Past Ride
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Sat Feb 1st 2003
| Regular Saturday Ride from Grove |
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Leader:Laurent Chambard |
Start Time:1:00 pm |
Start Location:GMS |
Description:Lights recommended |
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Riders:Alan Jones (dec)Amanda Seddon Derek Boutle Des Higgs Diane Stuckey Edith Hipwell Eve Thornton Gary Woodhead Glen Paterson (deceased) Jan McCabe Jon Seddon Kevin Fairs Laurent Chambard Neil Warner Rex Belcher Richard Divall Richard Page Robert Wyatt Roger Payn Stephen Quartermain Steve Swanton Teresa Belcher Riders = 22 Report:I was quite pleased with seeing the by now usual large crowd of riders who turned up for what was my farewell ride with the Section. We gently moved on through the lanes of the Vale, this large bunch of cyclists imposing to a certain extend their own pace to the rest of the traffic.We did not go far before the first puncture struck. Jan had already suffered from two other punctures on our last ride, so she couldn't possibly lose the lead in the Flat Tubes Championship and had to do something about it. Some of us waited for her to be able to ride again, but most of the group just kept going! It looks like time to remind our members the golden CTC rule that nobody is ever left behind... Mind you, with the leader staying with Jan other riders came rather quickly to a halt, at the first crossing in fact. We then caught up everybody (I think!) and proceeded further to Uffington, where Richard had to stop for identifying why he couldn't change gears. It quickly appeared that his peculiar sort of gear change would need the kind of treatment which can not easily be implemented by the roadside; so Richard preferred to leave us there and come back home, even though I kept telling him that this being a flat ride he could do it on his current gearing. The rest of the ride to Faringdon was relatively uneventful, if you ignore of course this dark cloud full of hail which just opened over our heads as we climbed towards Little Coxley. This was just what we needed for opening the appetite (not sure everyone agreed...), so tea and cakes at the Portwell Hotel were properly swallowed, and refills generously offered by the landlord prompty disappeared as well. With about an hour to go before sunset we climbed again on our bikes and headed towards Littleworth. What a great idea I had to go through this lane at that very moment... A tractor was just ahead of us, cutting hedges. This rapidly translated into... three punctures in about 300 yards (Steve S., Jan again, and yours truly). By the time we had all reached the A420 night was about there, so sensibly smaller groups of riders decided to make their way back on their own without waiting the last victims of punctures. The rearguard then decided that we had been hanging around for long enough, and the pace was raised on the way back to Grove. As if Jan did not have had enough of troubles, she rode through an enormous pothole shortly before Grove, and badly bruised her hand! The hand was still very dark blue some days after, even though Jan pretended pain had gone for a long time (we all know you are a toughie Jan, no need to try convincing us of it!). | ||
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