Every fortnight I shall be joining the Portsmouth members of this parish for
their regular Wednesday evening ride. Thanks to the successful culmination of some expensive negotiations I have secured all the necessary paperwork from The Current Mrs R to ride out on the Wednesday evenings that I am in Mid-Essex. So, following the lead of the Portsmouth brigade why don’t we establish a series of Mid-Essex Midweek Nocturnal rides?
My plan is to start in September when I’m back from hols although obviously others can start the series off in my absence. The 9th September would be the first date I’d be available. I quite fancy riding through the autumn and winter regardless of the weather. We have some big cycling plans for 2010 so I would like to exit the winter fitter than I’ve ever been and battle hardened. Obviously I can only do the Mid-Essex ride every fortnight but hopefully there will be sufficient interest to run the rides every week.
I have no intention of monopolising this idea but my initial thoughts on the matter were to set off at about 6:30pm and follow a different route each week of between 30 and 40 miles. In keeping with tradition a pub stop would be built in so perhaps the choice of pub determines the route. Maybe we can draw up a rota so everyone has the opportunity to choose a pub, decide a route and lead the ride. I live in Witham but there is no reason why the ride should start from here each week. Personally, I have no objection to a short car or train journey to the start. We could even have two or more rides meeting at the same pub, e.g. a Southend ride and Witham ride could meet at a pub half way. My thoughts were that the emphasis was on cycling not drinking! We still have the
Essex Friday Night Ride to the Pub series where the emphasis is decidedly the other way round!
I have been compiling a list of pubs and also have the local CAMRA guide. Here are the pubs I would particularly like to include but the whole idea is to tap into other people's ideas …
Railway Tavern – Southminister
The Norton – Cold Norton
Square & Compasses – Fuller Street
Compasses - Littley Green and Pattiswick
The Fleece - Boxford
Hurdlemakers – Woodham Mortimer
The Viper – Mill Green
Strangers Home Inn – Bradfield, Manningtree
The Swan – Bures
The Five Bells – Colne Engaine
So what do we think?