Warning! The following content could be dangerous to your mental health- Lol.
Alison’s was the start venue today, on what was the best day of the year, with a cloudless sky, very light SE winds and near 30 degrees promised. We were split to the front and back, which made a head count difficult, but based on DH saying he had 3 and no fast guys I figured it was 11-ish.
I
had 7 in my group and I believe there were a couple in civvies, one was DM, out
for coffee only.
My
route was to the Aqueduct Marina, which is one of my favourites, due to the
quality of the lanes and more open scenery, which works really well from
Alison’s, as long as the winds are light of course.
My
group formed instantly, as 6 of the eventual seven turned up virtually at the
same time and grabbed the shade out front, the 7th was a lucky ‘kling-on’-Lol.
We set off right out of Alison’s and turned immediately left, settling into an easy rhythm, as I was warned by Steve-Lol. Shortly after turning right to Huxley, the rhythm was upset by somebody pulling along side me at the front. At first I thought it was a solo cyclist catching and passing us. However, after casually responding to his overtures with “yep, I’m alright mate”, I looked across and recognised those long blond-ish locks & the give away mini rucksack, as being Chris of course- Lol. “Where have you come from”, said I.
He
had arrived late, riding in from home. Luckily for him (depending on your view
point- Lol) he was just riding past the school and saw us go by in the
distance, but wasn’t sure if we were CER.
He
chased us down, but had to work through the peloton, until he recognised
somebody- Lol, which is probably why he simply rode straight past all of us -
ok that last bit was a lie- Lol.
The rest of the group was Nick (I’ve got no fast boy mates),the Chuckle Brothers (Allan & wife, aka Steve Hu- Lol) Shane ( what a nice man-Lol) And Kev (almost as nice as Shane- Lol, Lol, Lol) And little old me of course.
Chris
settled into an immediate discussion about our bikes. This lead me to realising
what a shrewd negotiator he must be, because he had paid less for his bike than
I paid for my new cassette-Lol.
Anyway, by now we were cruising along nicely to Brassy Green and our right turn up to Beeston Castle, over my favourite little canal bridge for our first small effort. There would only be a couple more uppy bits on this almost pan flat route. Despite our lack of real hills, Nick still commented about how he hated that little pull up over the railway bridge, just as he was passing me. I completely concurred, as I shouted my response at his back wheel- Lol.
Now several miles on, and on a gorgeous stretch of lanes that being so well smooth, inevitably meant the pace naturally picked up slightly. I therefore took the opportunity to rotate back to enjoy the views, grab a smoke break and have a little chat with Kev, who I knew hadn’t been to the Aqueduct Marina before. He was revelling in the fact that there were no potholes for several miles, quote; “It’s so nice to not have to think about where to point the bike”. Then, mid chat, Steve called for a stop, to straighten his socks or swap bottles or was it to eat a melted chocolate bar - Ah no, that was later, Lol.
We got going again and within a couple of miles or so we were swinging into Church Minshull, where upon somebody behind commented on the Badger Pub, as we passed by. “Ah! Last weeks destination”, which was now only 1 mile from todays destination- Lol, although our route was completely different, according to the lunch conversations. These ranged from Trump possibly bombing Iran to our resident chatter box being offered the chance to get his food liquidised into a smoothie, to take away.
Kev offered to ask the staff, as he was worried it might be dark by the time we all got home, which was especially relevant today as Steve & Shane also planned to carry on for their 100 miles again. “What!” I hear you say, “ on a day of 30+ degrees”. I did hear somebody call them idiots, which couldn’t have been me, could it- Lol. Anyway, as soon as Kev made the offer, Steve then took a long breath and got on with eating. DH has a challenger for the slow eating title—Lol.
The popular choice for lunch was jacket spuds and tuna. However, our very own version of Jamie Oliver, had other ideas, when he pulled out lunch from his rucksack. I was not aware of the culinary talents of our newest member who, in the right light, could be said to look a little like Jamie Oliver, or was that Mary Berry- Lol. That said, Chris tucked into what looked like a simple egg mayo roll, which I commented was a pet hate of mine. “But have you tried my secret ingredient”, with a wry smile. “Oh yes”, with hopeful anticipation. “Sweet chilli sauce” was his response. “with eggs?”, to which I had this instant picture in my head of JO, with his head in his hands- Lol,Lol.
