A group 30th September ride report

David Vine wrote:- 

Like most suburban routes it was intricate, possibly out most intricate ride of the year. However with the benefit of Monday's recce, plus the brainpower of four seasoned riders, backed up by two Garmins and two I-phones we managed to stay pretty faithful to Steve's intentions.

The pub was welcoming and the garden just right for staying both dry and Covid secure. The IT skills and kit required to master the food ordering in a broadband black spot defeated a few of us, but thankfully the staff were on hand to accept our orders in the normal way and the food arrived promptly and was excellent.

There was only one mishap when Neil was stung by a bee on the bridge of his nose which must have been very painful. Absent easy access to hydrocortizone on the towpath, our combined wisdom recommended applying brandy and/or tomato ketchup. Thankfully the pub could supply both. Photos of this treatment have been deleted in the interests of medical confidentiality.

We were lucky to avoid punctures, given how much broken glass was about. However I recommend our riders check their tyres; I found two slivers of glass in my tyres after Monday's recce.

Thanks to Dave Bartholomew for back marking and to everyone for their company.

Simon Lambourn wrote:-

We assembled in Addlestone on an unpromising day with lots of rain forecast for the afternoon. Despite this there were five of us. There were some other groups of cyclists there, but obviously we didn't talk to them. It was good to see Ged out after his op - back doing very short rides and making good recovery, it seems.

Steve had devised a varied route which involved following the Thames, some little known parts of Nether Heathrow, Grand Union towpath and bits of Southall before swooping up to - was it Perivale or North Ealing? on a very long, very smooth cycle path. Just as we arrived at lunch it began to spot with rain - yesss - great timing! Nice pub with a big covered space in the garden, although it took us longer to order the food from the website than it took for them to bring it to the table. The rain fizzled out pretty quickly, but mindful of the awful forecast we put waterproofs on for the ride back down to Ealing and along traffic-calmed back streets to the canal again, back to Brentford, Syon Park and Hampton Court for tea.It never did rain properly until I got home - I hope others were equally lucky.

Thank you Steve for a well planned and intricate route showing that you can ride in London without having to fight with a lot of traffic and thank you Jennie for back marking.

Well I think everything has been covered. I would like to try and quash the rumour that I can control the weather some how, it's sheer luck if it's dry, I am not a wizard. No really, although I do carry a small first aid kit with ibuprofen and anti histamine which Neil might have used if we were all still on speaking terms. I have also checked my tyres as Dave has suggested and found two punctures from tiny bits of flint. Guess what I'll be doing over the weekend? Thank you Simon and Dave for your invaluable support and suggestions. Thank you also Brian for your help and for back marking. Thanks go to everyone else just for being there on what could have been a very wet ride. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. By the way, did the guy on the bridge in the first picture jump or did you persuade him to take up cycling?