Looking at the weather the sun may even make an appearance, and a tail wind home, looking good 😀

At the risk of sounding completely stupid 😳 where is Garth?!! 🙂

just a little north of Llangollen, up in the hills 🙂

Thought it was mainly flat 😉

Mountain biking at the Borderlands Challenge tomorrow, will see how the legs are Sunday.

Less than 10% in the hills, so flat in my books

Thanks Craig, will look forward to that!! 😀

Long run folks, Carol asked me to post this up on here for you all. I failed to get a pic on our run 🙁

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Craig led out a fab route to Garth through some beautiful countryside! The climb up to the cafe was well worth it for the views 🙂 Thanks Craig for yet again coming up with the goods!!! 😀

Paula (Better Half) and Kate (Lovely Daughter) have had bad colds all week & I've been having good and bad days, trying to beat it off with vitamin C and Zinc. When i woke up this morning i thought it had finally beaten me as i felt terrible; nose, throat, head, achy limbs etc. So i did what any sensible person does & ignored the alarm. After a very long time i thought, 'if i just go and do a little bit, see how i feel, if it's too much i can soon turn back'. Perhaps i should have stayed in bed? If i'd have turned up 30 seconds later i'd have missed the run & would have gone for a plod before going home.

Preamble over.

There were about 17 turned up for the long run today, Carol has a list & I hope she'll post it later. Craig put together a cracking good route on the way out with yet another great cafe i don't remember visiting before. He also probably put together a great route back but i wasn't there so i don't know.

Near Oullton Park Craig (Mr Lucky), had a puncture & while waiting for him Titch went to look at the view from the other side of a hedge & learned that thick mud and cleats don't mix so a few minutes after the puncture repair we stopped for Titch to clean his shoe so he could clip in. The headwind on the way out was, in the words of Stalin, 'bloody strong'. This helped to keep the group together but even so there were several, 'half a rev', calls in order to help new guy Alan who kept losing the back of the bunch.

About 7 miles from the cafe Kev U turned for home, needing to get back for a prior commitment & similarly we lost Rich Munro.

All in all it was a good testing ride out & a VERY taxing hill up to the cafe, Kris (the mountain goat) was first there with Keith and me shortly behind. Ewart, who lives not far from the cafe, turned up & joined us on the run after lunch.

An excellent descent from the cafe was led by me (well i am downhill champion) & it was shortly after this that our real travails began.

Craig's satnav took us down a dead end and in the ensuing chaos Craig and several riders went one way while another group followed local boy Ewart, (I distinctly heard someone say Ewart knew a shortcut), I was in a third group (we were the last people to turn around at the dead end) along with Carol, Vince, Keith, Peter and Alan.

We saw Ewart's group going one way and Craig's group disappearing around a corner going another way. I chased after Craig's group but they were already out of sight & I wasn't sure which way they'd gone. I went back to our little group & we decided to follow Ewart as his group didn't seem so far away and we did know which way they'd gone. Alas, with the wind on their tails, Ewart's group disappeared rapidly. Our little group was moving very slowly as Alan was really struggling but we stayed together.

After several miles I saw Ewart's group in the distance and gave chase for what seemed like an eternity before eventually catching them & asking them to stop. Our two groups waited for a few minutes, looking for Craig's posse but there was no sight. So we set off & almost straight away the bunch disintegrated with bodies all along the road with several of us at the back waiting for Alan.

At Malpas we re-grouped and it was at this point that Alan said that he would make his own way home or call his wife to come and get him (I do hope you made it home OK Alan).

We now had a unified group of similar abilities and it was like a 'normal' clubrun - fast and fun with the wind behind us until the junction at Beeston/Peckforton where a couple of us saw Rich C (he had been with Craig's group). A couple of people from our group waited with Rich and i went along the road to tell the others. By the time we got back to the junction Rich and the others had gone so we set off for home via Beeston, Tarporley and Oulton, a much depleted bunch.

On the whole I had an excellent day & am very glad i got myself in gear and got out. Saying that, my nose, head and achy limbs have returned with a vengeance.

It was also though a very frustrating day:

Although I understand (and he will perhaps concede, having not done a great deal of training recently) that Alan was not up to the long run, it is the case that it was a clubrun, not a dog-eat-dog training ride and personally I think we could have been more welcoming. Or perhaps we should have a contingency plan for these rare occasions? Or perhaps we should insist that people go out on short runs before joining a long run? Or should we tell new people that 'this is the long run, if you get battered you are on your own mate'? Or perhaps.....??

Equally I do think that if Craig, or anybody else, is good enough to put together a clubrun, then that person is the 'Run Leader' and whichever way he or she may wander is where we follow. I don't think it's acceptable for there to be 3 groups on the road all making their own way. There are obvious times when a clubrun breaks up; hills, going through Delamere on the way home, the last couple of miles before the cafe, etc. However in all of these instances there is a re-grouping.

Maybe i'm just having a gripe (a blipe, not a blog). Maybe today was just a one off and it should be put behind us?

I do think though that a couple of things should be agreed (formally, informally, whatever) on what happens when a rider is just not up to it. Also, surely the run leader must be the person we follow, out of courtesy apart from anything else?

I realise that a clubrun is a fluid thing, that all sorts of decisions are made very quickly and also that many people will have their own point of view and experience of the day. Any point of view on any of the above is welcome. I didn't bring these things up while out on the run as (a) I wanted to ruminate for a while & see how i really felt and (b) in the heat of the moment things can be said that one later may regret.

Saying all of that I still had a great day on the bike, 99.6 miles, great weather, great tailwind home, great (half) a route. Can't wait till next time.

Over to you.....

The long run consisted of the following: John K, Kris,Peter, Karl, Keith, Chris, Titch, Steve, Vince, Craig, Alan, Richard, David, Ewart, Kevin U, Rich M, Rob, Chris B and me!!!! Great summary John! You did a great job shepherding your flock even with a cold!!! 😉

John/All,

Alan has been coming out with the club for some time now. He has also been on a number of long runs. we all have bad days, this could have been Alan's.

I can't comment on your ride as I wasn't there. But I do agree with all you said. The leader is there not only to plan the route but to keep everyone together. But everyone has to play their part in keeping everyone together.

Todays short run was a great example of how it should be done. OK we had the odd burn up but at the next junction we all stopped to re-group(or if unsure of the direction Woody wanted to go).

We can discuss tomorrow at the meeting. I don't know what the answer is moving forward and I'm not sure we ever will. But we need to do something. We have an amazing club with fantastic members and I hope we can find a solution.

As John says "Over to you"

John K. A very thorough and interesting write up. Your concerns about the shambles on the return leg were well expressed and this has happened often in the past. I think that there should be two people involved in taking a club run; One to plan and lead the run and another whose role is to keep the group together. Those taking on these responsibilities should brief the riders before setting off. Run leader and 'shotgun' should establish the ground rules and they must find an effective way of communicating with each other on the ride - perhaps a combination of whistles and mobile phones. With respect to the issue of dealing with a rider who is really struggling, there should be someone willing to sacrifice their ride to 'nurse' them home. This could be by nomination on the morning but preferably by someone volunteering.

I hope that someone on the committee will raise these points tomorrow.

Jed,

I'll make sure it's discussed tomorrow.

Thanks Jules.