Checking the weather forecast before leaving home we were promised 5 degree temperature, light south westerly winds and sunny intervals. So compared to previous weeks I thought we could throw caution to the wind and have a club ride without the warning shouts of "Ice". How wrong I was.
20 riders turned up on the Market Square looking forward to an enjoyable club ride. Yet again we had a new rider with us, so it’s a big welcome to James from Little Paxton, home for Christmas from Southampton University
Group 2 left St Neots and had just passed Abbotsley Golf Club when we heard a shout go up from Ash at the rear of the group. We all thought it was a touch of his ‘Speed Wobble’ again; well we were hitting 18mph! We then turned off onto Pitsdean Rd and an oncoming cyclist warned us of icy road conditions so we all eased up and continued in single file.
Back onto the main road and all seemed well so we pushed on at speed to Gransden where Steve Rodley left us and headed home as he wasn't feeling great.
All was going well until we approached Little Gransden’s notorious sharp left handed bend. A few of the front riders wobbled on the corner but Steve Pleasance tried in vain to avoid the black ice and took a tumble (later we heard three of our Group 1 riders also came off at the same spot). Fortunately Steve was OK but decided to go home to check his bike.
We continued onwards to Hatley St George but had to slow down on the horrendous Mill Lane to Wendy, by far the worse road in the county - more like a ploughed field than a tarmac road. By the time we reached Ashwell, weather conditions improved and everyone started to enjoy the ride but we had to say goodbye to Ash and Steve Muchmore who headed home for a social engagement.
We had another rider tumble just outside Potton but this time not weather related (rider and bike OK). It was then onto Everton and Tempsford before reaching St Neots for a much needed cup of coffee.
Group 2 covered 43 miles in some difficult circumstances.
I understand that Group 1 suffered some navigational challenges again and apart from the tumble at Little Gransden they also had two punctures. It’s rumoured they covered about 55 lickety-spit miles.
We did hear on the grapevine that Richard O went out for a quick ride on Sunday morning and also had a fall due to black ice - read about it here. So that's six St Neots fallers on one Sunday - some sort of record - lack of friction and gravity conspiring against us. These were quite unusual conditions for black ice to be lingering when the air temperature had been so far above freezing for so long.
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Don’t forget our last Social Evening of the year on Thursday 20th December at The White Horse, Eaton Socon - 8:00 to 11:00 pm.
St Neots CC kit orders will be taken (you can also order kit by e-mail) and we will have the remainder of HIGH5 Gels and Powders to sell with all proceeds going to charity.