The first club ride of 2026 or at least for the majority of the club, as there were 3 brave soles or should I say mad!-Lol, who did manage to ride on the first day of the year, while most of us were nursing a hangover-Did nobody tell them it was New Year’s Day - Lol, Lol.
Somebody, who shall remain nameless, but never stops chatting -Lol, talked me into turning up at Alison’s for a few ‘personal bests’; not only my shortest and flattest ride for years, but also my coldest ride of the year, in fact, my coldest for a couple of years-OMG! Alison’s is only 2 miles from my house, so I pitched up just in time to lead my group, although still before ‘last minute .com’-Lol.
I had plotted, what I can only term as a safe short route, due to all the recent snow and ice, which had almost all thawed, but some lanes in the area were still dodgy and hence, my simple route. The temperature for the day, as we later discovered, didn’t get above 1.7 degrees on my Garmin and at one point was only .9 degrees.
My group of
willing madman for the day were the CB’s of course, Toby and Shane.
The Brisk group were also setting off just as we were, leaving a few Mod riders still inside, leaderless. However, just as we were clipping in, DH appeared from behind a car to save the day.
Conscious of the
impending threat of a Met office amber warning snow storm around 1pm, we set
off on time and right out of Alison’s, into our biggest climb of the day-Lol.
We were heading toward Beeston and my favourite canal crossing past the ‘Shady’ pub. The lanes were much better than expected, although extremely wet in places, with a fair bit of run off. We were soon pedalling in the direction of Huxley and our intended canal road beyond, which dropped us into Waverton. We were basically riding an elliptical pan flat course back to Alison’s, with no intended lunch stop, which was another first for me.
Now through the road block on the A41 at Waverton, due to the traffic lights, we turn right to Saighton and then head right toward Huntington, specifically, the mini roundabout above the A55, where we turn left to Aldford, heading for Bruera. This was where the highlight of our simple but steady cruise around the local countryside became a bit of a dash, after CB2 decided to suddenly take off. This took Shane and I by surprise, as CB2 had warned me again about the pace of the ride, due to to much turkey over Xmas-Lol.
‘What’s he up to now’ was my comment to Shane, who without answering, simply stepped on the gas and set off after him, assisted by yours truly from behind, about 6” behind to be accurate-Lol. That took, pretty much, 2 miles to close him down, virtually all the way to Aldford bridge, where we turned left to Bruera. After a short stop for a few deep gasps, we then got going again at a more sedate pace, with the chatterbox surprisingly quiet-Lol.
We turned into Platts Lane and 2 miles later crossed the A41 again for a steady run toward Tattenhall, once we all regrouped after Shane dropped a water bottle. We then swung off left and past what was ‘Old Ma’s cafe, which is now open again, as part of ‘Cambers’, who have bought up the old farm and camping site. We rode past the ice cream farm and right back into Tattenhall. We could always see the weather front coming from Wales, for most of our ride, but it appeared to have stalled over the Welsh hills, which was good for Toby who was riding back to Chester.
All of us decided not to partake of anything at Alison’s, all agreeing that we didn’t fancy having to get back on the bike again afterwards. Mind you the CB’s had parked at Alison’s-Lol. I’m not sure if somebody had also commented that we hadn’t earned a lunch anyway, or was it a little voice in my head-Lol, with only 25 flat miles under our belts & AS of exactly 15 mph -Lol.
I said cheerio, after thanking my fellow lunatics, for a reasonably pleasant ride in the end, made better by the usual banter. For once I was able to blast it home, with energy still left in the legs, after our somewhat unusual club ride. I got home with 29.9 miles on the clock and still no sign of the promised snow storm. I also noticed that the total ascent was less than 200 Mtrs, which has to be the flattest ride I can remember- Flatter than a flat thing- Lol.
Till next time my
friends,
Neil T.
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