Notes From The Other Side

I arranged to meet Lindsay at Gt Livermere to ride in together. We went Lindsay’s way as it was safer, apparently. It involves the A143 from Gt Barton to Moreton Hall & takes in the Sainsbury’s roundabout, whereas my way goes through Fornham, avoids A roads & is a mile shorter. And I’m the half Irish one!

We arrived in good time and by 9.30am a group of 13 had assembled. Chris Dolan; Dick Lines; Soren & Jonathon Sjolin; Peter Heath; Lindsay Clayton; Ann & Grayhame Fish; Steve Cleal; Mark Taylor & Dave Whitehead joining us from Stowmarket; Barry Woodhouse & I set off for somewhere. The joy of the Sunday rides for me is tagging along with someone else making the decisions about routes & destination, the company & of course the cake!

Please pay attention to Peter’s feet and the NEW SHOES! After the success of the tea stop at Peacocks on Wednesday, Peter went back with Gill , stopped at the bike shop in Ely & invested in some rather fab new cycling shoes. (they are, it has to be said, extremely white... ed.)He did suggest to Gill why not a bike to match the new shoes while they were there? They left with just the shoes!The journey out was a lively buzz of conversation & I have no idea which way we went from memory but the Garmin printout reveals all. Until I joined the Wheelers rides my poor sense of direction dictated that I just did the same two loops from home again & again or stuck to the A roads that I went on in the car; no wonder I hated cycling. The Wheelers really opened up my horizons... OK, I still have no idea which way I’ve gone or where I’ve been but I do have the Garmin printout as evidence and it has given me the courage to occasionally go out on my own (with an OS map used frequently) on new routes . Only one puncture and with impeccable timing – Dick, just as we rode into Hollow Trees for coffee.

At HollowTrees – aren’t shoes on the table unlucky Barry?!

Hollow Trees serves excellent cake but cappuccinos are off. Coffee is served in an individual cafetiere & is delicious but this is the cappuccino ride after all! Soren obligingly answered Barry’s spinal question, despite being off duty. Jonathon chatted about starting at St Benedict’s and Grayhame & I talked about running club politics. Not sure what the other end of the table talked about but they seemed very cheerful!It has been suggested by a running friend who reads the Wheelers BlogSpot that the Wheelers seem to be more about cream teas than cycling. And here is Peter demonstrating that the club rides really are about cycling!






Dave’s drink. Nice bike obviously but what’s the blue drink about? Disturbingly matched his cycling helmet & his pal’s kit. Kryptonite??






And so the journey home: a bit of an advantage to me here as it took in part of the Welnetham TT course & if you do the same route often enough even I know where I’m going. So for the second half of the ride I knew where I was. Until we reached Thurston, where instead of going straight on & home across the A143 to Livermere, bewilderingly Lindsay turned right towards Pakenham & I was lost again. She stopped so suddenly we had the only incident of the day when Chris rode straight into the back of her. No damage done. So we rode home via Pakenham! Lindsay did the 200km audax at Mildenhall last week so clearly can be a little bonkers but great company.

My stats: Home > Nowton Lindsay’s route! 12.86miles @ 16.4mph; Nowton> Hollow Trees 23.4miles @15.2mph; Hollow Trees > home 30.12miles @16.6mph.