Strong wind but warm air and 16 of us are off to a new place for tea. We wiggle our way to Cockfield and take the lane to Button End en route for Lavenham.
Barry has just finished telling me about his recent crash on his Penny Farthing. At the start of a race his handle bars broke off the frame and the frame broke into two (I think that's right). Obviously Barry took a tumble, though claiming to be only 'slightly' hurt. A minute or so later (when I was further up the line) we encountered a very large stone, warning shouts went up from the front, followed swiftly by shouts from behind "rider down!!". We at the front turned back and round the corner was a heap of riders. Initially hard to see who was down and who was crouching to help. Barry had shredded the shoulders of his top and gravelled his arm; his right carbon handlebar was only held on by the tape (so he wouldn't be able to change gear). Guy had fallen over Barry and grazed his arm "best get that checked by a medic" said Glenn Morris to Dr Guy the GP (I told Glenn later on that Guy was a Dr. "Oh no" said Glenn). Also involved were TomTom who managed to run along the banking and not fall off, and Sharon who did fall off and was pretty shaken. Mark Harris told Guy that if it was the tour he'd have had to finish the stage - Guy looked a bit uneasy at this. Barry was preparing to ride home, but Justin was reluctant to allow our Chairman to go alone. "I'll be fine" said Barry, very firmly, wobbling up the road in the wrong (but only possible) gear. Justin paused until Barry was out of sight round the bend, and then set off as escort (I should mention that the last part of his 'Penny' crash featured an onlooker offering Barry a spare Penny to ride the race on - and Barry leapt on it and finished the race. So jumping back on his bike after this morning's incident would be pure routine)
Mark found the stone and flung it into a field atop the bank. Only afterwards did I think that I should have taken a photo of it.
We straggled the couple of miles to Lavenham, and Sharon, Dawn, Peter S-W and Guy peeled off for, variously, medical attention and tea and cakes; with Barry and Justin already homeward bound, we had lost six riders. But we had spares, we were still a ten-rider ride. It was decided that we would follow a slightly abbreviated loop to our new stop of Wheldons, at Newton Green near Cornard Tye. So we went to Melford, out through Liston and to Bulmer at the foot of Ballingdon Hill, then ingeniously through Sudbury to come out on the B1508 past Great Cornard then up Keddington Hill (nowhere near Keddington) which we descended last week, through Little Cornard and take right turn where Tony Panting collided with the right hand banking and just managed to stay upright (Was it going to be one of those days?) and thence to our new tea
stop . Wheldons has been around, growing apples for 70 years. Last year they converted thrir barn to a farmshop, this year it became a Tea Shop as well. The food was inviting and good quality and the room light and oak-ey - like Hollow Trees last week, but without a Chloe to get things moving, so it took quite a while for all of us to be served. They had all of the friendliness of a good WI cake stall, with good WI-standard cakes but no sense of urgency. The young woman in charge of the kitchen (a decendant of the family, and whose business it is) was whirling around seeing to several things at once. I think the effect would have been caught best with a photo at a very slow shutter speed. The young woman would have been a blurr, like a whisp of smoke, snaking between the serving ladies who would appear as pin-sharp statues. Peter tells us that he will be sending an advisory e-mail. So next time things may be better - or we'll be barred.
The strong wind had swung a bit from SW to W so we had mainly crosswinds on our return. I flagged a bit, despite having gears, but felt much better than last week thanks to a pile of NHS drugs. Somewhere near Felsham my speedo stopped working. I imagined a mis-aligned magnet or somesuch that could be fixed when I got home - but then I noticed that he bracket that held the sensor was empty. To the later concern of Peter and Tom Tom (who were up the road galloping towards Hessett) I turned and retraced to Felsham to try and find it. I didn't. Met TT on my return - I think he and Peter had had visions of me lying at the side of the road gasping for breath. As Peter observed in an e-mail just now "See how we care about you"
SJH.
Mark found the stone and flung it into a field atop the bank. Only afterwards did I think that I should have taken a photo of it.
We straggled the couple of miles to Lavenham, and Sharon, Dawn, Peter S-W and Guy peeled off for, variously, medical attention and tea and cakes; with Barry and Justin already homeward bound, we had lost six riders. But we had spares, we were still a ten-rider ride. It was decided that we would follow a slightly abbreviated loop to our new stop of Wheldons, at Newton Green near Cornard Tye. So we went to Melford, out through Liston and to Bulmer at the foot of Ballingdon Hill, then ingeniously through Sudbury to come out on the B1508 past Great Cornard then up Keddington Hill (nowhere near Keddington) which we descended last week, through Little Cornard and take right turn where Tony Panting collided with the right hand banking and just managed to stay upright (Was it going to be one of those days?) and thence to our new tea
stop . Wheldons has been around, growing apples for 70 years. Last year they converted thrir barn to a farmshop, this year it became a Tea Shop as well. The food was inviting and good quality and the room light and oak-ey - like Hollow Trees last week, but without a Chloe to get things moving, so it took quite a while for all of us to be served. They had all of the friendliness of a good WI cake stall, with good WI-standard cakes but no sense of urgency. The young woman in charge of the kitchen (a decendant of the family, and whose business it is) was whirling around seeing to several things at once. I think the effect would have been caught best with a photo at a very slow shutter speed. The young woman would have been a blurr, like a whisp of smoke, snaking between the serving ladies who would appear as pin-sharp statues. Peter tells us that he will be sending an advisory e-mail. So next time things may be better - or we'll be barred.The strong wind had swung a bit from SW to W so we had mainly crosswinds on our return. I flagged a bit, despite having gears, but felt much better than last week thanks to a pile of NHS drugs. Somewhere near Felsham my speedo stopped working. I imagined a mis-aligned magnet or somesuch that could be fixed when I got home - but then I noticed that he bracket that held the sensor was empty. To the later concern of Peter and Tom Tom (who were up the road galloping towards Hessett) I turned and retraced to Felsham to try and find it. I didn't. Met TT on my return - I think he and Peter had had visions of me lying at the side of the road gasping for breath. As Peter observed in an e-mail just now "See how we care about you"
SJH.
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