Hummed & hahed about going on the club run today. It looked pretty icy & I'd had a late night. Decided to go for it. Road (A134) was ok, very little traffic & I was suitably dressed & comfortably warm. The drizzle started about Ingham. The roads looked pretty wet when I reached B St E so possibly Bury had had more. Astonishment of the day was there were 4 other nutters hiding from the rain in the shop alcove. Barry Denny,Ron F, Peter Stephenson-Wall(who was on the Cappucccino ride last week on a mountain bike & this week appeared on a roadbike newly purchased frm Madgett's) & Richard Stiff. Then Pauls Barry & Callow & Julian Colman arrived. Everyone expressing their amazement to see anyone else out.
Julian was the only one who showed any leadership potential. The rest of us were just waiting to follow. He announced that we were to go to Long Melford via Lavenham & something about Stowmarket on the way back. All a complete mystery to me but Julian seemed confident of the route so we all tootled off. I think it was just starting to snow as we left. By the time we reached the Hawstead Road it was coming down thick & fast. I actually identified which road we were on but only after I'd removed my cycling glasses as they'd fogged up & were covered in snow & I couldn't actually see the road let alone it's location until I removed them. I tried for about 2 miles to keep them on. The snow was painful on the eyes but no matter how much I tried to wipe & replace them visibilty was zero. It was then announced we were abandoning ship, calling it a day, snow stopped play & were going home. I think my main concern at that point was a) do I abandon the specs & take the pain of frozen water on the eyeballs or b) which would be the least life-threatening route home - A134 or Livermere, Richard S recommended A134 & I was inclined to agree.
At some point on the way back to Bury the snow changed to rain & the ride abandonment was abandoned & we carried on. I just followed Julian. The route explains all but I know we hit Lavenham & the Welnetham 8.5 TT course & we didn't stop for a coffee. At some point between somewhere & somewhere I missed my bottle cage after attempting a drink & the lid fell off as the WSW bottle fell in a puddle & my attractive purple drink flowed into the brown water it had landed in. So 52.02 miles without a coffee stop & apart frm 100mls of sports drink before the droppage no fuel.
At some point between Lawshall & Lavenham we became Paul-less. It was a bit Felixstowe revisited weatherwise & Paul B & Paul C vanished. The 6 of us soldiered on & I have to say it was a really lovely friendly cheerful ride.
I stopped at Jules Long's (member of Wheelers has a Garmin too & has been on a couple of Espresso rides) in Gt Barton as I went through for a tiddle & a glass of water & made my way home.
Schedule said I should do 3hrs 15mins on Sundays. [this is Tricia's new training schedule that will have her doing evening TTs at 25 mph averages- SJH] Did 3hrs 30min av HR 126. Not partic fast but the roads were hazardous in places & we had a fair old blast on the way home picking up the pace.Tricia
PS. Paul C has just posted on Facebook that they didn't give up. He stopped to get the ice off his rear mech & no-one waited.Oops!
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