Broken gears, broken bodies - Saturday 08/02/14

The Rocket threw down the gauntlet midweek by proclaiming that any rider who cried off this week because of bad weather should hang up their overshoes and take up knitting instead! Well that's not exactly what he said, but you get the idea..... Ronnie, Rocket, Robbo, Patron, Lantern, Craig, Vino, Chrissy, Brownie and Tudor therefore took up the challenge for what should have been an easy 47 mile loop to Prees. The weather had other ideas though, and a shocking side wind splintered us into 3 groups between Overton and Whitchurch, and it stayed that way until the welcome cafe stop at Prees. The final pairing was made up of Patron and Lantern but it was a solitary Lantern who rolled into the Raven with news of Le patron's return to base as a result of a snapped rear mech cable. A tailwind offered a brief respite on the initial return leg to Whitchurch but this soon changed again to a cross wind which again broke us up into 2 groups along Oldcastle road. The section from Worthenbury to Bangor was predictably hard as we turned further into the wind but I can honestly say that the final 5 miles from Overton to Ellesmere into the bared teeth of a hail and rain infested gale was the hardest thing I've done since Mont Ventoux. A hard but enjoyable day for those who made it and here's a useful link for those who didn't ;-) www.letsknit.co.uk