Wednesday, 02 January 2013
Nigel writes: Our first ride of 2013 was one of our monthly winter evening rides. These normally take place close to the full moon but on this occasion it was a week after it. On any event we didn't see the moon at all as the sky was completely cloudy. There had been drizzle earlier but although the roads were damp we didn't encounter any rain ourselves. The temperature was very mild: at 10C it was actually warmer than during the day. And there was a light south-westerly wind. At Brookside I found just two takers for this evening's ride: the ever-reliable Paul and Tony.
We set off south and took the usual route to Whittlesford where we turned north-west for Newston. As we approached Newton Paul discovered he had a slow puncture and after a vain attempt at simply pumping it back up decided he had no choice other than to replace the tube. This he did by the feeble light of a sodium street lamp and the much brighter light of my and Tony's bike lights.
We carried on through Harston to Haslingfield. It was now about 8pm. Paul announced that he would take the direct route to Barton and wait for us in the pub whilst Tony and I continued for an extra nine miles via Harlton, the Eversdens and Kingston. The two of us reached the White Horse in Barton at 8.40pm where we found Paul comfortably settled. I ordered soup and bread and we had a pleasant though and rather arcane discussion about the economics of meat production in south-eastern Australia.
Afterwards we returned back home. I live nearest and had the shortest journey, arriving back home just before 10pm, having cycled 27
miles.
View this GPS track on a larger map