I had notified all that I was turning up to the venue, but would be returning home as that would be a sizeable ride for me. So I would not therefore lead the Mod+ group. However, things never turn out as expected, which that very word, can you believe, has just reminded me of a Face Time call. Just a couple of hours ago, from my son, who informed me I will become a Grandad in May 27th -OMG - Lol.
Anyway, back to the ride I shouldn’t have
lead but sort of did, as several individuals decided they would follow me
anyway and then find their own way-Lol.
This was because my route was
virtually passing ‘Jack’s abode (Nick BTW-if you didn’t read last week’s
blog-Lol). And Tattenhall was on a perfect circular route back to Chester,
which suited tt (Teflon Toby) and RR (Rapha Ray). All 3 had also ridden to The Gallery.
And so it was that I did end up leading an unexpected mini group - Lol.
There was a large CER contingent in The
Gallery, the likes of which I didn’t fully realise until I got outside for our
sharp getaway, once we had sorted who had chained bikes to who-Lol. This made
me realise just how many were in the noisy cafe (all us of course). I counted
20 bikes and I don’t think there were any cycling strangers in the cafe.
Noteable absentees, were DH and Steve
T + the Chatter Box (Steve Hu). “he was there”, I hear you say. Well he was, but
in civvies. He doesn’t ride the day after giving blood. However, he couldn’t
miss the opportunity to bend as many ears as possible. He was able to chat
every last man and woman out of the door -Lol.
As my group ride would not have a
lunch stop and therefore no scintillating conversation to report on, I thought
I would tell you of yet another cracking revelation that passed through my ears
at The Gallery. Last time it was Clive, meeting the one and only Putin! This
time it was from tt,after ‘the very nice man’ (Kev) asked me about using the
Eurostar to Amsterdam.
This prompted tt to recall a trip to Amsterdam with a bunch of
mates where they spent most of their time in ‘the cafe’s (weed houses-Lol).
After a few such cafes, they left as a group and suddenly got mugged. However, full
of weed bravado, they pointed out that the mugger didn’t have a chance against
7 men, despite the knife he was wielding and proceeded to offer the mugger a
few Euro’s each and told him to politely go away-Lol. They then moved on to
another cafe etc and can you believe they got mugged again, but by the same
guy. Suffice it to say, you know the rest (twice in one day by the same guy
-Lol,Lol)
My reason for not wanting to lead a
ride was partly predicated on the fact I had 22 miles to ride there, so simply
returning home would be enough for me, which meant riding back to The Gallery
was impractical. There was also a forecast for big rain coming from the south west
by 1pm and everybody, by now, must know of my phobia of the wet stuff, even
more so than wind-Lol. I guess after 25 years of cycling through desert land,
one would get averse to a few drops of the wet stuff-Lol.
Keen to get going in anticipation of
the rain, we set off uphill, to the top, avoiding that horrible gravelly short
cut. We were soon facing the full headwind but hurtling downhill towards
Kinerton and Doddleston, so not an issue. From here it was a bit more workman-like,
with all of us sharing the load on the front as we pushed into the wind.
We were soon through Lavister and
heading up Marford Hill, protected from the wind, when ‘jack’ asked to stop at
Alf Jones for 2 minutes. 20+ minutes later with me moaning; “if I
get wet because you were looking at cycling shoes I will not be happy”, we
finally got going again, but ‘Jack’ got what he wanted-Lol.
Still heading into the wind, we got
through Borras and on to Francis Lane, where we finally get a tailwind and
again tank it downhill in to Holt. We crossed the Holt bridge and everybody
decided to carry on to Wetreins Lane, tt & RR choosing not to take the
shorter route back to Chester via Aldford. After reaching the top of
Wetreins Lane, Nick and RR decided they would stop for lunch at Manorwood Cafe,
while tt and I continued to Tattenhall via Carden Park, deciding to actually
ride through via the back entrance, eventually coming out on the other side of
Manorwood cafe at Coddington.
After taking Dog Lane up to the business park we crossed the A41
and descended into Tattenhall, At the bottom I said goodbye to tt, as he went
right at the junction and I turned into Frog Lane. I got home with exactly 50
miles on the clock and avoided the rain by 30 minutes, which meant RR and tt
may well of caught a touch of the wet stuff, but in the words of ‘Jack’ I’m all
right- Lol.
A surprisingly good day, with an
unbelievable 15 degrees when I left home at 8:15 and no rain. Some great company
as usual, all pulling together, even ‘Jack’ -Lol.
Till next time
Neil aka TWW
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