Club Run Reports

Category 3 ride led by Pete Kelleway

Today we were supposed to be going to Vanstones. Because of some (stupid) half marathon we changed to go to Stapleford Airfield. (Note from Editor - half marathon was a great experience!). Special attention was paid to the route to avoid any known flood areas or roads that were rivers.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Don't mess with the weather! If the forecast is for a drenching just accept your fate.

Category 6 ride led by Carolyn Kelleway

So it was a beautiful but cold sunny day at last. As conscientious leader, I delegated Pete to go to the start to collect everyone and I would meet at the top of High Cross to save me a few miles for my knee.

There were 11 riders ready to go including 4 in shorts! (they were laughing later when we were all sweating), plus two category 3 traitors. Only 3 riders the week before. Not saying anything, but might be to do with ride leader popularity! 

Category 3 ride led by Peter Kelleway

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

Today was the day, when I realised the cat 6 is like herding cats! 

The weather gods have been shining on us this month. The forecast for today was 25°C, for a trip to Shenley, via the hilly route. 

Hertford was the start location. I rocked up at twenty to nine, but not a soul in sight. Then it happened again, as the whole club turned up. OK, OK, a bit of an exaggeration - fourteen at the start and one to join en route. Welcome to Stewart A, on his first ride. 

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

It was a Much Hadham meet, so I only expected six or seven riders. I met Leigh in Hoddesdon at half seven as it was ride off at nine. Leigh asked why so early, then he remembered there was an amazing place that served the best cup of coffee in the world. So, we set off and found the “place” and had coffee with an amazing apricot cake. A few minutes to spare, we got to the meet point at 8.30, only half an hour to wait! 

Category 3 ride led by Peter Kelleway

Today we were going to Royston. north to south, a southerly headwind, and a few hills thrown in for good measure. Oh such joy. As Denis remarked before I posted the route ‘ woohoo…a short one!’. Oh well…….!!

Denis arrived just after me at Allenbury's. We must have been well camouflaged because Ian arrived and rode past us claiming not to have seen us. To be fair Peter was already there and neither Denis or I had seen him.

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Four assembled at Ware splendidly arrayed in the latest version Wheelers' kit. The weather prospects suggested that getting back before two o’clock would be a good plan. Consequently we decided to shorten the ride, substituting Thaxted for Finchingfield - a pity really as I have looked up a lot of stuff about the Finchingfield bridge controversy, which I am sure my companions would have found riveting.

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

The forecast today looked like it was going to be the hottest day of the year. 

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

The night before the ride, Carolyn predicted 15 riders would turn up. I didn’t think it would be that many. 

Today was going to be a hot one. The forecast was 25°C. It was a tad chilly on the ride up to Allenbury's, but soon warmed up. 

Category 3 ride led by Ian Bembridge

A chilly morning with a breeze from the west was the order of the day as five riders set off for Saffron Walden from Ware.As we rode along Kettle Green Road, the cat 2s spotted the legendary blue Wheelers shirts, and gave us a friendly wave as they headed in the opposite direction.

Category 3 ride led by Ian Bembridge

The perfect day for cycling, being warm but not too hot as we headed for the station café in Rayne. Alex seemed particularly pleased that we managed to get to Matching Green without going through Sawbridgeworth.

The south westerly wind gave us a hand in getting to Rayne at an average speed of 16.1 mph. 

Combined category 1 and 2 ride led by Laura O’Shea

Given lower than usual numbers due to holidays, we decided to merge the Cat 1 & 2 today for a trip to the Snug, High Easter.

It was a well paced group ride, averaging 19mph over 60ish miles with 650m elevation.

The Snug was very popular today, with cyclists and wasps, who tried and failed to steal our tasty treats (the wasps that is!).

Today's riders were Sam, Stu, Emily and Kevin and Laura. 

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

“Haway the lads - Toon Army, Toon Army“ was the cry I heard at 7:30, as I met Arron in Waltham Cross. He was excited to say the least with his new “skinny” tyres. On route, we were meeting up with Davina and then Leigh. Leigh and I were somewhat hanging as we’d been out the day before with Mike Spicer, enjoying a few beers, to say the least. 

We picked up Davina and then got to Hoddesdon, where we had a caffeine drink. Davina decided on a coffee. We weren’t even at the start and needed energy. 

Category 2 ride led by Laura O’Shea

Fantastic turn out for the category 2 ride today, with 9 riders setting off (and more importantly finishing!) on a trip to the Raynes Booking Hall.

It was a well paced group ride in windy conditions, averaging 18 mph over 70 miles with 700 metres of elevation. No punctures this week, just bird poop on a sandwich...

The group kept together well in the wind. 

Riders included Lib, Tom, Kev, Brian, Oliver, Nathan B, Peter H and Danny from Wales.

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

The forecast was warm but windy, with a chance of rain. Only six riders showed up. Nice to meet Oliver Lea, lovely guy and definitely not a cat 6 rider. He will climb up through the cats pretty swiftly. 

One of Carolyn’s routes today,  which takes us through some lovely lanes. All I have to do is lead it. Simples eh! Off we go through the Hertford back roads, avoiding Port Hill in true Carolyn style. 

Category 4 ride led by Pete Kelleway

Despite a last minute concern that we might be starting at 8.30, we assembled at 9.30 at Allenburys. It was great to have Peter Bloomfield and Amanda ride with us. The chat before was ‘are we going to get wet’ ; three of us obviously thought so as we had fitted mudguards. Fortunately we were wrong.

Category 4 ride led by Ian Bembridge

We had a decent turn out with seven riders assembled for the ride to Hot Numbers Roastery in Shepreth. The outbound route was fairly direct and uneventful, and with the wind behind we managed an average of over 16 mph.

The problem with this café is that it gets very busy, and when we arrived to discover there was an hour’s wait for hot food, we de-camped to the nearby Phillimore Garden Centre with a secluded outdoor area hemmed in by endless plant pots.

Category 6 ride led by Tony Dos Santos

Hot hot hot! I don’t know if you know whether this ride had a theme, but it was hot. 
I met with Leigh at a roundabout by half eight, where he had a puncture. All mended in seconds and we rode to Ware and got there For quarter to. Alex was surprised - “you’re normally here earlier having a smoke”! 
Six riders in total were raring to go and off we went at nine.