It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a New Year…  Outside the window the sun was shining, the sky was something vaguely resembling blue, and the wind had finally dropped from intolerable and dangerous to merely annoying and challenging.  Time to ride!  Good thing today was an ACG ride then, right?  Maybe because it was the first official ride of the year, there was a pretty impressive turnout too – 9 of us in total.  Myself, a recovering GB, the latest addition to the cycling blog world GF, MD and his two domestiques (aka his sons), and SD & Figgy, who brought a newbie by the name of Ian out to play.

GB had crafted us a route that he promised would be flat and not too troubling, and he was as good as his word.  Just as well since inevitably a chunk of it was going to be fighting into that westerly wind.  I’ll leave the precise route to the gadget equipped amongst us, but it was essentially of a ride of 4 quarters.  Out into the wind, along with the wind behind us, back into the wind to Sweets (having discovered that Fenny Castle café’s website was not up to date and they were in fact closed), and then back home into the wind.  I am so bored of wind!

Having said that, after four days straight confined to the gym, today I was like one of MiniMe’s toy cars – the sort you pull backwards to wind up and then just let go – me and my legs were definitely off on one.  It was just so nice to be on the bike again!  All wrapped up in my snuggly Rapha layers, with my knee strapped up properly, and a good few days between the excesses of the festive season and today; my cycling mojo was definitely back :).  It was hard to do the “G is for Group” thing when my legs were yelling “G is for Go”!  Especially on long sunny wide flat roads with the wind behind us…ah, “such stuff as dreams are made on” *sigh*.  I settled for trying not to get too far ahead, and pushing a bigger gear than usual, which I’ve not had to do in a while.

We had a long stop at Sweets, where the service is friendly but definitely not fast, along with several other familiar cycling faces.  It’s clearly the place to be on a Saturday morning, which would presumably explain why we ended up sitting outside.  At least that way we never really got warm, right?

some of the ACG outside Sweets

GF's Sponge Cake

Figgy's Fruit Cake

Apparently if you cycle a lot you’re entitled to eat lots of cake.  And bacon butties.  And the like.  Can’t say as it works for me, and there are those that were with us today who were later to regret their dietary choices.  Not me – I had a filter coffee with an extra espresso in it, otherwise known as cycling rocket fuel *grin*.  Now if they’d had carrot cake, which, as everyone knows, counts as at least 1 of your 5-a-day, it might have been a different matter… 😉

MD - man at work

6 of us did a very good job of standing in the sun and watching MD change a puncture, which he discovered as we were about the leave.  We make great spectators.  We even refrained from telling him how we’d be doing it if it was us.  Which was as close as any of us, barring his domestiques, came to being helpful.  Well, too many cooks would spoil the broth right?  And don’t try countering that with “many hands make light work”!

hello chicken 🙂

It’s a chicken ok?  A girl.  Not a boy.  Oddly it was almost as fascinated by bikes as we are.  Thanks to my back pocket, it even gets to be in soft focus…*grin*.  Well I had to do something while I was waiting, right? ;).

Puncture duly repaired, and it was time to head home the quickest way possible.  No point wiggling to add miles when they’re just going to be unpleasant miles.  I was properly cold by the time we set off again, and more than ready to go.  Wound up and properly caffeinated *grin*.  The wind, and Mudgley Hill, became my friends – something to fight against to warm up!  I think I unintentionally led pretty much the entire way back, but I just had to be going at my speed to keep warm, so this is probably by way of being an apology to those I may have left behind.  Besides which if I’m in front, I don’t have to worry about the wheel in front of me, and I can see all the obstacles ahead of me, so I feel safer :).

Cycling time: 2:30:29 hrs
Distance: 41.58 miles.
AVS: 16.6 mph.
ODO: 11628 miles

It was a good ride, in very good company, with a lot of laughing.  Laughter is good for the soul :).  I felt on form, and capable, and happy, back on track, and not at the gym.  That’s a lot of boxes ticked :).