Stevenage end of summertime ride.

[TheDoctor]

Well, when I said 'fun' there was a heavy layer of sarcasm on it, which obviously doesn't make it onto the page.
I hate riding in mud. Not too enamoured of rain either.
Here's to the Summertime ride though!!!!

 

[Paulus]

Good morning Doc. Either the weather and Paris-Roubaix style lanes, mud, gravel and rain conspired against me, or maybe I'm just getting old! One of the friends I was with punctured three times in three miles on the way back from Saffron Walden, and as is a newby to cycling he was struggling a bit over the last twenty miles. He did enjoy the ride though. But yet again another "fun" day out in the saddle. Stevenage by night time is a place to behold, we got slightly lost coming out of Weston and had to make our way through some back roads to get back to Fairlands. Nice to see you, Chuffy, Baggy and Tdrinker.

 

[Aperitif]

Well done all you adventurous souls. As mentioned earlier - it is all part of the story to tell...hope your wife is ok Tynan and reliving the good feelings!

 

[Tynan]

Mrs Tynan has very sore/tired legs but is already asking what audax we're going on next, gulp

Although she is insisting on me having a map holder and us starting early enough to get round before it gets dark, both of which I'm very happy to comply with, stopping every 5 minutes to pull a folded and soggy route sheet out of my breast pocket and then putting it back and having to put on a sopping glove isn't a process I want to repeat, and a head torch, and a proper front light for her, I had a good light but she had my old commuter light which lit up a side plate sized piece of country lane dimly, bless it, still any light at all is welcome on those pitch black lanes

 

[stevevw]

Note to self NEVER RIDE WITH TYNAN Well done to Mrs. Tynan for getting round The start of Summer ride has a choice of three distances 40 - 73 - 115 miles so hope to see you both on one of them. Gives you 5 months to get your bikes sorted too.

I had a great ride even managed to miss the only down pour of the day whilst waiting for some friends and having seconds at the Therfield stop.

Sorry I did not get a chance to talk at length to those that I saw on the route, was on a mission to catch a fellow Watton Wheeler who had a 10 min head start, which I only managed at each control and as the food was so good at Therfield (final control) gave up and waited for some work mates to catch up. We then had a slow final leg with one of our little group getting 2 punctures in a mile. He only had one tube with an 80mm valve so the second one had to be patched which was nice with all that water and grit. We got back about 4pm but my actual time on the bike was 4:15

 

[tdr1nka]

Ok, before I go and put the bike in the bath to rid us finally of yesterday's mud here are a few pics from the day for all to enjoy.

As I was such a late entrant there was a chance I wouldn't get a number, on arrival at control I found I had one!!

TheDoctor, in David Blaine stylee, levetates some gloves!
Spooky eh?
Love the number BTW.

The inimitable Baggy & Chuffy, all horns n' ears.

Lots o' bike!

We did see a fair number of riders fixing p*nct*r*s throughout the day, I managed to escape such irritation by having had 3 the previous day.
Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?

So we weren't bog snorkling but we cannot stress enough the mud situation.
As has been said, after a lovely decent the road then levelled out and was covered in loose mud and big old lumps that made for some hairy moments of negotiation for road bikes. It was reassuring to have the hand painted 'Mud On Road' sign roughly half way along the road.

Still grinning at the last tea stop.

My bike: after.

A lovely day, the weather could have been a lot worse so blessings counted all round.
Oh and count me in for the Spring ride too!

 

[Tynan]

there's nothing (much) wrong about riding with Tynan, i was riding at the pace of the wife, with group G, hmpff

I promise that we caught every single bloody drop of the rain, the two hour stint that I imagine started just after you lot had slapped each other on the back, got home, had a warm bath and turned on the telly, thankfully we were well clad or it might have been nasty, much to improve on but we weren't complete incompetent

Yes, lots of flats seen including a DNF very early 'too many punctures' to quote, granted those roads were a bit rough in places but I don;t wonder at those seeming to be using race type tyres, especially now I'm on two nearly new posh tyres that make my old and word Luganos look like tissue paper

 

[TheDoctor]

I was on 23mm Conti Grand Prix tyres, so I'm staggered that I didn't get a visitation!!!

 

[Baggy]

I was on 23mm Conti Grand Prix tyres, so I'm staggered that I didn't get a visitation!!!

Particularly as Chuffy actually said the P word out loud

 

[TheDoctor]

That wasn't the only P word that was said out loud IIRC

 

[Baggy]

After a nice fast run in on the cycle track to the cafe i had a quick coffee. Saw Stevevw at the cafe while i was queing to get my card stamped and another recumbent rider outside who was riding to Milton keynes for a total of 200k for the day.

I saw your bike at the start, but not you! The other recumbent rider was Rich Forest (often found on yacf forum), he's a bit keen, to put it mildly.

'Twas a grand day out. I enjoyed the ride, but enjoyed the tea and chat even more

Congratulations to everyone who made it round their first Audax! Tynan, I reckon Mrs.Tynan deserves a road bike as a reward for her sterling effort!

Am just downloading a few more pics...

 

[Baggy]

Nice to see you, Chuffy, Baggy and Tdrinker.

Hello again!

I don't actually have any pics of the ride, but hey, there's a few of us at some controls:
Tdr1nka has a Marianne Faithfull flashback:

The Doctor, getting steamy

A slightly deranged rose between two thorns

'appy 'alloween!

 

[Tynan]

cat weasel!

the wife, now that she's done 60 miles on an mtb, finally agrees with me that a road bike is the correct vehicle for riding on roads

you can never convince anyone other than the hard way

 

[Tynan]

oooo!

http://www.stevenagectc.org.uk/site/ssoss.html

entries seemingly open, entry form downloadable anyway, and a cheeky 200km option!

not sure the lady wife will go for that one

she's got a nice road bike now with clipless and far more kit that I've ever owned