OP
OP
totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
In the week leading unto the ride all was set fair weather wise with high pressure dominating and not moving anywhere fast, then on Friday the Met Office dropped the small bombshell that the east of the country [us] would be grey and cold with light showers I couldn't believe it and neither should I because they were wrong, again. I have no idea what happened to a couple of others on here who said they were coming / interested, but there you go, about par for the course. In the end there were just 5 of us, 2 stalwarts who we have ridden with a few times before and Phil who was a newbie to CC rides.
A cold start after waiting an extra 10 mins in case anyone else turned up, which they didn't. We hit the road at 9.40 heading north into a gentle head wind. Lots of other cyclists out including a blasted sportive which happened to be on the same route as us for a while. I took this just before a couple of sportive riders passed us, unfortunately for them they chose to do so at the bottom of the climb to Collyweston, dr_pink reacted and so as not to seem churlish I went with her, looking back I could see the others had also overtaken the sportive riders.
We reached the cafe after passing through many picture postcard villages at 35 miles and boy was it warm in there! Three fires going for some reason, ironic really because while we were in there the sun came out.
A slightly different picture of the cast and bikes outside the cafe
Very pleasant riding conditions now so we thought a few pictures would be in order somewhere picturesque, Harringworth Viaduct might fit the bill, complete with Cycle Chat jersey.
Oh, and paging @potsy for some reason [instruction from dr_pink]
How cool was our route
Heading along the side of the Welland Valley towards Waverley and Barrowden with Rutland on our left still in sunshine.
Back into Rutland
And up the last hill of the day, dr_pink quite clearly enjoying herself.
Others perhaps not quite so much with the little diesel bringing up the rear.
We decided to take a risk and followed the path around Rutland Water in the hope it wasn't too busy, we were lucky.
I think this might be one of my better ones [pure luck]. 6 miles to go.
We rolled back into Oakham at 3.04 with 57 miles on the clock. We then sat in our back garden eating scrumptious cakes and chatting for the best part of 2 hours! Thank you to those who made the journey and provided excellent company, in particular Tony who had a long drive to get here, tough luck on those who did not come
.
Interestingly, 4 of us were riding fixed, at least it provided Phil with some amusement on the downhills, though I am not sure we have converted him.
A cold start after waiting an extra 10 mins in case anyone else turned up, which they didn't. We hit the road at 9.40 heading north into a gentle head wind. Lots of other cyclists out including a blasted sportive which happened to be on the same route as us for a while. I took this just before a couple of sportive riders passed us, unfortunately for them they chose to do so at the bottom of the climb to Collyweston, dr_pink reacted and so as not to seem churlish I went with her, looking back I could see the others had also overtaken the sportive riders.
We reached the cafe after passing through many picture postcard villages at 35 miles and boy was it warm in there! Three fires going for some reason, ironic really because while we were in there the sun came out.
A slightly different picture of the cast and bikes outside the cafe
Very pleasant riding conditions now so we thought a few pictures would be in order somewhere picturesque, Harringworth Viaduct might fit the bill, complete with Cycle Chat jersey.
Oh, and paging @potsy for some reason [instruction from dr_pink]
How cool was our route
Heading along the side of the Welland Valley towards Waverley and Barrowden with Rutland on our left still in sunshine.
Back into Rutland
And up the last hill of the day, dr_pink quite clearly enjoying herself.
Others perhaps not quite so much with the little diesel bringing up the rear.
We decided to take a risk and followed the path around Rutland Water in the hope it wasn't too busy, we were lucky.
I think this might be one of my better ones [pure luck]. 6 miles to go.
We rolled back into Oakham at 3.04 with 57 miles on the clock. We then sat in our back garden eating scrumptious cakes and chatting for the best part of 2 hours! Thank you to those who made the journey and provided excellent company, in particular Tony who had a long drive to get here, tough luck on those who did not come
.Interestingly, 4 of us were riding fixed, at least it provided Phil with some amusement on the downhills, though I am not sure we have converted him.
