I
think there were a dozen of us at Alison’s today, which quickly became 2 groups. Steve T lead the Mod’s and I
had the Mod+ group.
DH
was not there as he had a hip replacement 2 weeks a go, which I think is a weak
excuse- Lol.
Fiona
& Elwyn were in Oz and Shane aka ‘the thief’ was mysteriously absent.
Clearly he didn’t want to be embarrased by any revelations, not that I would ever have mentioned anything
about our ride last week- what happens on the bike stays on the bike -
Lol.
However,
just as our cuppa’s arrived, the ‘Chatterbox’ suddenly burst out with “I heard
Shane had some pedalling issues last week”, which I had to qualify. “Was that
the day he got lost with you in Llandegla or when he was riding with me?” -
Lol.
Sheepishly
the Chatterbox brushed over getting lost and forced the issue of Shane’s pedal
problems, so of course I have to include it in the blog, now the cat is out of
the bag-Lol.
Shane
joined me as I rode past his place on a ride to the Two Doves cafe. After 5
miles I stopped to water a tree, but as I remounted Shane was removing his
rubber cleat covers, which I thought was strange, asking why he bothered to put
them on, just for a pee stop.
Almost
whisper like, he revealed that he’d forgotten to remove them.
I
still can’t believe he could ride 5 miles from his house and not realise he
hadn’t removed them. Only as we slowed down did he think something
wasn’t quite right with his pedals- Lol,Lol.
Just
shows you how easy it was for him sat on my wheel, obviously not pedalling at
all - Lol.
Anyway,
back to the ride. My group became Toby, Nick, the ‘chuckle brothers’ and Chris,
who again arrived just in time. And then proceeded to delay us by adjusting his
derailure.
I
had a pan flat route planned, in order to introduce everybody to a new cafe,
with fab prices -new to the group, not the cafe that is.
We
eventually rolled out on the tail of the other group, who went left as we went
right. An immediate left turn saw us straight onto the tail wind heading out
for a crossing of the A41 onto Platts Ln and Bruera beyond, which meant a few
miles of gorgeously smooth tarmac as Nick remarked, when he pulled along side
me and began to tap it along.
Once
passed Aldford, it was time to face the light headwind all the way to Holt. However,
Rossett Rd was again a lovely 3 mile tailwind. No sooner said than done, we
were whipping through Lavister and past F& E’s gaff.
Only
a few hundred mtrs later and just after the Grosvenor pub, we turn left to
Dodleston.
We
were into our stride now, running with the wind, in fact, running a bit too
well for some, as I later found out from CB1.
After
a small meander around the suburbs of Chester, we got on the Dee towpath to
Saltney Ferry bridge ( site of our team pic below).
This
might have been where the first wheel issue occurred, but only a brief hiccup,
which would wait until our lunch stop.
Soon
through Blacon, where Chris pointed out his abode and I gave the group a quick
update, pre-empting the Chuckle Brother queries about lunch- Lol.
In
Saughall I shortcut my usual route, which normally takes me over the M56 on a
couple of lovely lanes. Instead we were stopping short of Dunkirk ( not the
infamous coastline of France-Lol) by way of Coalpit Ln and Grove Rd.
Shortly
after this we had our second wheel issue and this time it was Chris. He
discovered his rear free hub was breaking up and in fact missing a chunk of
metal. What do you expect when you pay £50 for a bike- Lol.
However,
he was adamant it would get him home and we cracked on, with only a mile to go
to our lunch venue.
Inexplicably
I managed to miss our turning to the Hospice cafe.
I
suspected sabotage, as it couldn’t possibly be my fault- Lol.
5
minutes later we were sitting down in the warmest cafe in the county( great
winter venue, as it is always cooking in there) apart from those who were
checking over their wheels, although it didn’t stop the chatterbox getting to
the front of the queue, his wheel could wait until we left- Lol.
With
the chatterbox strangely quiet, conversation seemed to revolve around Chris’s
eatathon. He usually takes an egg roll out of his rucksack and today was no
different, just as we all tucked into breakfast baps and poach eggs etc. And
then Chris’s second course arrived (breakfast bap) followed by a third course
(sausage rolls with salad and coleslaw) When asked if he was on a mission, he
simply smiled -Lol.
Lunch
over and a slow get away, due to more wheel inspections. Both of the CB’s were
experiencing wheel noises that they couldn’t get to the bottom of.
We
eventually got going, once Chris decided to join us- Lol.
Our
return to Tattenhall was virtually due south, apart from the first mile or so
to Cheshire Oaks, via Pike Ln and a narrow little pathway that dropped us into
Little Stanney Ln. This virtually meant a 180 degree about turn, which now
meant we had a light cross headwind all the way back, which was made easy by
Nick stepping up and pulling us most of the way.
So
it wasn’t long before we were through Picton, Guilden Sutton and dropping off
Toby and Chris as we passed Meadow Lea cafe.
They
decided to head home along the Greenway.
After
a rolling goodbye we pushed on. Nick continued to do more than his fair share
on the front of the group. I had to keep pulling him back, like a jockey on
race horse- Lol. Just needed to check the pace slightly so we didn’t drop the
Chuckle Brothers.
CB1
had already mentioned to me that he was struggling.
Half
way down the canal road we past Keith going the other way, heading home toward
Runcorn. Clearly the mods had been on a shorter ride today.
We
arrived back at Alison’s at 2:30, just as George was driving out.
We
had completed 46 miles at an AS of 15.5MPH thanks to the pan flat route and
Nicks contribution to the overall effort.
Nick
carried on up the hill for Tilston and I head along Frog Ln of course. I got
home 10 minutes later with 50.1miles on the clock.
What
a cracking day, after unusually mild weather and sunshine. I saw 16 degrees on
my Garmin at one point.
As
usual the camaraderie was exceptional, everybody taking some stick at some
point, although Chris did better than most, which gave the CB’s a break-Lol.
NT
See route map and/or gpx file download
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