Report on the New Year's Day club run
Take one Irishman, one Welshman, two Scotsmen and 16 Englishmen and what do you have? An excellent combination for a New Year's Day club ride.
And so it was that 20 fearless souls left the Market Square on this cold and wet morning; somewhat later than the agreed time due to the ‘Buckdenites’ deciding to take a slightly longer route than normal to St Neots and Alistair having a few problems with his saddle.
The medium route group set out to Gamlingay where they were joined by Simon and our youngest member, Jack. On entering Everton the cry went up ‘puncture’ and we can all guess who that was, yes, the ‘King of the Punctures’ Simon R. Our very own Victor Meldrew was heard to say ‘I don’t believe it’. Not content with winning the title in 2013 Simon's already making a stand to take it again in 2014 (Steve Blows on the longer route also punctured).
Due to the very cold and wet conditions, the group decided to divide into two, with 5 riders staying behind to heckle Simon and to help with repair. On the road again, we headed out to Blunham but had to stop for the newly installed traffic lights at the recently repaired bridges which seemed to take an eternity to change.
On through Great Barford, we rode on to Wilden and Keysoe but had to stop at Stonely for a mechanical.
With the thoughts of food and beer waiting at the finish, the somewhat depleted group pushed on through Perry and Buckden and finally reached the Shoes at Offord, drenched and frozen but in good spirits.
I’m sure that everyone that completed the ride appreciated the excellent spread of food at The Shoes and a big thanks to the club for paying for it. It was great to see not only club members but also the partners and children enjoying themselves. Finally, well done Jack, we hope to see you on club rides in the near future.