Club Runs Sunday 28th February 2016

Cat 3 run led by Lee A
Seventeen riders for the cat 3 to Dunmow and Fitch coffee house. As this was my first time leading a ride I did a bit of homework on the route and use garmin connect, well what a waste of time that was as we went straight on at Perry green to a mud track.  Managed to pick the route up again and headed to the coffee shop with no problems. Coffee and food was very nice although we did have to wait a while as there was so many of us. Back out for the return leg and into more wind towards Thaxted and then another unpassable road. We seem to split at this point as I hung back with the main group and we lost Sarah, Barry & John H. With the remaining heading Straight for Base we had a mechanical where Tim's rear cable snapped and I worked my magic with the help of Peter Bloomfields cable ties that he had left over from the curry night. We kept going and split into two groups towards the end and found out that Tim had another mechanical, Time for maintenance I think Tim lol.
All in all a fun ride with a good stop and company. Lee just needs to work on his mapping skills, until we meet again wheelers!
Cat 5 run led by Sarah W
Eight Cat 5ers were out to Buntingford.  In  not too windy, not too cold conditions we headed out through Much Hadham and up to S. & B. Pelhams, turning west through Anstey and Wyddial.  With a pleasing tail wind we scooted home via the A10 westerly route.  A very pleasant ride indeed.

Cat 6 run led by Danny H
Only five takers for today's cat 6 ride out to Hatfield Heath must be the lowest turnout in living memory. Was it something I've done?. Anyway, what we lacked in numbers we made up for in class. The quintuplet group headed out through Roydon, skirted around Harlow and then on through the lanes of the Matchings to our much needed cafe stop. As we were missing Mr Buckle today Chris took it upon himself to stand in for him taking the days mechanical with great dignity. Broken spoke removed he was able to continue with his ride and can now explain to Mrs W why he needs a new set of wheels. Every cloud, so they say.
The strong wind somehow seemed to be into our faces both going and coming home and after missing the last few weeks ( and being leader, ie in the front the whole ride ) by the time we were five miles from base I was struggling big time. My legs are still aching as I write this report. It was good to be back out again though. Pass the deep heat!!