Yet another glorious day, in fact the threat of temperatures reaching 28+ degrees meant that I had a pan flat route in mind. There were approximately a dozen members including DM in his civvies. Good to see DP, although on his own. And a new face to me at least, Anthony, who then joined my group on his e-bike, which I wasn’t aware of, however, more on that later.
The rest of my group became Ken (which
was ominous, as he’s a fast boy) Clive, CB1/KK (Alan),TT2 ( Teflon Toby) and me
of course. No
Thief this week; I believe he had some paintwork he was watching dry and CB2 must have been
supervising, as he was also absent-Lol.
I believe CB2 was in fact resting up
for his 100 miler in Kent at the weekend. Everybody was sat outside, which was
an indication of what a lovely day was expected. It must have been the sun as
there was a lot of talk about holidays-Lol. I believe there was just 2 groups,
with DH leading the rest of the club into the Wirral.
Anyway, we got off to a sharp start,
again gaining a couple of late additions I didn’t expect, which to be fair
added to the ride overall.
I had a last-minute change of bike,
before I left Tattenhall, due to the overnight rain, which, for our more north
westerly members, was torrential apparently and supported my reasons for
switching to the Giant (complete with mudguards) which ultimately was not
necessary-Lol. This also meant I was without my new saddle and therefore felt wary of
my original 60 mile ride plan hence, not only the bike change, but also a last
minute change on the group ride plan, in order to shave off a dozen miles,
which was agreeable to the others anyway.
So it was that we set off along the
Greenway to Blacon, cutting out the more interesting northern loop via Backford
which I had intended. However, my lunch destination was still the same -
Commonwood Fisheries. This was an attempt to catch them open this time- Lol.
Immediately, CB1 was up to his antics,
dashing off up the Greenway ramp, for whatever. We came across him just idling,
a mile later and he then promptly took up his usual rear station position, more
on that later :-( With that early regroup, somebody then remarked that maybe we would
pass lastminute.com going the other way, as he was a notable absentee at Meadow
Lea - Lol.
It only seemed like 5 minutes before
we turned off at Blacon, heading downhill,
dodging the speed ramps and then a swift negotiation of Sealand Rd ( a
necessary evil, although there is a perfectly good cycleway that we hardly ever
use for some reason. No doubt my fault- Lol) This lead to the inevitable regroup
and a chit chat as we cruised down to Saltney Ferry bridge.
We crossed the river Dee and
immediately felt the fairly stiff south easterly winds, which would become a
headwind/ cross head, all the way to Commonwood Fisheries. It wasn’t long before
that really hit us in the face, as we skirt the edge of the Saltney estate,
along Sandy Lane. I pushed hard on the pedals to counter the headwind and after
a few hundred metres, my trusty Derny (TT2) came to the front and took the
wind, which meant our pace was maintained. After a couple of miles, somewhere
along Lache Lane, Ken took over the front and continued our pace and in fact
increased it to a lovely almost tempo pace. However, although nice for us, this
pushed Anthony to the limit on his e-bike of course ( in case anybody doesn’t
know, there is no motor assistance above 15mph, unless you have one of those
unrestricted ones you see the ‘hoodies’ riding- Lol.)
After reining in Ken, we regroup again
and got into a discussion about our lunch venue, which meant Ken decided he
would turn off in Rossett.
Somewhere between Doddleston and Pulford,
I decided that a call of nature was required and accelerated past Ken,
informing him that I was going to stop up the road and 100 metres or so
later I made the signal for slowing down and shouted “stopping” Then a few
seconds later I heard a strange sound and looked
over my shoulder only to see CB1 on the ground and Clive looking perplexed to
say the least. Unfortunately, CB1 failed to pick up on all the signals and promptly
ran into Clive.
Fortunately, there was no serious damage to him, bar a minor elbow graze.
Clive’s rear wheel suffered a bit of a kink I believe.I know that sometimes I
can be a little lacking in the notifications for turns and stops, but on this
occasion I was not in the wrong. I know Clive is hard of
hearing, but running into him, just to let him know everybody was stopping was
a bit extreme I thought- Lol. Clearly CB1 is helpless without his spiritual
brother CB2, which explains why CB2 always rides in front of CB1, as a guide of
course -got it now-Lol.
