Dead ends aren’t good. If you see a sign which says dead end and cycle down it, you know there is going to be trouble at the end. Be it rough cycleway, hauling bikes over gates, squeezing through gaps or narrow bridges. When Graham Gregory lead the short run down a dead end 5 miles south of Audlem this morning, I don’t think we were expecting a totally submerged road leading to a full on cyclocross mudfest. So muddy in fact that bikes were dismounted and had to be carried. Much swearing was done with Graham Gregory being crossed off a lot of Christmas Card lists. Graham’s story of “back in 1960 we did this sort of stuff every single weekend, if not worse” fell on deaf ears while everyone dealt with clogged mudguards and looked dismayed at the prospect of having to spend an hour cleaning their bike once they got home.
Normally the reserve of ford seeking Land Rovers, Aston Ford, Near Woodcotthill Farm, SJ608475
Rewind a hour and half earlier and a group of 15 of us left the Legion on a crisp autumn morning. Slightly chilly but gorgeous sunhine. A similar sized group left for Dagfields lead by Big Kris.
Miles cruised by as we lapped up the sun, the group included me (obviously), Al (obviously), John, Graham, Ady, Benn, Elaine, Nikki, Les, Phil, Dylan, Greg, Elliot, Sid, Richard and Simon…I think that is everyone but again give me a shout if I’ve missed you off.
Conversation at the cafe was a random as ever, I’m now a future owner of an old sofa and some china, which then lead on to a conversation about leather sofas, which then lead on to Nikki telling us about them being slidey, much like having butter on your bum?! I’ll leave it there.
Pass the butter Ben...
With a couple of hours daylight left we rattled back home through Crewe, stopping a couple of times to sort out Dylan’s flat tyre.
I finished off with just shy of 60 miles on the clock, not bad at all. Cheers Al and yeah cheers to Graham Gregory..grrr!