What a
cracking sunny day at Rose Farm, with approximately 15 members keen to ride and DM
in civvies. I believe 3 groups formed (2 Mod and 1 Mod+). I don’t believe
there was a fast group, despite a few fast boys being there. I think the
arrival of Ivan frightened them off-Lol. However, Nick was just there for
coffee and Clive fancied a spin with ST’s group (once he saw Ivan arrive -Lol).
There
was bike trouble before we even got started, with Keith visiting the bike shop
around the corner, in order to solve a slipping seat post. Notable absentees this week were; ‘the thief’, on his hols in Scotland
and TT2 ( Teflon Toby), which was particularly vexing, as I had carried a
book under
my top that he had loaned me. Fortunately, if you’re reading this Toby, DM
fancied reading it, so he has it now.
I
had a real wind whisperer’s route, due to the forecast for as much as 30 Kph of
wind by 1pm and it was already fairly stiff on the ride over, as F&E
can attest
to, after 21 miles of cross headwinds to get to RF, just 10 for me, but yes, I
did notice the SE wind- Lol.
My
group became RR (Rapha Ray, on his new steel stead, with wireless SRAM gears
and 32mm tyres) Chris (Lastminute.com), who was on time -Lol. And the CB’s of
course. Before we got going and just as I was grabbing my
helmet, I noticed a thin wallet on the floor, which on further investigating,
was a wad of credit cards belonging to our new member, who was just mounting
his bike, when I re-united him with said cards. A somewhat unusual way to
introduce myself to Anthony-Lol.
We
set off right out of RF and quickly covered the first few miles as we were
running with the wind, to the NW via Willington, Oscroft and Little Barrow, in
order to swing east and take advantage of the protected lanes through Manley
and Delamere forest. The lane past Manley Mere, which used to be a shocking
bumpy ride, has been resurfaced by the way. Despite most of the club being
frightened away from Delamere last week, due to the road closure, I chose to
lead my merry band through the crossroads at Hatchmere, as I had heard there
was an improvised pedestrian way. The road works are massive, which are going
to be there for some time, it would appear.
So, no
problem getting through as we progressed to Norley and my usual favourite
little uphill lane (Gallowsclough). It’s then only a mile
or so before a rapid descent into Cuddington and a right turn into Waste Ln,
where Chris and I got to practice our bunny hopping-Lol.
Waste Ln is
the entry point onto the Whitegate Way (WW), with several speed bumps. I
planned to ride WW all the way to Winsford - almost 7 miles of lovely woodland
track (disused railway track in fact) and on this occasion, directly into the
wind, but you would never have known it as it is shrouded in trees of course.
After
almost a month of virtually no rain and stiff winds, it was a perfect day for
it.
Roughly
4 miles later we reached the perfectly placed Station House cafe and stopped
for lunch.
We
parked up next to the recently established bike service station, which was a
stand of tools, including track pump, all nicely secured by cables (can’t trust
anybody these days-Lol)
This
gave us the opportunity to have a gander at RR’s new bike, which seemed very
light weight. I remarked that he must be enjoying the comfort of the steel
frame and more importantly the 32mm tubeless tyres, which he confirmed with a
smile.
Anyway
lunch came quickly and at a good price for a change (clearly makes a huge
difference when charity based, not sure in what way, but I think the staff are
volunteers at least). Lunch conversation was varied with
no major discussions about wars or AI- Lol, pretty much like an everyday coffee
morning really -I won’t say women’s coffee morning, but you know what the
‘chatter box’ can be like. And true to form, it took a while to get him going, then
he decided he needed the loo, after everybody had already been while waiting
for him-Lol.
We
eventually got going again and continued SE on the WW, only to be brought to a
halt, after a mile, by the bridge being out. Not
just because of a barrier for maintenance, but no actual road over the bridge.
There were just support beams, spanning the road below, which you could see (Dalesford
Ln / Whitegate Rd). This completely scuppered the ride plan.
After
consulting my Garmin, there was no alternative whatsoever. We couldn’t even get
down off the WW into the adjacent fields. No tracks remotely nearby either.
So, there was no choice but to back track to the cafe and take
the usual Clay Ln, when leaving the cafe. This meant we lost the final 4 to 5 mile
loop around the western suburbs of Winsford.
So, the
next 10 miles or so I winged it on a meander to Bunbury and beyond, in an
attempt to make up the mileage, which panned out fine in the end, as nobody
needed to get back to RF. So, in another change to the plan we simply carried
on toward Tattenhall via Beeston, as everybody either needed to get back to
Waverton or Chester.
We
eventually got going again and continued SE on the WW, only to be brought to a
halt, after a mile, by the bridge being out. Not
just because of a barrier for maintenance, but no actual road over the bridge.
There were just support beams, spanning the road below, which you could see (Dalesford
Ln / Whitegate Rd). This completely scuppered the ride plan.
After
consulting my Garmin, there was no alternative whatsoever. We couldn’t even get
down off the WW into the adjacent fields. No tracks remotely nearby either.
So, there was no choice but to back track to the cafe and take
the usual Clay Ln, when leaving the cafe. This meant we lost the final 4 to 5 mile
loop around the western suburbs of Winsford.
So, the
next 10 miles or so I winged it on a meander to Bunbury and beyond, in an
attempt to make up the mileage, which panned out fine in the end, as nobody
needed to get back to RF. So, in another change to the plan we simply carried
on toward Tattenhall via Beeston, as everybody either needed to get back to
Waverton or Chester.
After
a regroup at the right turn to the Ice Cream farm, just a couple of miles from
Tattenhall, somebody suggested that we should stop for one. I then suggested
that we pulled in to the drive-through and grab a deck chair outside, around
the mini lake, complete with fountain, which we duly did (see pic) .
After
telling the guys that one simply scans the QR code on the posts all around the lake
to order, they proceeded to find it not so simple- Lol. Steve
Hu decided to bin it and go inside and order, only to find he still had to
order from a screen -Lol. However, less than ten minutes
from ordering, our ice creams were delivered to us in a refrigerated golf cart-
perfect!
Quick
service suited KK aka CB1 aka Alan- Lol, as he needed to get back by a specific
time.
No
sooner was I beginning to enjoy my deckchair and the stunning chocolate ice
cream with stickie crunchie, when the boys all decided to race off with KK,
leaving me to enjoy the peace alone-Lol.
After
10 minutes I set off for home, just 3 miles away and got there with 53 miles on
the clock and an AV speed of 14.2 MPH, which was not so bad considering my very
slow 10 miles to RF in the first place. I figure the group probably averaged
14.5 MPH at least, despite the stop-start day.
Yet
another cracking day with CER. An uneventful day, bar the route being
scuppered-Lol. Great company and a novel finish to the ride, with more than a
few groans from everybody trying to pay for ice cream via an app-Lol, Lol.
Till
next time ladies!-Lol
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