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Posted by Eleanor:
Despite mixed forecasts 8 of us (Ged, Chris L, Cliff, Peter, Garry B, Dave D, Malcolm and me) enjoyed beautiful spring weather for a fairly swift ride to Holt – into a nasty headwind there and helped by a tailwind on the way back. I can’t remember which way we took as I was deep in meaningful conversation (well it seemed meaningful at the time) with Garry – but we seemed to be following (led by Chris L and Jed) a fairly obscure route out through the Forest, up to Dunham Heath (I think), then Great Barrow, then across the A51 onto the traditional route to Holt. Jed did an amazing job at the front into the headwind, accompanied first by Chris and then by Peter. We went to the little cafe in Holt not the garden centre – I thought it was nice and the others thought it was even nicer due to the charms of the very pretty waitress . Then back, enjoying a tailwind, again on a new route for me. Chris tooks us on an undulating route to Bickerton through picture postcard countryside, with pretty cottages, magnolia in bloom and lots of daffodils and tulips – which I somehow managed to notice despite the effort required to get up the undulations! And so back home through Beeston (where we picked up Paul Spare), Tarporley and Little Budworth, flying along in the big ring the whole way. A great ride! Incidentally we sympathised with Garry and all those on the the Majorca trip – whilst we were enjoying spring sunshine in the UK last week, apparently it rained all week in Majorca which must have been incredibly disappointing.

Also a footnote from Malcolm: Through the website could I appeal for a bit of help with a ride I am doing in early October? This is L’Eroica, a 205km sportive run largely on unsurfaced “white” roads in the hills of Tuscany.

With the idea of recreating the spirit of past times, the organisers are insisting on pre-1980 equipment. That means no concealed cables, downtube shifters, toeclips and straps, etc. I will dust off my 1959 Harry Quinn, but I need some suitable shoes (size 9 or 9.5) to ride it in. Can anyone help?

By the way, if any other member likes the sound of the event (heaven knows, we have enough pre-1980 riders!), they should look at www.eroica.it