Mad Jack McMad's Mad Stout(*) was superb!
Met OD at Witham station, and after a small amount of faffing to transfer the final pieces of my cyclist disguise into place (Hope1 from bag to bars, gloves, headband and he**et etc.)
Felt quite perky and no-exactly-grossly-unfit on the way out, and once we'd met up with chief, and worked our way through his "off-road" short-cut, even felt up to sprinting up the final hill towards the pub.
The ride back was different though ... it started OK but later on I was thoroughly
beasted by OD. I spent long portions of the run-in wondering why I was so much slower and struggling to keep up!
I might try to blame the Marathon winters, andthe weight of my bike+work stuff in pannier, but to be honest, I think I'm just much less fit than I was last year.
(*) Actually called
Green Jack's Lurcher Stout, but ... well...