Loughborough Wednesday Cyclists

Longer Ride Report by Alan Despite the absence of the three wise men (John, Derek and Howard) and the cast iron assurance of rain at mid-day, the turnout at Holt Drive was surprisingly large. Dave M, David, Trish, Rob, Divendra, Mick and Jones joined me on the odyssey to Twyford. Four bits of good news accompanied us on the trip. Ø    Nobody got a puncture Ø    There was almost no wind Ø    It was unseasonably warm Ø    It didn’t rain   I thought no one could match Mick for riding a pile of c**p each week but I must admit Dave M pushes him pretty close. I don’t think the latter’s bike has ever seen a cleaning cloth or been introduced to an oil can. Coming up Bridge Street in Barrow we had the first of the stoppages where his chain came off. Dave nonchalantly announced “it always does that on hills ... it’s best to avoid them”. Unfortunately for him, and us, I forgot what a hilly ride lay in front of us, and so the chain said farewell to the sprockets a couple of other times later. Stra

Longer Ride Report by Alan The only way I can convince my wife to get out of bed and join middle aged men and women on a bike ride, on a Wednesday, is to convince her of 3 things. The ride will be short, The weather outside is warm, There is no possibility of rain. On this latter point I put my faith in the hands of (giggly) Carol Kirkwood, the weather woman on BBC Breakfast, who stated categorically that today “would be dry with sunny spells”. Looking out of the window, and seeing darkening clouds building up, together with the rainfall radar showing big blue blobs moving west from Lincolnshire, I knew she was fibbing. No wonder her first husband left her. At 9.15am at Holt Drive there was just Rob, Wendy and me present and raring to go. At 9.28am the numbers had swollen to at least 30, (possibly more) with people pacing around impatiently waiting for the arrival of Holt Drive’s answer to a very slim, and better looking, version of Kim Jong Un. Eventually 8 others joined m