Saturday 13th June - walk between the raindrops

left it late for 2 reasons:

1. nobody knows what's going to happen weather wise.
2. i've just got back from evening tour series in bath (i wasn't competing but i did come first in the women's race )

we'll head south... toll road, sea front, anchor and then take it as it comes. if weather dry we may get as far as langport/somerton or beyond. if damp perhaps glastonbury or funney castle, if proper wet we'll dive into chatterboxes for a £4 breakfast with tea.

I just hope the air pressure is low so that we can go that little bit further!

Must admit - judging my the low pressure system working its way up from the south I'm thinking of having a go at the hour record. A 10mb drop in pressure apparently gains you 2.8 seconds per km. My best 1 hour distance was about 21 miles, so to get that up to 34 miles and beat the record I need a drop of about 145 mb. That would mean an atmospheric pressure equivalent to that found at the centre of a Super Typhoon over water. I'm fitting paddles to my crank as we speak!

Obviously the that famous celebrity cyclist Gary Kemp was toying with the hour record when writing chant number one.

Obviously the famous celebrity cyclist Gary Kemp was toying with the hour record when writing chant number one.

Why are you saying everything twice but making subtle changes?

Not sure

Don't know

Gerroff will you.

I sent one message and before I could send it again with a subtle change you had replied!

Arrghh. Spoiled my joke you bully!

See - this is the way to edit your mistakes. No-one knows you wrote something stupid and had to edit it if you do it this way.

Everything changes but you.

Wake me up before you GO GO

Four seasons in a day

I really don't understand why the committee didn't put the safety of the riders first and re-schedule the ride for Sunday - which looks like its going to be a fine day!

It beggars belief honestly

I think the matter should be raised at the next AGM.

Would do...but committee is currently in a ditch.

In Lyme right now, 28 degrees.... Sun, sea and seagulls.

Mmmm - is that the smell of breakfast cooking?

A small but determined group of dedicated riders turned out for this fun packed spectacle. None of your fair weather cyclists here! It was tough going into the 'no wind' and I think the reduction in atmospheric pressure might even have been creating a vacuum sucking us south towards Langport. The rain was a bit of a nuisance. I can't imagine how we all managed to avoid that raindrop that fell out of the sky.

There was the usual bail out at the top of Wooley Hill with Martin feeling the effects of last nights alcohol and opting for the shorter ride to Sweets or Truckers - not sure where they ended up. That left a select group of five to continue into the unknown world of Langport cuisine.

Took the Burns special to High Ham which was actually not too bad. Ivan arrived at the top two minutes later with a face like a withered sponge, gradually caving in on itself as it hemorrhaged sweat all over the road. He then made some excuses about his front mud guard rubbing and pretended to fix it for 5 minutes.

Arrived at the Riverside cafe to be told that they stop serving breakfast in 5 mins. Not a problem we thought until the chap turned up 6 minutes later to take our orders. Fair play to the cafe though they were happy to take our orders even if they didn't appear that happy about cooking it as we waited 45 minutes for it to arrive. For anyone who wasn't there, image how many different breakfast combos you can make up out of white bread, granary toast, poached eggs, bacon, fried eggs and sausages. I feel the need for a recap on what was ordered and what arrived:

Neil - egg and bacon sandwich ordered - bacon and sausage sandwich received
Pete - two poached eggs on granary - two poached eggs with a couple of slices of white bread received
Scott - bacon sandwich ordered - nothing received so had Pete's eggs instead
Ivan - bacon sandwich ordered - decided to eat Pete's bread with Neil's sausage

So we set about re-arranging the food into the various things we had ordered which still left Scott short of a bacon sandwich and Pete without his granary bread. The cafe kindly offered us a round of free teas/coffees to make up for it which was kind of them.

A nice pace was set on the way back via Burrow Bridge and Chedzoy etc. before a slight variation towards Puriton where Neil punctured just off the main road. A couple of young girls laughed at Neil trying to achieve some hardness in his rubber before we set off into a housing estate, turned around and headed up a dead end before deciding the road we should have gone down was the one Ivan said: "It's not that one."

Averaged about 21-22 mph most of the way home and arrived home two hours later than I should. To be fair, Mrs W only asked if I was doing a long ride. Next time she might think to ask what time I will be home!

Stats: 720 possible combinations of breakfast possible from 6 items, 75 miles completed, average speed just over 18's.

Now that's what I call a post ride report!

showmethecakes wrote:
Ivan arrived at the top two minutes later with a face like a withered sponge, gradually caving in on itself as it hemorrhaged sweat all over the road. He then made some excuses about his front mud guard rubbing and pretended to fix it for 5 minutes.

That line was the best thing I have read all week!