Anyway, nothing serious in the end,
although I recommended to Clive to not trying to straighten the wheel himself,
as that is a bit of a dark art, I have successfully done just about every job
there is on a bike, including carbon frame repairs- Lol, but not wheel
straightening.
We got going again and very quickly we
were through Dodleston, Pulford and Rossett. Half way up Marford Hill (Hoseley
Lane) at another regroup, I realised Clive had also left with Ken, just before
the climb. Clearly Clive was just as scared of Marford hill as Ken was - Lol.
We were only a couple of miles or so
from our lunch stop when I suggested going the long way around to add another
mile on. This was because I had only 17 miles completed on my Garmin. However,
I Had forgotten that I had rebooted it after a couple or so miles into our
ride-Oops. So we didn’t need the extra mile- Lol.
We arrived right on 12 and the place looked really cool. They have now added a big outside area covered by a massive circus-like tent awning as an extension to the outside covered pizza bar area. Anyway, just as we were all sucking in the atmosphere and looking at the menu, the barman came back to tell us the breakfast menu was finished and the lunch menu started at 1pm. After a pregnant pause, I think I came back with “there’s no food at all till 1pm?”, which was confirmed, with the caveat that the chef was obviously changing menu’s and needs the time to prepare —what! Who’s ever heard of a place that doesn’t have food at lunch time. We were all flabbergasted, but clearly fisherman must have strange habits -Lol.
Back on our bikes for a short 2 miles
to Holt and Maggies, after a very brief discussion.
Anthony came up to my shoulder, just
as we turned right into the full on slight uphill headwind. I encouraged
him to use that electric power to pull us all into Holt, which he admirably
did. Probably
the best mile+ into wind I have ever enjoyed-Lol.
I remarked, as we pulled into Maggies,
that I reckoned it was the first time an e-bike member had ridden on the front
when really needed, although I don’t include the likes of Clive and similar on
racing e-bikes. Anthony was riding a much heavier 20+kilo bike. He kept it on
the 15mph limit of the bike.
We quickly made our orders, although some people had trouble. Surprisingly TT2 asked me where I had got my crisps from, to which I pointed to the rather large crisp rack right beside him- Lol. And, as if infectious, CB1 then asked the waitress if there was Coke or similar, to which she pointed to the even larger fridge with rows of red Coke tins lined across the top shelf-Lol. I began to wonder if the ride had been too stressful for some in my group, although I could forgive CB1 after his Flying Bombalini acrobatics, just a few miles earlier, but the prof aka Teflon Toby- well I never- Lol.
Lunch conversation was well varied notwithstanding the discussions on how Alan managed to run into Clive. the rest of lunch was as usual educational, literally -Lol. TT2 enlightened us as to the restrictive difficulties he has marking GCSE papers, as he had hundreds to mark over the weekend. We also learned that in Bhutan the Government declares ‘happy days’, occasionally, by way of a public holiday for the whole country, if they think the population needs it, due to poor morale or the likes -Lol. They declare a public holiday for archery practice, as it is their national sport. TT2 never fails to provide - who knew-Lol.
After a brief discussion about who
needed to get back to Meadow Lea or not, it was decided we would all continue en
route up to Bruera and then everybody continued to follow me home toward
Tattenhall or at least until Newtons Lane, where they all turned left and head
off past the new Cambers store, who have also re-opened Old Ma’s cafe as their
own. TT2 and CB1 were going to lead Anthony back to Meadow Lea en route to Chester,
although CB1 was parked up near Meadow Lea anyway.
I got home just 4 miles later with 47
miles on the clock with an AS of 15.2mph thanks to some spirited front riding
by everybody - not CB 1 of course, as he doesn’t do that -Lol.
What I thought was going to be a
difficult ride, due to another saddle change, turned out surprisingly
comfortable for me, probably due to the work done by others that gave me plenty
of respite from the front - cheers guys. My posterior felt all
the better for it-Lol. Suffice it to say, my expensive special saddle is now up
for sale- Lol.
Great day out again, with lovely
weather and good company, only marred by CB1’s contact with the tarmac. Hope
you didn’t discover other sore spots on returning home, as is often the case.
Till next time gents
Neil.
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