Winter pace?

The best turnout for many a month brought the Crapi peleton up to 11 in strength, for the traditional Winter rolling ride to The Raven cafe at Prees. Present and correct were Patron, Robbo, Chrissy, Lamby, Ronnie, Mike, Rocket, Cabbage, Lantern, Gaz and Ed. The quality of the assembled steeds varied from the modern and shiny on one hand, to skinny framed steelies that were last seen either on antiques road show or in a skip.

Following the planned rendezvous at Overton, the assembled peloton then wound its way through Penley and Whixhall to Prees. Ronnie was absolutely delighted with this week's cafe stop, as he knew he could get breakfast and a brew, and still have enough change left out of a fiver for 2 cinema tickets, a bottle of pop and a bag of fish and chips on the way home. Aah, those were the days, hey Ron.

The rather brisk pace to the Raven was a mere appetiser for the return leg, which continued over rolling roads into a lively but strength sapping headwind through Prees, Wem and Ellesmere. Someone had also thrown in a smattering of stinging little hills on the way, just to keep it interesting. By the time we reached the outskirts of Ellesmere, a broom wagon was beginning to seem like a good idea to pick up members of the grumbling grupetto who'd over indulged at Christmas. On a couple of occasions, I was worried that a hearse might have been an even better idea.....

Eventually it all came back together on the road into Overton, where the gentle descent and slower pace made the headwinds around Wem nothing but a fading memory. Great ride boys, see you next week.