...cont
The stop had been longer than some of us expected and some were consequently a bit stiff after being stationary for so long. Still we continued on, enjoying the Hertfordshire scenery, crossing the M11 multiple times (it seemed), fortunately always on bridges/underpasses, cycling around Stansted Airport and enjoying the quiet roads. We had one rather long section on an unpleasant A-road which at least had a reasonably wide tarmac edge to keep us out of the main traffic but fortunately the traffic wasn't too busy.
There were several rolling hills which meant our pace wasn't particularly even but it was good to be able to talk to each other. I practised my German on Uschi and Sandra and they graciously didn't laugh too much at it.
We cycled through the village of Ugley, always good for a laugh; on a previous ride we went through both Ugley and Nasty but this time we skirted Nasty. I forgot to take photographs of the Ugley Church sign again!
Jim, Alina and Jeremy were brilliant at marking junctions/roundabouts so despite the fact that only Ben had the route (his GPX file somehow became corrupted when he tried to share it with me so that no software was able to properly read it) we were all confident that we wouldn't get lost. We were aware that time was marching on a bit and that our overall pace was slower than perhaps we had expected (which is pretty much always the case in group rides, as I have discovered through experience), so knew that we would be doing some cycling in the dark, probably.
We stopped in Thaxted for a cream tea which was absolutely lovely and took the opportunity to refill our water bottles and use their loo. This was where I took my only photograph of the day:
Most of us put on some items of high-vis after we left Thaxted as the light was definitely beginning to reduce. The pace was slowing, too, as the long distance was felt by several of the riders who were less used to cycling all day. The end point, at over thirty miles, seemed rather far away to many of the group and so after a short stop at another pub a bit later, we decided to do a small detour to Billericay to allow some people to jump on a train a bit earlier.
The journey through Chelmsford wasn't great, with the busy roads with lots of lanes which meant junction marking was difficult. The peloton also made the (usually unwise) decision to take a cycle path at one point which forced them the wrong way at a roundabout so they had to cross the road and continue on. After Chelmsford we crossed the A12 and then began the long, long pull up to Stock and then Billericay. At this point I as back marker had my lights on and Gary and I helped some of the more tired members of the group make their way towards the station. We reached the station with 90.5 miles on my Satnav (which then switched off due to low battery) and waved goodbye to Alina, Jeremy, Jim, Sandra and Uschi who whizzed off back to the Big Smoke.
Ben, Gary and I were left with 8-10 miles needed to make our centuries (Ben and Gary had already done 2 miles to get to the start point this morning so I was a bit behind in distance). We popped over the road to the garage and I bought some unhealthy food (All Day Breakfast Sandwich, large bag of Wotsits and a Yorkie Bar - it's not for girls) - not surprisingly I was feeling peckish again, you see.
Off we went again, all lights on as it was now dark. It's fun taking long downhills on unfamiliar roads in the dark, particularly the South Essex Potholey Roads, but it was certainly a quick whizz from Billericay to Wickford. As we arrived at the station Ben got his 100 (Gary had had his half a mile before but as he couldn't see his trip computer in the dark he didn't notice the exact moment) and so we congratulated him and then, in order to get my 100 too, turned round and set off towards Ben's place.
My century arrived in due course and I celebrated with some more of the Yorkie (and I even shared some, how about that!) and then Gary and I left Ben at his place and set off back to the car at Wickford station, taking a minor detour around a dual carriageway for the dubious fun of it.
Once at the car we had to work out how to fix the bike carrier to the car again (my husband's always done this previously) once my trike was installed inside, but we made a rather good job of it (if I say so myself) and were soon rolling out of Wickford - the wrong way - and eventually heading back along the A130/A12 to Colchester.
I dropped Gary off at home and then made it back to my house at 23:45 having done 102 miles.
Gary and I agreed that we both really enjoyed the day. It was particularly good to meet six new people and spend time chatting with them. The century felt pretty easy to me, the pace being so gentle (we averaged 9.9mph by the end), and I could have cycled another 30 miles easily, except that it was dark. The following day I did my usual 34 miles and felt as fresh as normal, so it does go to show that these long distances only get easier the more you do them.
Thanks to Ben for organising, and I was plugging CycleChat to the other cyclists so expect to see some of them here, perhaps. Alina is doing London-Southend on Topcat1's ride on Saturday as a result...
put up with my attempts to provide small-talk in German whilst triking along beside her.
