I do hope that Teethgrinder arrived home safe and well.
He was on the forum at 3 this morning. Either he's OK or the burglars managed to find his computer and log in.
Yes, I got home at 0130 this morning. I was going to write about the ride, but started dozing off.
It was a very good ride and I'm glad that I made it.
Off at 0150 Saturday morning for a leisurely 80 mile ride to the start. Nice and easy going and no hills to climb. The only thing was the cold. I was wearing a thermal base layer, a fleece cycling top, a woolly jumper, a nylon fronted jacket and my Gore Tex. Plus a pair of shorts, long johns and my warm cycling longs, a la wowbagger. Plus a pair of cheap ski gloves for my paws and two pairs of socks for my tootsies, but no overshoes, just my holey pair of shoes.
A nice easy relaxed ride along the A507 with Planet Rock on my poket DAB radio for company. Then into the lanes through Ashwell for a shortcut to Royston at around halfway. No trouble with ice on the roads here, but they had all been gritted, so were slippery and needed care.
After Royston, it became slightly colder and the landscape was notably more white. On to Saffron Walden to the 24 hour Tescos for a drink, some food and a brief rest before pressing on to Braintree, then a quick dash along the A120 to Marks Tey to meet the others. I arrived just before 0900, which allowed time for a coffee and Crunchie bar at the petrol garage. It was slightly further than I anticipated at 87 miles.
Then to the train staion to meet the others as they arrive.
There was a good turnout of riders for this ride. More than I expected. Annie must be very popular, which is quite understandable really.
It wasn't long before a group of about 18 were heading into the lanes for a day awheel. Within a few minutes, wowbagger had trouble with his navigation thingy. Then a little while later, we took a wrong turn and made retrace.
The roads were more icy than I expected them to be, but Essex did feel colder than sunny Buckinghamshire. It was colder than I expected too. OK, I wasn't expecting it to be warm, but I thought that it would be a degree or two above zero. With the cold overnight ride and having not eaten great deal considering the weather and distance ridden, I was looking forward to the stop at the coffee shop. I happily ate a panini and still felt hungry afterwards.
Some were feeling the cold and the apparent lack of heating in the coffee shop wasn't doing them any favours. I felt quite warm myself and never noticed whether there was any heating on or not. As soon as we hit the road again, someone decided to get themselves a puncture. This wasn't good for those who were feeling the cold. NSTN decided to peruse the shelves of Blockbuster while we waited for the puncture to be repaired. Meanwhile, Jane practiced her dancing, which seemed to be based on a cross between the Supermarionation puppets and Riverdance.
We were soon on the move again and into the lanes. Some icy patches were taken on foot, but there were only a few patches. While cycling with the group along the corridoor of lanes through Christmas card scenery, I realised that I was really enjoying this ride. The scenery was really very good. As wowbagger said, it's only about every 10 years you get to see this sort of thing with the iced up trees. In my experience, the last time I saw anything like this was in 1995 when riding in freezing fog, so it does seem about right. I hope that those who were feeling the cold apreciate what they saw and in spite of the cold, consider themselves lucky to see wht they saw, rather than being unlucky for feeling cold. Even if only in retrospect. If it helps, I can assure you that freezing fog is much wose than the weather we had. Saying that, they were very tough cycling conitions.
Wowbagger had wisely decided to cut the ride short. A very good move considering how some of us were feeling. It would have been extremely miserable for some of us who were feeling the cold. Having fun was the idea of the ride, so that was the thing to do.
After a slow and carefull ride, we were in a pub, which had a fire burning. Much warmer than the coffee shop. The menu here seemed to be more about taste than putting the calories in, so I decied on just a bagguette instead of a very tasty, but rather small meal. NSTN seemed much warmer and happier now. Annie was having a good time and her usual happy self. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I know that I certainly was.
Then the last few miles back to Marks Tey station. We got a bit split up on the way. NSTN and co were waiting anxiously for their 4th companion to arrive before their train left, not wanting to wait in the cold for the next train. They needed to be together to use their groupsave ticket, but judjing by the fact that I watched about 10 cyclists board the train, NSTN included, I assume that it all went well for them.
Then it was time for the ride home. A slightly longer route to avoid the now busy A120. A very enjoyable ride. But after Saffron Walde, I was getting tired. The hills, or what counts for hills around there, were becoming a bit of a push and I was gettng sleepy. Not good in this cold weather. I was feeling colder as I grew more tired. I stopped for a drink and a quick snack then pressed on. I was carrying my -10 rated sleeping bag, just incase I got tired and needed a rest. But I knew that if I did use it, getting out of it would be a struggle. It's hard to get yorself to come out of the warm and into the cold. But instead, I decided on seeing if the A1 service station at Baldock was open. (It's like a motorway service station, but not 24 hours) It was only about 2200 ish and the services were open. I bought some warm drinks and dozed in a comfy chair here until 2300, then, feeling much more awake, made my way home, now feeling less tired, less cold and much better. I had been awake for almost 24 hours. The remaining 30 miles or so all went by easily and by 0130, I was home again.
210 miles in under 24 hours. Not bad going for the conditions and with a very slow 30 miles in the middle. But it was a very enjoyable days ride.