CTC Cambridge

Thursday 16 March 2023 

Some people had even been so thrilled by the prospect that they had downloaded Greg's route in advance. This turned out to be a wasted effort since it turned out that the route he'd sent out was undownloadable. The first epic fail (of a few) of the day.

The threatened rain hadn't materialised when some eight riders assembled at Haslingfield getting ready for the off. Andy and Sarah, Tony and Richard, Susan, John S and Ian were all awaiting the starting gun to be fired by Greg.

What's this? Greg's phone is ringing.

"Hi" says Sheila, "Things are looking somewhat lonely here in Shelford".

Oops! Ian agreed to stay behind and await her late arrival at the correct start venue while the rest of us set off.

The group about to start

So it was that we headed up through Harlton and the Eversdens and over Kingston Hill up to Bourn. Easy riding with a tail wind – and very easy for Tony who was able to deploy some electric assist on his new bike. It looked very stealthy in its matt grey.

Just before we came into Boxworth we saw ahead a lone cyclist evidently waiting for us. On closer approach we saw the distinguished presence of Mike CC, who had been lured out by the promise of cakes at Swavesey, along with the scintillating companionship of his CTC Cambridge chums. He freely admitted that he was actually awaiting the City Slickers – I guess he got lucky that it was the Village People who found him first!

And lo, the Village People arrived at Swavesey Baptist Church just before 11am. Plenty had made their own way there, including Sharon and Belinda. Great to see them both!

Indeed there was a goodly group of people at the church, and the cake supplies were rapidly dwindling. This was much to the chagrin of the City Slickers when they hove into view some ten minutes later, having been held up by flooded roads. Indeed this may be a portent of the Final Days: rather than the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the fact that cake supplies at Swavesey were exhausted was surely a sign of dark days indeed.

But no, the chief hostess of the venue assured us it has never happened before and won't again. I suggest we visit once more to check!

Talking of concerns over cake: we can all now rest easy as I can attest that Ed can still eat a sound portion of cake. Good to see. Great to see you Ed! It was also good to see Ian W again.

Afterwards we all gathered outside. Peter W surreptitiously consulted a map before leading the City Slickers off to who-knows-where (Cambridge, says the editor). Other riders headed home via routes multifarious. And the Village People rode on, joined by Belinda and Sharon. Dr John warned us: "That'll be a grim ride to Waresley, into the wind all the way".

"Bah humbug" declaimed Greg. "'twill be a delight!" Well, one of them was to be proved correct...

So the Village People headed off. Dr J came along for the first bit due west as far as Fenstanton and the left the rest of us to head south, into the wind.

Weaving through Hilton was not too bad but then we got into open country. Blimey! How wrong Greg was! It was b*****y grim. It got better. Actually, that's a lie. It got worse as we ground up the hill to Graveley. The wind was fierce hard, the effort into it likewise. Splendid work was put in by Andy, Sarah, Sharon and Belinda but there was no doubt at all that this was grim riding. Dr J was vindicated.

Relief soon came – of sorts. We all stopped near Croxton to respond to the cry of "Puncture". Ian could tell his tyre was punctured because his swanky tyre pressure monitor had sent an alert to his phone which had duly flashed it up. Others nearby could also tell he had a puncture by the loud hissing sound. We left Ian with two electric chums, Tony and Richard, figuring they could fix the problem and engage extra power to catch up. The rest of us plodded on to Waresley.

The picnickers picnicked in the graveyard whilst others ate lunch in the garden centre. The entire group (sans Richard and Tony who had become so thrilled at electric whizzing that they daren't stop for lunch and passed straight through back to home) were reunited for coffee and tea and an in-depth discussion on the ideal underwear choices for touring and travelling. Greg's staunch support for the g-string was something to behold, as it were.

Sweet departures

We left the garden centre at bang on 2pm. Belinda and Sharon headed off west. Andy and Sarah turned right heading towards Gamlingay and thence Orwell. Greg led the rest of the group left towards the Gransdens. No one – least of all Greg – could account for this since Andy had, not unreasonably, decided to opt for the published route. Greg was having a senior moment – perhaps too much g-string pressure had snapped something. Anyway, the group proved bizarrely loyal to their somewhat confused leader and they all eventually came together back on the Gransden route.

The previous hard miles were taking their toll – on all. The pedallers were labouring somewhat and even the "leccy crew" were looking worried as battery levels were sub 20% - testament to how hard the effort into the wind had been. A and S pressed on ahead whilst the remaining four of us pushed on to Haslingfield, arriving there at approx. 3.23pm or possibly 3.24pm VAR is checking the final details but the preliminary findings are in: a great day out, 79 km, 529 m 49 miles, 1736 ft of climbing and Greg is an idiot. Sounds spot on! Greg