Saturday 13th September - Wellington

this route got a big thumbs up a couple of months ago on its inaugural outing, so hopefully the late summer sunshine allowing us second helping will prove popular.

to clarify, destination is wellington the town, not the duke, beef dish or boot; nor the triathlete who's been kind enough to leave pro-cycling be so that athletes who don't swim or run have something to win.

on which note, tri-stop last time ended up being langport, but north curry or the willows centre beckon on route. perhaps a decision can be made at priory BEFORE departure this time to avoid the usual confusion.

round trip distance to north curry is about 65-70 (60-65 to willows,) whilst wellington is 90-95.

PS: distances are in miles (what else??!!)

Around 20 riders for what promised to be another dry and mild day. We were joined by Peter who we met at the Tour of Britain on Wednesday.
Heading south we took - Toll road, Mark, Moorlinch. A very fast train set of down the A361 at 28mph. Inveitably this caused a few splits in the peleton. The 'B' team regrouped at Othery. A minor shambles ensued as we debated which road to take but made the right choice as we rejoined the rest of the peleton Burrow Bridge. Four headed further south towards Wellington while the rest of use headed east to Langport
When we joined the main road into Langport we caught a large group of cyclists of varying abilities all wearing their dayglow tabards.
As we approached the garden centre another group of 5 cyclists were just ahead of us and they turned in
We exchanged some friendly banter about beating them to the front of the queue which seemed to be taken in good humour. Entering the cafe, Richard bardged past one of their riders. Unfortunately the older lady of the group didn't see the funny side and told them all that they were going to another cafe but when we arrived at the counter she had failed to inform one of the group as he had already ordered his coffee etc. Very entertaining for us and it cements our reputation as a bunch of cycling louts even without Ivan present :-)
The return leg was via High Ham etc with a strong pace. We managed to keep everyone together back to Weston and a good day was had by all.
TTC - 7/10 had to deduct 1 point for a burnt teacake :-)
OJC - 5?
KF- 8.4
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3442998

Martin or Nick I am confused.com
You didn't mention how well Sam stayed with us without getting lost.
In fact he managed to get on the front near the latter stages of our ride for 2 minutes.
Well done Samual.
No shambles when I ride with the group  

Fat Tummy not fat face photo of me

glad you think that martin's avatar could be nick's, this is certainly how i see nick in 'my mind's eye', ditto my new avatar with paul. amazing what a few holiday cakes can do.

our jaunt to wellington was the usual fayre. 95 of yer best somerset miles with a nice north easterly to blow us back down the A38 from bridger as we fought our way back to weston.

i got cold for the first time this autumn as we left the cafe, necessitating the first bit of proper exercise i've undertaken this autumn just to get warmish. though i wasn't fearing hypothermia as i made my way up the notorious 1 in 5 slopes of lower terhill.

must thank somerset counties gritting teams who seem to think that september offers the perfect heat to allow surface dressings to bed in. it made the descent into wellington far more interesting and added much needed additional challenge to the top of the lower terhill ascent.

ttc. N/A though the sandwiches were excellent and the staff pretended to admire our bikes - 8/10
ojc - (for A team) 50%
kf - c (for paul, and a kebab for nick, every night for eternity; we may have a chance then, though i somehow managed to sneak the new official sprint point into burrowbridge )

knacker factor - 8.5, tougher than last weeks 119!

The 'football handicap' is definitely back! Can't get up off the sofa at the moment - legs too sore! That and watching the ToB of course. Thought I might manage a short ride and play football but it's the same old problem - too old and not fit enough. Never mind - enjoyed the ride and very grateful to everyone who took turns on the front.

The incident in the cafe that Martin refers to was very funny. No idea why that woman from the other group was in such a strop. Obviously can't handle a bunch of yobs sprinting past in the car park to beat her to the queue. Had the place to ourselves after that.

Everyone who I spoke to enjoyed the excellent ride this week.  Thanks to those who planned it and led us there and back.  No disrespect to anyone but you are more than welcome to ride with the B team again next week Neil!  Our return from Langport  had many opportunities to turn pear shaped but you and Martin kept us all nicely together in spite of some delays at the tail end.  The personal checks up and down the line were mollycoddling  beyond the call of duty.  We might get used to it and always keep together!

It was nice to see a ginger pussy join us at the table. I might come again