Central London CTC blog

Two reports on truncated rides - one cut short due to illness and gross moral turpitude, the other due to mechanicals and lighting issues.

26 November - My ride from Ashford.

Despite a howling gale and the last of the night before’s rain, there was a good turnout at Cannon St (when everyone finally found it).

After riding damply to Ashford on the train, we found Roy, Bradley (maillot a pois de l’avenir) and Ken waiting for us.

I managed to find my way around the Channel Tunnel rail link (they’ve moved the roads about a bit) across the winding flat bit and up the valley through Wye, with cool dry weather and incipient sunshine. Then the hills started.

I thought I’d planned to avoid Nasty Hills, but sadly not. The first one was OK but the second one was a stinker. Mind you, by then I was realising I was poorly and should have stayed in bed; in fact, one of our laydeez reckoned I was getting delirious on the second hill, but you will realise this is my usual state.

We arrived at the Tiger at Stowting shortly after opening time, and were given a big table to ourselves out the back to keep us away from Normal People. Beer and food were good.

After lunch, I was persuaded to go home. But surprisingly, everyone else decided to go home with me (except Roy & Bradley, who’d already gone). Just as well - they demonstrated on the way back that a poorly me is a better navigator than 10 perfectly healthy them, and we managed to avoid getting the wrong side of the motorway.

I still managed to get in 59km averaging 19.6kph (including all those hills)

3 December - Charlie’s ride from Billericay

OK, so the weather was cr@p on Saturday night, and the rain was bouncing back up again when I looked out of the bedroom window at 0715.

And OK, so the weather is now presented by bimbos of both sexes rather than proper meteorologists.

And OK, they always exaggerate at weekends to stop anyone braving the Great Outdoors. But I’d followed the weather forecasts (and looked at the maps), which said it was going to stay windy, but get drier. And sure enough, it did.

It appeared no one else much did - only a friend of Charlie’s (Dan), me and Ken turned up at L’pool St. Not very encouraging for a member’s first ride-leading effort. If you weren’t there, hang your heads in shame.

All of which was a pity, since Charlie had done his homework and planned a great ride. We zoomed across the marshes with a following wind at an average 24kph, to get to lunch at Burnham so early we had time to go to a caff for coffee before lunch. The pub was a bar in a hotel, but still a proper “old man’s pub”, complete with good beer, adequate and economical food, a view over the River Crouch and an entertaining sheepdog that repeatedly nagged customers to throw beer mats for her to chase by plonking a beer mat down between your feet and then nudging your knees and generally looking soulful and expectant.

We were back on the road by 1300 to grind our way into the wind. But somewhere near Fambridge, Ken had his second puncture of the day, the repair of which involved improvising reinforcement for the tyre. New tyre time, Ken. By now it was 1430, we were down to two tubes between four people, and Dan had no lights, so we continued only as far as Woodham Ferrers, where we caught the branch line train (complete with very helpful and jolly guard) back to London via Wickford.

By the time I got home I’d done 90km in 4hrs. And on the way back from the station I discovered why my left knee hurt (you’ll have to ask).