Club run report 8th September

The hint of autumn that was in the air the previous Sunday got stronger this Sunday, and so there were more gilets and arm warmers in evidence.  Nevertheless, the forecast was good with low winds and rising temperature, and so some 40 riders turned up in the Market Square.

This week we had two long route groups, two medium route groups and short route group.

Short route

Ride Leaders Colin Mullins and Andy Holt were joined by club members Alex and David for the Short Route which took the riders out through Abbottsley and Great Gransden heading for Longstowe and Bourn.  As a result of ignoring a "nagging Garmin" the group modified the planned route back; passing through Caxton before re-tracing their steps through Great Gransden and Abbottsley again. It was here that Alex and David forged ahead as the former had a prior engagement requiring an early return home.

Altogether a very pleasant and disciplined ride covering just under 25 miles at a respectable average of 15.6 mph.

Steady Long Route

This option was very popular today with eleven riders opting to head into what turned out to be "The Unknown". The start was routine enough, heading out via Abbotsley and the Gransdens to Longstowe. Turning off the Toft Road to Kingston and then on to Great Eversden and Haslingfield, we were starting to get into new territory for many of us, although as Alec used to work at Melbourn, he had had ridden many of the roads before. Just beyond Newton, there was a cry of "P*****e!". After waiting for a while, six of us decided to continue on because several had pressing engagemnets later in the day and needed to get back. The five we left behind, which included the route planner, Andy, eventually sorted the puncture and continued on, although not by the planned route, which was lucky for them as we shall see.

Not that much further on, after crossing the M11 we came to a ford at Hinxton. The first three riders all came down with  a crash on the impossibly slippery surface - Mark C, Terry and Graeme. The other three, Alistair, Jonathan and Alec pulled up just in time and crossed by the footbridge - another good reason not to be on the front! Not too much the worse for wear, but with some of us spitting fish, we headed on and noticed a lot of water splashes on the road ahead and deduced that the same fate had befallen the faster long route riders, who must have attempted the crossing just ahead of us - and so it turned out - three of them had also come down: Wayne, Dan and Garry. There were no serious injuries, but people were wet and there were a few sore bodies and mechanicals as a result of our mishap.

After Ickleton, the road goes up, heading towards Elmdon and eventually Great Chishill. The descent from Great Chishill is amazingly good fun as it is very long and dead straight. Crossing the A505 we continued on through Fowlmere and Shepreth and back at Barrington we were again in familiar club run terrritory. We chose to go via Caxton. The rest of the run home was pretty routine.  The Buckden Boys turned off at Abbotsley and headed straight home while the rest headed back to St Neots. A very beautiful, interesting but damp route - 65 miles at about 18mph.