand some from the C group diverted back to Perry & had a stop at the Harbour Cafe. Sorry about all the messing about. As this is the second time to my knowledge Daisy’s has proven to be a less than adequate stop, it will come off the list!
After spending probably too long discussing the merits of the coffee, we headed back on the road home, some of the B group joining our half of the A group. I’ll spare you the details, but it transpired that for whatever reason a couple of members of the B group had been left behind at the Little Chef! I won’t dwell on this now, group discipline will be reiterated in my next Club Run e-mail, but this is not the way group riding should be done! I can only repeat what has been said many times in the past; these are group runs, not individual training rides. I think deep down we all know what we should be doing and at times get carried away. However to leave people behind at a stop is not acceptable, unless your intentions have been clearly agreed in advance. Fortunately there was a good tail wind most of the way home, if it had been a headwind 2 people on their own could have made for a miserable ride, or worse should there have been a more serious incident.
“Ride together & support each other” please.
There was a minor incident (just at the junction with the B662?) when there was a touch of wheels & Rob came off, fortunately no serious damage to Rob or bike. Other than getting a little wet on the way home due to a passing shower, there were no other incidents to report from our little group. I won’t mention Palo giving us a demonstration of his power to win the St. Ives Town Sign sprint by a country mile – I don’t want his head to swell!
I won’t single people out, but there was some impressive riding from some of those who don’t normally ride with the A group who in my opinion should consider regularly starting out with this group. This is a subject I will return to in my next club run e-mail…..
I hope all who were out made it safely back hope & look forward to seeing you soon. We are overdue a quieter, less blustery ride at some time!
