Club Run Reports

We were beaten by the weather.

About twenty innocent souls met in Ware not knowing what lay in front of them. Had they known, they'd have probably gone back to bed.  Everything started brightly with (for the mediums) a fairly quick, brisk journey northwards to Royston.  Lost two to a puncture, one needed to get back quickly (lucky him) and one was struggling with inner demons, illness and fatigue.  Then it was time to return - into the wind, rain and cold.  Not nice.  Meanwhile the easy was a much jollier affair with no problems reported.

Looking at the facebook page about people racing, doing sportives etc yesterday showed a common link - the cold.  And so it was with the clubriders.  Not a good day for riding enjoyment.  The medium riders had a conflab and decided that Hinxworth was too near the arctic circle to be viable so they did a shortened route.  The easy Hardriders meekly followed the Bob out to Hatfield Heath and managed to arrive before the main throng.  Tea and cake was welcome and at least on the return the wind had the dubious pleasure of chasing them back.  Fortunately there were no mechanical problems, espec

Probably due to the Redbridge visit there were not as many riders out today.  However we still managed over twenty.  A dozen took part in Mike's easy, whilst Barry decided to lead out eight others on a tortuous and circuitous tour of the home counties just to get to Wandon End, losing one and gaining two more riders for the more straightforward return.  Started off cold, warmed up, and then the sun vanished and a cold wind appeared as if from nowhere!  And of course it was a headwind.

Lots of bods at Hertford, splitting roughly equally between the medium & easy with a couple vacillating between the fast or watching the Hardriders.  The easy took its usual way to Whitwell, whilst Valdis took eleven to Redbourn.  Unfortunately he only promised to get us there........!  It was a very cold day with flurries of snow but apart from the odd puncture it was always a question of trying to keep warm - a feat in itself.

Well we've finally cracked 30!!!  With fifteen out on the easy, twelve on the medium and five on the fast - you do the maths.  All found various parts of their course very icy, with the meds having to dismount in order to walk up the hill at Much Hadham.  Considering the numbers, there were only a couple of punctures although the early Sunday cold weather did account for more than just a few bruises.  The day soon warmed up, providing a stark contrast to recent weeks.

It's hard sometimes to wax lyrical about the club runs when the weather is so foul.  Yet sixteen still got out in the rain and made an effort.  Eight took part in the easy, yet I expect that one or two had wished they were on the slightly faster and therefore potentially warmer mediumer.  The five meds decided at the outset that, with snow promised later (it didn't materialise), they would forsake Hinxworth for a briefer journey that took in the wonders of Buntingford.  Whilst at the cafe the three fasties shot by, paused to ridicule our calorific intake before taking off again in self-righ

I got very upset on the medium ride today when I was told that on the return we would be facing the wind.  I thought that we'd been struggling against it on the outward bound.  Apart from the strong wind, and the cold, it wasn't a bad day for riding and again the numbers out proved this.  Over twenty, split between the three groups, saw action this morning with both Alex & Steve making the break from the fast peloton to join the mediums at Clavering Lakes.  No mechanicals on the medium, but a few Val related problems on the easy - or in his case, the not-so-easy!

The majority of today's cyclists opted for the easy ride led by Cap'n Bobster.  With some of the lanes still coated with a layer of ice and many with vast lakes on them, it was never going to get above a crawl - which suited most of those taking part.  We also came across a group that I had managed to mislead in the weekly email.  Hope to meet them again if I can get the basic information correctly to them!  With only four starting the medium (although they found two more en route) and six more shaking out the cobwebs on the fast there were plenty of us on the Hertfordshire roads.

