It was a nice morning! I arrived a tad before 9am to find 4 riders ready to go. Well not Trish, her bike was still on the tow bar, and not Karen she was late. The others were, well, me, Michelle, Robin and Dave. Welcome onboard Dave new members always welcome. But you didn’t need to make your mark at the end of the ride!
So we 6 set off for the dreaded traffic lights, taking to the footpath to get there such was the traffic. We found a gap and crossed over and up the Bawtry Road which seemed traffic free after the free for all at the lights. Bawtry led to Austerfield then Finningley.
Not sure where but somehow Karen got in front. That’s the Karen who only knows how to go a bit faster! So we went a bit faster into Wroot and along that long road (idle bank) that nobody really likes unless the wind is behind them. It might have been but there wasn’t much of it so it felt as though it might have been a head wind.
We arrived at the happy café I pretty good time- Karen hadn’t tired at all! Although it felt warm enough we went inside, found a couple of tables and got on with refuelling. The entertainment was provided by an elderly pop group who all sang a different tune. The gist of it was that the café wasn’t big enough and they couldn’t reorganise the tables to their liking. The ones who didn’t know the words ordered and got on with eating main meals. The others caught on slowly and more food followed.
But you can only stand so much so we set off. Karen knew I was likely to tire so eased off the pace a tad as we took the back road and rejoined the Epworth Road at the far end of Benton for our journey home. We had a spot of bother with our hands- to me left is left but for others it might not be- so it was interesting at the traffic lights and we resorted to exaggerating the arms/indicators to make sure them others knew it was “the other right” ie left!
From there we wandered along to Owston Ferry then on to Graiselound and Westwoodside. It was Westwoodside where my neck ache got to the point where I couldn’t ignore it (it’s an age thing - won’t affect you) so I stopped for some magic pills - legal, honest. Oh and an energy gel.
Michelle had stopped with me but the others were gone! We kept thinking they would notice but it was an age before Robin appeared to see where we were. But we caught up eventually and carried on to Misson and then Bawtry.
The road was clear in Bawtry so we made it as a group the the turning towards Tickhill and around the junction. From there it’s a straight forward trip back to base. Err, no, only if you stick together!
We did notice we were a bit spread out but thought nothing of it - but we should have. We progressed slowly until we found somewhere safe to stop (Plumtree undustrial estate). And we waited and the we waited a bit more before Robin gave in and went back to see what was afoot.
He was forever! We were considering what to do when he reappeared alone to tell us Dave had lost his crank arm! Did he clip in or did he use bog standard pedals? I couldn’t remember but we thought he clipped in; we hoped he clipped in. And we carried on! I had to as I had a place I had to be and the others made sure I made it safely (apart from one legged Dave and shepherdess Michelle who had to do there own thing to get home.
Despite all that I had an enjoyable (long) ride and hopefully Dave on his first ride as a member did too.
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