Club run reports - 27th July

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Last week's road closure saw us hacking our way through swampy pampas grass past a flood in order to avoid going back down the long hill we had just come up. This week we were confronted by a giant chasm in the road up to the Dream Bean café. The proprietors of this hole had surrounded it with tall metal fences and omitted to leave any convenient corridor for cyclists and pedestrians.

Groups faced by such crises, especially those occurring tantalisingly close to tea and cake, are in need of strong and  decisive leadership. In the absence of this, it is good to have Alex on board. Calling on his encyclopedic knowledge of the lanes and byways of Hertfordshire (and beyond) he pointed out a farm track to our left that would take us on our way. There was, though, the small matter of a deep, sheer-sided ditch between us and our escape route. My leadership skills surfaced at this point. Surely the captain should be the last to leave? So, I waited until the others had crossed unscathed before having a go myself. It occurred to me that if I placed my bike in the ditch it would be a useful prop with which to steady myself on the descent. This might have worked well had not my left foot been lassooed by a bramble. I think it was at this point that Brian helpfully took a photograph.

Anyway, we all made it without injury and enjoyed our ride. We followed Alex's 100k audax route from 2024. It was, he said supposed to be a challenge. We kicked off with the hilly roads through Haultwick and the climbs to the south of Ashwell. Later we tackled the 13% slope after Offley Holes Farm, finishing up with Horns Hill out of Kimpton and Heath Hill up to Codicote. For me, at any rate, it was a challenge!