View of the rear of the Peloton

Saturday’s ride was, for me at any rate, something of a dummy run to find out how long it would reasonably take to get to Bradford on Avon. The Tour of Britain passes through there on Friday and a few of us were planning to cycle over to witness this spectacle.  It is due to pass through quite early and we needed to know what time to start from Malmesbury. Well, it looks like 8am!

This ride, just over 50 miles in total, was, I believe, the longest Saturday club ride of the year. I looked forward to it with some trepidation because I hadn’t ridden this distance for over a year and am still recovering from some sort of injury that has prevented me from doing so. However, I needn’t have worried. Having been comprehensively dropped by the group last week, Jim and I had teamed up and made our own ride. During that ride we agreed that we would both tackle the 50 miles the following week and also agreed to ride in support of each other no matter what. And that is what we did. This, in my view, is exactly what cycling clubs are all about; supporting one another to achieve common aims – to do the distance and with company.

So, eight riders set off from the Town Hall, we proceeded through the town and reformed as a group riding in pairs on Foxley Road. Through Norton, over the ford and left to Hullavington the formation continued. Although the pace was steady, it was too fast for me to keep up for 25 miles. I pulled over to let the others through and was joined by Jim, as promised, and Tim W. We watched the 5 riders ahead disappear into the distance and we settled in to our pace. It’s good to know that there are always members willing to support the slowest rider; in this case the slower rider was me.

The ride continued without issue and we reached the halfway stop not 10 minutes after the faster group. It had taken us one hour 45 minutes to get to the Teapot Café and, comfortably seated and replete, Tim reflected that the miles had flown by mainly due to the chattering between us. Would we have gone faster without the chatter, who cares?, but we could easily have gone slower if necessary.

Cake stops are all very well but, when they are followed by an immediate 60 meter climb, take some swallowing! The young(er) ‘race’ snakes shot off and upwards leaving us oldies to grovel in the gutter, well I did anyway. Having reached the top, Tim, decided enough was enough and shot off to join the group in front, and that was the last we saw of him on the day. Jim and I happily joined forces and continued on at our pace.

One of the advantages of not going too fast is that you get to appreciate the passing view and there was one such to appreciate just north east of Chalfield Manor House. In a way it passed us rather than us it, but of our team, the only other member to enjoy the passing beauty was Ted, who had dropped back from the front group to await our arrival. Now we were three.

The return journey from that point was a bit of a blur for me mainly thanks to Ted who pulled the train along nicely and probably quicker than Jim and I would have managed alone. In fact, on my return home my wife declared that I was home earlier than she had expected. Thanks Ted, I think!

Team work and club camaraderie, I love it.

Howard