Wednesday 16th October 2024

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. Strava has recorded our ride at around 2000 feet of climbing. 

Last time we went to Holland’s Nursery in Twford (known as the “Welcome Cafe” on Google) was the height of summer over a year ago. On this autumn day we had to face lanes where farmers had decimated the hedgerows through cutting, many quiet lanes were a sea of mud and debris and the cafe on the hill had almost disappeared into a heavy mist.

Sitting down in Hollands for the refreshments was an interesting experience, bordering on the surreal. It started with Mick announcing to the staff that his name was “Tarzan” which obviously threw them a bit.   Someone had the audacity to serve Trish with a mug of tea rather than a china teapot and cup her status deserves. Everybody else got a cup. She was also expected to spread the butter on her teacake with her fingers. Every few minutes somebody’s name would be barked out as the latest order arrived. Mick asked for some hot water in his teapot to dilute the Sainbury’s "essentials range"  teabag they served him and he received a splash of warm water. Happily none of this disturbed the knitting circle camped in the corner resembling the hens in Nick Park’s animation film “Chicken Run”. I passed the phone over to an OAP to take a group photo but sadly he had never seen, or heard of, such a wondrous device and so sadly pressing a large white circle on the display to take a photo was beyond him, hence my lack of appearance in said trip photo.

Divendra, Dave M, Wendy, Mick, Trish, Rob and David

The journey back to Loughborough was less undulating. Things started to go wrong when we reached Syston. Dave M and I assumed the pack was following us down to the canal to reach Cossington. Sadly the double roundabout in the centre threw them and we lost all contact. I phoned Jones, who passed the phone on to Mick who announced that everyone else was at some obscure road junctions I had never heard of. I reattached myself to the group at Cossington having cycled through another forest of debris on the canal path. We finally reached Loughborough just after 2.00pm caused largely by the slow service in Hollands.

Personal stats: 45.6 miles, 4hrs 20 mins, Average speed 10.6 miles/hr, blood pressure ..... dangerously high.

Alan.