Fast Bubble: Jon Brough, Mike Sales, Pete Down, Mick Cleghorn and Rob Crofts
Comfort Bubble: Martin Bagshaw, Karl Davies, Rob Stevenson, Karen Cleminson, Jenny Down
Rob Crofts had mentioned it was his Birthday on Sunday, he was 21 (again) so he was given the choice of café for the ride. With other members of the red ride asking to avoid Bib lane and Spotbrough, this made the route very flat with the only ‘hill’ being back from Bawtry.
The weather was amazing at TVCHQ and quite a number of riders had gathered ready for the grand depart. The fast bubble pulled away slightly out of Tickhill and managed to make it through the traffic lights onto Stripe Road, the comfort bubble were not so lucky, so had lengthy wait before we could set off in pursuit.
The ride took us through Rossington and towards Blaxton where we turned left and headed up the TT route (there were no cow bells on the magic roundabout!). Rob (S) set the pace for the comfort bubble, nice steady 16-17 mph until Jenny came to the front and upped the pace slightly. In Hatfield Woodhouse we made a left turn and headed out towards Thorne and with the promise of coffee and a butty the pace increased with everyone taking turns on the front.
Meanwhile in the fast bubble: Both Mick and Pete planned to make their own group and ride at a steadier pace, but got swept along with the fast bubble. Which kept a nice pace with a good rotation of riders at the front, we came a cross another small group between Auckley and Blaxton which took the speed up to around 24mph as a warm up before the TT route. Heading towards Hatfield the pace was around 21mph with some people trying to up it but the more sensible members keeping it at a nice pace everyone could live with.
On arrive at the Old Butchers Mike sailed past heading towards the old venue, Jon headed off in hot pursuit to round him up and bring him back - or was he just trying to get some extra miles?
Comfort bubble: At the café, there was some debate about shade or sun before we plumped for shade, 5 of us squeezing onto a bench designed for 4! When the waitress came to take our order, Martin was in danger of being ‘out sausaged’ by Karen who had opted to go large on her sausage butty, bowing to peer pressure Martin also went large! (Queue lots of jokes about sizes of sausage etc!).
Both groups gathered for a customary café photo before the fast bubble departed.
The fast bubble set off nice and steady trying to save a bit of energy for the head wind on the way back, but as we headed out of Hatfield towards Sandtoft the pace picked back up to low 20’s and we started to take it in turns on the long straight roads. By the time we turned towards Idle bank from Epworth the birthday boy was feeling his recent 2 week ‘all inclusive’ holiday, so we dropped the pace and remained together. The ‘hill’ out of Bawtry split us up, so it’s lucky there are temporary traffic lights at Stripe Road for us to regroup before heading back to TVCHQ. Rob and Mick headed off home whilst Pete, Jon and Mike decided to have refreshments whilst waiting for the comfort bubble.
Meanwhile in the comfort bubble: The road out of Epworth took us past an Alpaca farm, Jenny had promise Rob alpacas, however the alpacas were obviously sun bathing elsewhere and only 1 was spotted, much to Rob’s disappointment. Which we did hear about for the next mile or so!
The rest of the route back was on long straight roads down Idle Bank, through Wroot, Finningley and Austerfield. The comfort bubble worked well as a team with some chain ganging and everyone taking turns on the front, it did little to alleviate the monotony of those roads though.
Rob (S) had a near miss with a caravan on the way back from Bawtry, necessitating a polite word with the driver whilst he was held up at the lights.
A great ride in the sunshine and we even had time for a quick drink at the cricket club, after Karen & Jenny had cycled round the block to make the mileage up to 50 miles.
Happy Birthday Rob – hope you enjoyed the ride!
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