Firstly, I took the week off work - which is good in anybody's books - and secondly being off allowed me to be on the bike almost every day ( apart from Monday because it was raining). So cycling this week has been pretty damn good. However as the week has progressed it has been getting colder and colder and much windier. Each day a bit of summer clothing has been replaced with winter versions, until by Friday I was almost clad head to toe in my winter cycling gear.
I couldn't really commit to the North Cheshire Clarion Sunday ride so decided to captain a Saturday one for a change, so on a very frosty Saturday morning I rode up the A49 to the Swan to meet the group. This time sporting my balaclava (yes it was that cold). Now, The last time I did a Saturday ride there were at most 8 people riding. When I arrived there were nearly 30 and as Sarah started the pre-ride briefing more riders were entering the carpark. Fantastic.
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| Very Cold start |
There were some riders I had ridden before with, such as Gary and Adrian and then there were other riders who were embarking on their first ever Clarion ride.
So we divvied up the riders like some junior school football team, well not really divving more of a "coming together". People just wandered over to each other, shook hands, said hello and then....we were off.
Garmins beeped and we turned right out of the carpark then right again and headed North East towards Culcheth. As is per usual at the beginning of a club ride, the pace was pretty fast, hitting 20mph on some sections. However as everyone got into the rhythm of cycling and realised that this wasn't sustaintable we all started to slow to a more modest 15mph.
Crash
"Beep!" My Garmin indicated a right turn as we entered Culcheth. Then it crashed....was it right or left came a question.
After a reboot and we discovered it was actually a left...stupid GPS. Another long stretch of road over the M62 and then into Glazebrook. Then on a busy A57 before turning left for a climb up to the Warburton toll bridge. This generated a tail in the group so we regrouped just past the Toll booth.
Slow
The route then took us South out into the Lanes towards Broomedge and crossing a packed M56 before turning left and then following Peacock ln East then North towards Little Bollington.
It was clear from here that Andrea was having issues with the current pace. So we slowed down and slotted her into the Peloton. The speed increased and everything was going ok until we reached any sort of incline and then Andrea would drift back from the group...hmmm something wasn't right here.
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| Very small bridge |
Soon we joined the B5160 and then after a short while a left turn onto School Lane and our Cake stop at the Lavender barn.
Weighted
I don't think I had seen so many bikes outside of a bike shop before. But everywhere you turned you could see bikes. We entered the barn to find it packed with Clarion riders. It took nearly 40 minutes to get the cake and tea.
"The others only arrive after 12" said the lady who was attempting to organise her order tickets.
Steve arrived along with Paul who decided to splinter off to the Red house barn. This was probably a good idea.
Not good. It was simply take all of the orders and then work through them. Perhaps we should have rung them up first?
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| Rammed full |
Gary then picked up Andreas Camelback.
"What the hell have you got in there?" he asked.
She replied by opening up the bag and taking out two bikes locks and a puncture repair kit.
"No wonder you are having issues."
This answered the question as to why she was struggling so much. She was carrying almost another person on her back.
About Time
After about 40 minutes our cakes finally arrived and we ate them eagerly. We packed up and left soon after and attempted to get back into riding our bikes. The 50 or so minutes hadn't done me any good whatsoever and my legs felt heavy and also it was even colder than before. We got into a tight peoloton and grinded back to Winwick.
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| Worth the wait? |
The going back almost the same route back over the Warburton Toll bridge and then to Culcheth. Andrea was seriously lagging, extra weight, cold and an evil headwind all contributing to her fatigue.
We all arrived back at the carpark pretty relieved.
Great ride today and, thanks to a little extension on the way back, I hit 50 miles which puts my weekly ride mileage at 190 miles which ain't bad.
One thing that we could have done better though was to ring ahead to the barn. They were seriously understaffed and were not ready for 30 people. The service took ages because of that.
I won't be doing the NCC sunday ride due to a bath sealant replacement job I've been putting off. And anyway its far to wet and cold out there.
Here are my stats
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