John 6: 1-14 The Odd Balls Cycling Club Saturday Ride

The OddBalls are back, its been a while since we were all out, well 3 weeks anyway, I have been away and 6 of the crew were out cycling Cast to Coast,  Margate to WsM in under 24 hours. Needless to say, they did it with approx. 10 minutes to spare

So we decided late on Friday that we would have a gentle leg warmer out to Cheddar for breakfast and return to Wick St Lawrence, it was about 27 mile, we would meet up at the Crematorium at 7:30. The frost was on the car and it didn’t get much warmer for the whole day. There was me, Jason, Richard, Dan, James  and we even saw Clive, driving his van, in Winscombe.

We tend to keep to B Roads and lanes where we can as it is true that there are motorists out there that seem to think Cyclists should not be allowed on Roads. Certainly travelling from Puxton to Sandford we were lucky not to be knocked off a number of times, but it has become an occupational hazard these days. Apart from that the ride was good keeping a reasonable average, (mine is always around 12.5mph) although I think I was slowing the others down a little :-)  I do like to stop and take in the scenery and take a photo or two, but today I rode non stop keeping up where I could. I knew we were going to the Simply Gorgeous Tearoom in Cheddar so they went on ahead and I met them there, was only about 5 minutes behind so am happy with that :-)

We at Odd Balls Cycling Club have a motto, “If we are out cycling then breakfast is mandatory” and our favourite place is Simply Gorgeous Tearoom, Cheddar and would recommend this to everyone, not just for breakfast but all day. Needless to say the breakfast was a hit and we spent half an hour having Jolly banter as we do!

Heading back to Wick St Lawrence we go as far as the top of Shute Shelve and Jason has yet another puncture, seems to be jinxed, but obviously used to changing tyres, did it in a few minutes, onwards into Winscombe where Dan and Richard peeled off to go through Banwell, and Jason and I headed towards Sandford, I hadn’t ridden for 3 weeks and I admit I was cold and getting a little tired (If this weather stays with us the thermal underwear will be used! Going down thru towards Puxton the wind was whipping up and by the time we got to the Railway Bridge the wind chill was reducing temperatures. The sun had been up for most of the ride but now with clouds above it was really getting chilly. Arriving back to Smifster’s the kettle went on a hot coffee was welcomed with much enthusiasm. 27.8 miles was a good ride and certainly stretched the leg muscles, next week we will be 40+ for me and I expect 60 for the other guys

 Peter Boardman (Missing Odd Ball member) has been found!

 The new Odd Balls Cycling jersey, all with personal names, just something we thought would make us stand apart, and every member has the opportunity to have one.

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https://www.strava.com/activities/766407727/embed/7c70f475822cc08090bec6e7e95de1be7fa4386d