Weather 1 - 0 Clubrun

With temperatures ranging from about 0-2 degrees it was never expected to be a day for mass participation.  Yet 25 were out.  Seems that not long ago 6 would have been a good turnout!  The Easies only suffered one puncture between them, which was caused by someone not adequately checking for any flints in his tyres, before starting!!!  The Fasties worked together in order to chain-gang their way around Hertfordshire.  The Inbetweeners proved themselves "Jack of All Trades" and "Master of None".  Off road, on road, narrow lanes, hills and after the sanctuary of the Cafe they blasted back sou

Interesting day.  There were lots on the fastie.  Many on the med, with one being rescued by an Essex White Van Man.  And the easies managed to see off mountains of flour, butter & sugar at their cake stop.  Those mediums who ride on Gatorskins all punctured, but John's Banana went one further and snapped.  (Was going to say Banana Split but some other comedian has got in first - see facebook).  In Essex, John had nowhere to go and no way of getting anywhere anyway, when a white-van man stopped, assessed the situation and took John and his wreck home.  Note to Holland - guess what's com

Last ride of the year and we found out that JohnF doesn't sink - or float.  Much to our amusement he negotiated a lake on his bike.  With the cold water up around his nethers the rest of us decided that we weren't going to save him, and we all turned around and retraced our route leaving our leader to his own devices.  Fortunately we soon all met up again although more by accident than design.  Most of us were complaining about cold feet and hands.  Nobody asked John!  We also found out that JohnM has a remarkable similarity to a yoyo and don't rely on Karl to keep the group together!  It i

After Saturday's torrential rain most feared the worst for Sunday morning.  Fortunately we were wrong, and a clear cool day dawned.  There was plenty of surface water and the engine in John's Banana boat conked out in the middle of one of the many new lakes.  However his bike did not sink (too much) and when he fished himself out of the gigantic puddle all that was then required was to turn the machine over and let the water out.  With over twenty riders out there were several punctures, mostly on the easy pacer which led to their late return.

At the last minute(ish) Bruno volunteered to take Danny's place as the easyrider leader and expertly marshalled his forces for an incident-free trip to Buntingford.  John led out to Clavering Lakes and the meds only suffered three punctures between them but also had an interesting meeting with a herd of stampeding deer.  Fortunately the riders had stopped in anticipation that the herd would run across the road without thinking about the Highway Code!  With the fast\med riders included, there were over 25 out on a cool and sunny winter's morning.  It was the torrential rains of the previous

Was it windy, or what?  Still, this did not stop over twenty Herts Wheelers from taking to the roads over the three tours.  The easies struggled into the wind on the outward bound, which made it seem more arduous than it should have been.  A different return meant that the advertised 35 miler was actually nearer 40.  James proved that he hadn't learned from his previous puncture experience - still not carrying a spare inner tube, whilst Danny H managed to hit the deck whilst virtually stationary.  Memo to Les Hoodettes - he does bounce, but probably needs some TLC.  The meds had a largely i

Despite some cretin sending out the weekly email showing a 09:30 start (ok, a correction to 09:15 was sent later), eleven riders did turn up for a very cold early morning tour of the lanes.  Unfortunately some of those lanes were pretty icy, and therefore interesting to ride on!  Fortunately there were no accidents or mishaps and all got back safely.

A very wet and windy Saturday night obviously put off many from turning up.  However over twenty did check the forecast and found that it was actually correct.  There was no rain.  The sun shone.  Yet it was still very windy and there was a lot of surface water.  This meant that the outward-bound journeys were quite quick ie wind assisted.  By the time all returned, the headwind had lost much of its strength.  

A cool, crisp, bright morning saw most riders plump for the fast\medium departure - probably the first time that the numbers on this exceeded the slower tours.  This was partly due to some indecision regarding the Pace Judging Comp.  However a total of about twentyfive in total were out and most got around without incident!

Again there was a massed start in Hertford as over 30 riders jostled for position in the peloton.  Right from the outset there was a breakaway as 13 made a move and headed Whitwellwards in order to complete the freewheeling competition and then throw themselves at the tea and cake in Emily's.  The remainder took in a more sedate trip to the goodies at the Coffee Shop in Buntingford.