showmethecakes Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:14 pm
Don't know why reports always start with how many riders turned up. Who cares?
Over 20 riders turned out for this fine January riding fest with the inevitable result that someone was going to get a puncture! What wasn't expected is that it would happen along the Queensway. I feel a bit of maths coming on soon to determine the probability of a puncture occurring on a ride. I reckon the factors that need to go into such a calculation would be the road conditions, time of year, number of ride miles and tyre/tube condition. I would like to think this could be modelled using a Normal distribution but judging by the characters that turn out each week I have my doubts.
Can't say what happened along the toll road as I latched on with Lofty on the seafront. Let's just say both Ian and Marsella looked a bit puffed out as they came by about 5 minutes ahead of the rest. Ian looked very pleased with himself while Marsella just kept her head down at the front.
All the various groups reassembled along Accomodation Road and set off for the Brent Knoll bogs. Ivan must have caused a blockage at some stage as the road was all dug up to repair the sewers. Onwards to Wooly Hill where, despite my best efforts not to do too much due to illness, I ended up on the front dragging a small bunch to Keith Corner. At least they all thanked me as they thumped past me at the bottom of the climb.
Bridger seemed quite quiet for a Saturday morning. Bailiffs must have been round the night before or maybe the Gene Pool Police carried out an early morning raid. Who knows. Onwards to Spaxton where the deliberations about who was going where started. Pete decided to leave a scent mark in case he got lost on the way home and once he had killed the best part of a rain forest with his jet stream the group split up. Most went for the ramp up towoards Pines while a small group of five headed for Cannington.
As we turned out onto the A39 it was very considerate of Martin to put himself on the front. The line of riders looked something like the seven ages of man, each one stooped a little lower than the one in front. Sam practically had his chin on the road at the back! The Walled Garden was closed, again, so we trudged back to Poppey's.
New staff in Poppey's who were a little less welcoming but prices and food still good. Not sure why Pete's bike looked so clean but the dog on the lead next to the empty water bowl might be a clue.
Nice bit of tail wind on the way back into Bridger followed by a good buffeting up the A38. Sam chundered up a bit of egg and sausage on the way home but kept it all in and enjoyed a second breakfast. Quite tough conditions on the way back with gusty conditions but all in all a good ride.
OJC: 2?
TTCR: 8/10
KFC: 7/10
Look forward to the A team report. I won't ask Ivan to summarise it in less than 1000 words because he'll only need two!
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