A good turnout at 8:00 am and then one more at 8:05. Mick Abbis, Jenny Down, Martin (Arfur) Bagshaw, t'other Down in shorts, Daniel Brewster, Juanathan Brough, Gary Durham, Robert Stevenson, Dave Lee, Harry Howlett, Andy Singleton and his friend (I'm sorry we weren't introduced) We set off into the sun on the usual route through Harworth and Serlby with hardly any traffic to speak of and headed down the Great North road through Ranskill and Barnby Moor. After a short delay for a train at Babworth level crossing we headed through Ordsall and out to Stokeham where our Lord and Ride Master Martin Bagshaw bid us farewell, he was off to watch Dancing on Ice or something... With tears still in our eyes, we crossed the busy A57, then on to Ragnall and Fledborough where we went off road and onto a very long section of very straight, traffic free, disused railway line all the way to Doddington Hall.
When we got to the bike cafe it was chocca with cyclists and lots of people who were not cyclists and we're all sitting inside in the warm! Finding a table for our group looked like it might be a challenge. The fast group were already there and looking very relaxed, talking about carbon fibre, chain lube, compact groupsets and suchlike. The 'comfort group' talk about scones, how much cake Pete eats and if a shopping basket will look silly on a pair of drop handlebars.
Luckily for us Mick Abbis turned on the charm (yes, you heard right) with the table/seating Gestapo and got us a great spot under cover by one of those electric sky heaters. I've included a picture of the remains of my scone which was very nice but probably should have taken the picture before I ate it.
After two coffees and a bit of dissent from some of the fast group regarding the off road section and the route back we got back on our bikes and headed back for a very uneventful return to the cricket club aided by a wonderful tail wind.
