Friday, 30 November 2018
Tom writes: This truly was a day of firsts, not just for the afternoon riders but for the day riders too.
This was the first time I had led an all-day ride. In such circumstances, it was great to have a good team of riders with me right from the start, with twelve of us ready to 'Go West' at 9.30am.
At the start
Thankfully I had read Sheila's ride report from the week before and was pleased to have remembered to take a photo, albeit just one!
We headed out past Barton and Toft and into Comberton, the whole team stopping courteously for a man on a zebra crossing. Clearly this was a first for him too as he looked at us in a state of shock before remarking how surprised he was that we didn't all go straight through at the crossing. Alex B appropriately mentioned our club's name and, promotional advertising completed, we continued westward.
This was a busy road for a Sunday morning and Rupert quite rightly suggested that we split the group for safety reasons, allowing traffic to overtake us more easily. We regrouped at Longstowe where the roads were much quieter, the lack of traffic now allowing us to indulge in a more sociable and relaxed cycling style.
We arrived at Potton spot on 11am and were pleased to meet up with roughly ten more riders. We almost made The Boundary Café 'our own' taking a good 80% of the seats available. Susan was out on her first day ride for some time following a tendon injury, not that there were signs of that any more!
Twelve of us continued on to lunch, quite an amazing number for this time of year, numbers no doubt boosted by the November sunshine which we basked in for the following hour and a half. Having left the café at about 11.45am, we enjoyed the good-weather moment by taking the longer fifteen mile circuit west via Sandy, then turning south and later east towards to Jordan's Mill at Broom, near Biggleswade, arriving at 1pm. Unfortunately it was a first at Jordan's Mill too as the normal lunchtime menu appears to have been somewhat disappointingly curtailed leaving fewer options to choose from. I have been assured by Rupert that he has this matter in hand and is checking alternative options for future rides should the former wider menu choice not be reinstated.
At 1.45pm it was time to head east and whereas we hadn't noticed the wind up until now, it suddenly became much more apparent, not necessarily slowing our pace but certainly requiring extra exertion to maintain the same speed. We arrived back in Cambridge at 4pm just as the sun was setting, the temperature was cooling and the odd drop of rain appeared.
Tom
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GPS track (GPX).