We got going with the
assurance of light tailwinds all the way back. After a couple of miles, it got
even easier, as Nick came to the front and decided he would lead us home, which
felt lovely, I don’t often get to ride for numerous miles on somebody’s back
wheel, even if it was a light tailwind, it’s still makes a big difference and
much appreciated.
I then decided to lead the group up to Bunbary via Chestnut Meats farm/cafe, along Long Lane to Haughton, as the more traditional way to Bunbury, via Brindley crossing, has become very bumpy & pot holed, as we discovered a week earlier with Fiona & Elwyn, who were absent today, having fun at the dentist BTW. As I hoped, Long Lane has had loads of repairs and resurfacing since I last rode it several years back and is now a much better alternative and only adds a half mile. It was at this point that Nick didn’t think he had enough water to get him back to Tilston, so we diverted into the Co-Op in Bunbury.
This subsequently lead to the
revelation of the day regarding the true characters of the Chuckle Brothers.
Let me set the scene. Nick got distracted and needed reminding to get his water-Lol, while everybody was wiping themselves down and shuffling into the shade ( 30 degrees on my Garmin). Meanwhile, Chuckle Brother number 2 (aka- Alan) suddenly appeared eating a Cornetto. “No team ice creams then”, was my response- Lol.
Where
upon the Lovely Kev shouted out, “oh that’s a good idea and promptly offered to
buy them.
Almost simultaneously, the equally lovely and other half of the Chuckle Brothers also shouted he would get them in. Off they went and swiftly returned with sumptuous Mango Solero’s for everybody (such generosity-Lol). They were so well received and quickly dispatched, although not before Shane decided to teach Chris how to juggle his-Lol. CB No 2 clearly must have thought that the whole group had a dairy intolerance or something and hence, he just bought a single Cornetto- Lol, Lol,Lol.
20 minutes later we got going for our last 8 miles back to Tattenhall. We swiftly past Beeston Castle and before we knew it were at the junction on Burwardsley Road, just a mile left to Alison’s. However, we (Alan & I) had dropped the rest and waited to regroup, but only Kev appeared. He explained that Shane & Steve had decided to show Chris the direct way for him to get home via the Ice cream farm, Gatesheath, Platt’s Lane and beyond, as they needed more miles anyway for their 100! So those three turned off, half a mile back. Again the generosity of CB No1 has no bounds- Lol.
What happened to Nick is unknown ( however, he was on home territory, so I wasn’t concerned about him getting home- Lol) I assumed he turned right with the others, for a longer route home. Meanwhile, we 3 carried on into Tattenhall and no sooner said did the ‘Mugger’ pounce, but this time I was waiting, thanks to the help from Nick on the previous 5 miles or so, which meant I had some legs left. I chased the ‘Mugger’ down and sat on his wheel into Alison’s (job done- Lol) . Unfortunately this meant we had dropped Kev, which was water off a ducks back to the ‘Mugger’ of course, but not me, so I apologise Kev (nice man) but I had to get him- Lol, Lol.
I left them both at Alison’s after Alan informed me he had 41 miles with an AS of 15.4 mph, which was surprising considering the heat, but it was pretty flat and low winds, although Nicks contribution probably made the difference. I got home with 46 miles & AS of 15.6 mph, as I used the last of my legs- Ouch!- Lol.
What
a great day with fabulous company and some great banter- Lol. There was so much
ammunition on this ride that I struggled to keep this story as short as it is-
Lol.
At
the time of writing, I discovered Shane & Steve did complete their 100miles
( madness, but well done). And credit to Chris who I think did 75 miles. No
doubt, he would have liked to carry on with Shane & Steve, but I know he
had a night shift to do.
Well
done guy’s, all round, even Allan- Lol, A cracking day, especially the
Solero’s- Lol.
Till
next time chaps,
‘The
Wind Whisperer’ & sometimes story teller.
Disclaimer: all content was base on a true
story, the characters and names have all been taken from fictional
scenarios-Lol, Lol.
No comments:
Post a Comment