Just organised a works out bike ride

[johnnyb47]

Hi..
Today at work, me and colleague got talking about cycling and made some plans to go out for a bike ride at the weekend. Within 10 minutes the word had got round and others asked if they could join in. The more the merrier was our answer and it's looking like there's around half a dozen of us going now. There's going to be a right odd mixture of us though. I'm the only one of the bunch who cycle's on a regular basis ,so it will be interesting to see how they all shape up on the twenty mile route we've decided on. I've got to cycle 10 miles to meet them, so it's going to be a 40 mile ride for me, They should have a bit more energy than me and keep the pace up a bit. As said before there all novice cyclists which will be ranging from a 60 year old 4ft 6 guy on his E Bike and a polish friend who just cannot keep a straight face if it amuses him. The other guys are also just as colourful with there personality's so I think it's going to be quite an eventful ride. God help us ,but I can expect that every pub we pass will be no doubt be visited for pint ( erm no sorry I meant a glass of lemonade) so some of them may not even make it. I will hold off the beer as I will have to ride back home along a busy road after our outing for safety reasons.
Strangely enough though I'm really looking forward to it and listening to all the banter at work today of who's going to make it round and who's going to end up being left behind in the pub. :-)

 

[ianrauk]

Sounds like it's going to be jolly good fun. Look forward to the ride report :-)

 

[Slick]

I had similar today, but it was filled with excuses as to why they couldn't cycle but would love to. There's a couple who may venture out but most just keep coming up with excuses. Enjoy your team ride though.

 

[Globalti]

Sounds like it's going to be a hoot. Take some tools and puncture stuff because somebody's bike will fail to proceed.

 

[rugby bloke]

An excellent idea, I'm sure your are going to have an interesting ride ! Looking forward to reading the report.

 

[pjd57]

Remember the first aid kit, and get them to check their brakes before you start.

Cycling in a group will probably be a new experience for most of them .
Should be interesting

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Well done !
Reminds me of how grateful I am for the two teachers at my 1980's sixth form who took it upon themselves to organise rides for us kids on Wednesday afternoons.

 

[johnnyb47]

Hi again. Well as expected it turned into a bike pub crawl as opposed to a bike ride. Every pub we went passed was a magnet towards one of us , and was a case of " all for one ,.one for all"
It started off nice and sensible with me meeting up with one of the guys ,as we headed off to meet the rest. It was quite warm and he had this huge suck sack on his back as if he was going on a round the world adventure. His jacket was zipped up right to the adams apple as away we went. He was crawling along at a snails pace so we decided I will go ahead to meet the others , just incase they thought we where not coming. Eventually the other guy caught up and after looking at his bike it was self evident as to why he was struggling. Both tyres were virtually flat , so I decided to inflate them, which made a big difference.
7 of us were now ready to go , and around 10 miles the first pub was greeted by our ugly faces. I had a pint of Guinness and was ready to go ,but the others wanted another pint. From that point on ,I knew where it was all going to end , so I stuck to shandy,s for the rest of the day. Fast forward ,4 pubs later most of them were well and truly on there way ,but thankfully they were within walking distance from home. Me and the other guy though were 16 miles from home and I was a little concerned as to the state of him cycling that way. He got on his bike in the beer garden to head off home and immediately fell off!! :-) So it was a taxi ride home for him and some gbh off his girlfriend for sure. As nice as the day was ,I was glad to be cycling the 16 miles home by myself, No more pub stops or waiting for the slower ones of our group to catch up. I was also glad I kept off the beer and only drank shandy otherwise I would never of got home.
On balance though it was a good day out and we will no doubt be laughing all about it tomorrow when were back at work on a dreary Monday :~)

