Central London CTC blog

Sunday and we’re off to Flitwick. That is only part of the story, so where shall we start.

The Beginning

Rides list compilation time and I have submitted a ride in the northern part of Hertfordshire. A week before the list is due out a flurry of emails as Richard has spotted that on the day of the ride there will be no trains to/from Hitchin. OK says I lets do the ride but we can start from Flitwick, but where to have lunch. Paul Krebs suggests Cottered so that leaves me to work out a route with those parameters. Eventually, Microsoft Autoroute allows me to plan a ride that hits those requirements.

Not Quite Started

A week or so before the ride the Hon Sec suggests that as the 3-star ride will be having lunch at Cottered; the 2-star ride will be in Hertfordshire we can all meet as he will be out doing a recce of his 100K Audax route. All seems OK but Keith who is leading the 2-star ride is not too keen on The Bull, Cottered. Friday before the ride and my text thumbs are called into action as Keith and myself set about trying to agree a venue for lunch. Lilley Arms, Lilley is suggested but eventually rejected as being too far to get to for the 2-star group before lunch. What the heck, it will just have to be an ordinary Sunday as there is the fallback of the original route and lunch at Cottered. That has the advantage of being on a route that I had ridden most of on the previous Sunday. Eventually we agree on The Red Lion, Breachwood Green. Oh dear, an amendment of the ride is required in order for the 3-star group to get a decent distance in so back to route planning software and my trusty high tech fallback of OS maps and a blank sheet of paper to write directions on so I don’t get lost. Map reading on the fly is not a skill that I am totally at ease with.

The Ride

A slightly disappointing turnout of only seven eventually assembles at Kings Cross Thameslink to get to Flitwick. Damn, it is a short train and no bike spaces either so the journey is spent moving bikes or bodies out of the way until after Luton Airport Parkway where the train always empties. At least I have remembered to text Keith with numbers for the ride so he can alert mine host at our lunch venue. Eventually I found out that the pub would be crowded as his response indicated that there were twenty people on the 2-star ride. I have almost forgotten that by now we have got to the trains bit of the title but as you all know that is normal for a Sunday with Central London CTC.

The ride from Flitwick was eventful in an odd way as after the initial toilet faff we got away and did a northward loop which included crossing the M1 twice. The weather was still not promising either as it was clear that the clouds were with us for a while and there was going to be a stiff breeze to contend with. As we approached Harlington, Andy reported that he was having cleat/pedal troubles. On investigation it became apparent that he had lost a fixing screw and so a running repair was made. Fortunately the repair lasted the whole day as the fall back position was a train back which at the time was not too bad as there is a station at Harlington. As we passed the station we had a short break and found ourselves serenaded by a small section of a brass band that were at the village hall in Harlington. Onwards and with the repair still holding we made good progress apart from a small misdirect from the leader which almost cost us two riders. At Lilley Bottom, only about a kilometre from lunch Stuart report that he too had a cleat problem and a short stop ensued.

Once at the pub for lunch the rest of the group were surprised at how many bikes were there and, possibly more surprised by the number of “old” friends who were in evidence. With twenty seven cyclists for lunch the kitchen was busy but inevitably there were some delays and our lunch stop stretched to about an hour and three quarters. In that time there was much friendly banter with people I had not met for some time and there was time to wonder how Keith was going to keep the 2-star group on the road for long enough for them to work up a thirst for tea as his venue was Lilley which is about 6K away according to my route planner. I think that there was going to be a lot of imagination on behalf of the leader to keep people from guessing they were riding in circles but I knew that several people had already come to that conclusion as they knew the proximity of the tea venue and were probably looking to ride straight there and make tea the final course of lunch.

So, with trains and old friends dealt with it only leaves the planes bit which I will get to shortly.

Resuming after lunch we were down to six riders and we were soon riding briskly towards Hitchin and then back into Bedfordshire. The pace was helped by assistance from a, now very welcome, tailwind and also the youthful vigour of Dymock and his mountain bike, so we covered the distance to Shuttleworth Aerodrome at a very fast pace. The approach to Shuttleworth was enhanced by a flying display by vintage aircraft but we had to ride to the Shuttleworth College entrance, in Old Warden and then through the grounds to get to within fifty metres of the locked gates which were barring the usual entrance to the cafe. At least the gate people were amiable and waved us through rather than charging us twenty pounds entrance to the flying display

After a welcoming cup of tea and in some cases much cake we were on our way but the friendly tailwind was now a cold headwind but in spite of that we managed to cover the remaining twenty kilometres in well under an hour so the group was still responding well to the pacesetting although I recall that for some lengthy sections I was pacesetting and leading from the back or middle of the group

Before finishing I have to report the strange case of the non-shifting derailleur which came on the steepest section of the ride near Sundon which resulted in the leader having to dismount and walk up the final 200 metres of a hill that only has a single chevron. There, I have owned up to my shame

Thanks to all for turning out and making it another enjoyable day and special thanks for Naomi and Keith for leading the 2-star group and agreeing to the rare rendezvous of the different sets of riders. In all we managed, that is the 3-star group just under the metric century but a good day was had by all, I hope