Krampus, the devil of Christmas, must have had some spare time on his hands after "dealing with" children who have been naughty over the festive period. On Sunday he/ it seemed to be seeking retribution on the category 6 group departing, in the main, from Hertford - sharpening flints and turning thorns over for maximum puncture impact. There were 3 on this ride, one before we set off, one discovered on returning to our bikes after coffee, and the final one in Old Welwyn.
And so it came to pass: the time had come to lead my first Cat 3 Ride, and I duly turned up at 09.15 at Allenburys shortly followed by Gareth, and then waited and waited. This is when I thought “Goodness Gracious Me, This Might be a Challenging First Ride To Lead” (or words to that effect, not suitable to be written here). And then in a flash 4 others turned up. Phew!
A freezing frosty morning and the thought of icy roads meant only the bravest, hardest and best looking Wheelers bothered to show up for today's ride. The route to Theydon uses mainly larger roads which meant, luckily enough, no ice patches. Although it's a hilly route, the road surfaces are very good meaning our average speed was well up to cat 6 standards. The cafe stop took a bit longer than is usual for Belgique but it was quite busy and the food was great as usual.
Nine keen Wheelers assembled at Allenburys, most cursing the BBC Weather Forecast, which had given them false hope of a pleasant morning. It was cold, grey and bone-chillingly damp!
Out via Much Hadham, Little Hadham, Albury, Furneux Pelham and Braughing, the nine arrived late at Something Lovely largely because of miscalculation by the ride leader, Captain Bob.
Excellent refreshments and service as usual and time for a chat with a Watton Wheelers group who were already in there.
Just over a month from now members will be opening the cyclist’s alternative to socks - a gift of inner tubes. With a bit of luck you end up with the right size! Before that joyous occasion we have a month of build up, starting on Friday with opening the first window of our advent calendars. Expensive adult ones are apparently the latest craze. And I thought the days of advent calendars were numbered.
The previous week the group had arrived at the cafe in dribs and drabs, but formed a tight efficient peloton on the way home. This week it was the opposite as the group arrived en bloc at the Buntingford Cafe. After refreshments there were multiple options, longer, shorter or the designated route. No incidents, no reports of arrivals after dark. The main group rode 35 miles.
I have done a couple of Audaxes that I call "Reference Audaxes". One was a 300 from Poole 3 years ago where the wind was so strong and the hills were so tough that I finished with 20mins to spare. Now when I encounter steep hills I "reference" Poole and tell myself I can get up the hills. Now I've got another one for when it's exceptionally windy.
I'm not sure why I entered this. Thirty miles of racing in October shouldn't have appealed to me. But some inner demon persuaded me to give it a go. A forecasted very windy day did nothing to convince me that I'd made the right choice, but the A11\A14\A11 can be a weird course, and it turned out to be a bit of a flyer.
Talk about 21st century problems… Garmin failure left your intrepid ride leader bereft and lacking the magic maps that would guide the party unerringly to the café stop in Redbourn. Luckily the assembled Cat 3 company contained a wealth of local knowledge, which combined with my reasonable recollection of the route allowed us to make our way successfully through Essendon, Welham Green and Sandridge then skirting Harpenden before the dive down the hill to Redbourn and The Hub.
Today's ride saw the return of Jane to the cat six fold. I don't know what she's been up to, but whatever it was, it has been working, as she pulled us along all day - EPO? Come on Jane, own up! The usual route or through Moreton to Ongar was delayed only by Paul's chain jamming between cassette and frame. It was caused by his hanger being bent a few weeks ago when I pushed him over. Well that's what he thinks, him being a gooner and all that. Lots of hills but fast roads meant a very reasonable average speed was kept up by everyone.
