Sunday, 11 November 2018
Sheila writes: Whilst this might be a poor comparison to other ride reports, I thought I should record what turned out to be a delightful ride, despite things not running entirely to plan. I failed to take any photos (I just forget) but in compensation here's an autumn scene that I captured in Cambridge after the end of the ride...
Autumn scene
Four of us met at Brookside, Alex (with just one gear), Jeff B and Simon G. Shortly after we set off Sid rode up alongside and introduced himself. Sid has recently moved to Cambridge from Milton Keynes where he rode with the MK section of Cycling UK. Hopefully we match up to the MK group and he rides with us again.
We had just crossed the A10 on the outskirts of Cambridge when Alex realised he had a puncture. He insisted he would be fine fixing it by himself so we rode off and left him to it. This was actually a wise decision on his part as he arrived at coffee sometime ahead of us.
It wasn't long before the group suffered another puncture, this time Sid had the misfortune, but with Simon on hand to quickly do the necessary it wasn't long before we were again battling against the strong headwind. It was over two hours before we arrived at Reed where we found Ian B, Edmund, David W and Mike S waiting for us. I was surprised to find myself determined not to ride to Stansted Mountfitchet. Time was getting on and the headwind would make us slow. Fortunately everyone was of the same opinion and it was unanimously decided to change course and ride to Saffron Walden instead. Alex returned to Cambridge.
Without the headwind we were able to enjoy the glorious day with its clear, blue sky and golden foliage as we cycled along towards Walden - except for one small blip, a third puncture. This time it was my new tyre - the second puncture in a week. Simon again sprung into action, assisted by David W, and we proceeded on our way without, I discovered at 11pm that night, my repair kit.
We descended on the Curious Goat cafe in Saffron Walden safe in the knowledge that it comes
recommended by Greg. Need I say more? The timing was excellent as a group of people were just leaving and we were welcomed and served with tasty food in a reasonable time despite the venue being so full.
Over the next 20 miles the group separated off towards their respective homes with the general consensus that we had enjoyed a good day's cycling. My thanks go to Simon for repairing the two punctures and David for his assistance.
Regrettably my pleasant day proved to be somewhat expensive. I suffered a chipped windscreen on the way home thereby giving me an excess of £75 to pay, a bike toolkit to replace and another new set of tyres to purchase as the Gatorskins puncture too easily.
Sheila
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GPS track (GPX).