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Hi again. Well as expected it turned into a bike pub crawl as opposed to a bike ride. Every pub we went passed was a magnet towards one of us , and was a case of " all for one ,.one for all"
It started off nice and sensible with me meeting up with one of the guys ,as we headed off to meet the rest. It was quite warm and he this huge suck sack on his back as if he was going on a round the world adventure. His jacket was zipped up right to the adams apple as away we went. He was crawling along at a snails pace so we decided I will go ahead to meet the others , just incase they thought we where not coming. Eventually the other guy caught up and after looking at his bike it was self evident as to why he was struggling. Both tyres were virtually flat , so I decided to inflate them, which made a big difference.
7 of us were now ready to go , and around 10 miles the first pub was greeted by our ugly faces. I had a pint of Guinness and was ready to go ,but the others wanted another pint. From that point on ,I knew where it was all going to end , so I stuck to shandy,s for the rest of the day. Fast forward ,4 pubs later most of them were well and truly on there way ,but thankfully they were within walking distance from home. Me and the other guy though were 16 miles from home and I was a little concerned as to the state of him cycling that way. He got on his bike in the beer garden to head off home and immediately fell off!! :-) So it was a taxi ride home for him and some gbh off his girlfriend for sure. As nice as the day was ,I was glad to be cycling the 16 miles home by myself, No more pub stops or waiting for the slower ones of our group to catch up. I was also glad I kept off the beer and only drank shandy otherwise I would never of got home.
On balance though it was a good day out and we will no doubt be laughing all about it tomorrow when were back at work on a dreary Monday :~)

Sounds like a good trip.

Did you have an umbrella and sparker in your shandy?

Graham

 

[johnnyb47]

Haha :-) Im a bit of a light weight when it comes to drinking.

 

[Slick]

Hi again. Well as expected it turned into a bike pub crawl as opposed to a bike ride. Every pub we went passed was a magnet towards one of us , and was a case of " all for one ,.one for all"
It started off nice and sensible with me meeting up with one of the guys ,as we headed off to meet the rest. It was quite warm and he had this huge suck sack on his back as if he was going on a round the world adventure. His jacket was zipped up right to the adams apple as away we went. He was crawling along at a snails pace so we decided I will go ahead to meet the others , just incase they thought we where not coming. Eventually the other guy caught up and after looking at his bike it was self evident as to why he was struggling. Both tyres were virtually flat , so I decided to inflate them, which made a big difference.
7 of us were now ready to go , and around 10 miles the first pub was greeted by our ugly faces. I had a pint of Guinness and was ready to go ,but the others wanted another pint. From that point on ,I knew where it was all going to end , so I stuck to shandy,s for the rest of the day. Fast forward ,4 pubs later most of them were well and truly on there way ,but thankfully they were within walking distance from home. Me and the other guy though were 16 miles from home and I was a little concerned as to the state of him cycling that way. He got on his bike in the beer garden to head off home and immediately fell off!! :-) So it was a taxi ride home for him and some gbh off his girlfriend for sure. As nice as the day was ,I was glad to be cycling the 16 miles home by myself, No more pub stops or waiting for the slower ones of our group to catch up. I was also glad I kept off the beer and only drank shandy otherwise I would never of got home.
On balance though it was a good day out and we will no doubt be laughing all about it tomorrow when were back at work on a dreary Monday :~)

Sounds like a total nightmare to be honest. I like a good day out like anyone, but I hate letting anything get in the way of a planned day on the bike. Have the pints after the work is done.

 

[johnnyb47]

Your right there slick. It wasn't what I had in mind to be honest..I personally wanted to cycle first, and then stop off somewhere afterwards just for a quiet drink, but the guys where more focused on going from pub to pub.It was ok and I did enjoy it , but it,s not the sort thing I would do again if I could help it. To me , I enjoy cycling and getting into my own "zone", exploring new places and enjoying the peace and quite of our countryside. These guys today were not as you would say "keen cyclists " and only drag there bikes out of shed once in a blue moon. There all a good bunch though, and we all had a good time out.

 

[jarlrmai]

I count the fact that you all went out on your bikes and had a good time as a total win.

 

[pjd57]

I never really enjoyed socialising with people I worked with.
Eventually gave up making excuses not to go to Christmas nights etc and just politely said no thanks.

 

[Globalti]

Excellent! And such a familiar story! How many times in life have I organised things like this only to discover the huge gulf between my understanding and the group's understanding of what makes a good day out. They will certainly have imbibed far more calories than they burned off. At least you enjoyed the trip and nobody was badly hurt.