Having missed the Tuesday Forty Plus club run due to some domestic chores to attend, I decided to give the Thursday rollout a try. This is billed as something of a little more leisurely ride.
Tuesday is a full-on day of riding. Thursdays involve the meet up, then a couple of hours riding before heading back to where we started and then back home.
Sounds simple, right?
The only problem is that the meet up is always over in Witham. That’s a good 35 km for me to get there.
So I cycle 35 km, then I do the two hour ride back to Witham, and then I cycle 35 km back.
It’s all about the bike innit.
There was a slight dew on the ground as I rolled out shortly before 8 am. Daylight was barely visible. I was looking like a right dickhead wearing my high vis workman jacket.
I crossed over the river and then made my way around the outskirts of Rowhedge. The rush hour traffic was pretty hellish.
This included a recently passed driver with a green P on the back of his car. This didn’t stop him from close passing. It’s best to cut this out early. A police report was filed later back at base.
As ever I had to time trial it pretty much to make the 9:30 am rendezvous. Sadly I missed this by 10 minutes.
Oh well. I took the opportunity to look at some plant pots in the nearby garden nursery. Live the dream, Jase. Live the dream.
I decided on doing my own all day ride. I plotted in a rough course on the Beeline Velo 2. I thought let’s head up to Coggeshall, then make my way over to Earl’s Colne, weave through Wormingford, and then perhaps take in more familiar home territory around Elmstead.
The route was pretty cool. The Beeline Velo 2 was doing its job. It kept me off busy roads and on deserted lanes. There was plenty of hill climbing to do however.
75 km in and my plates of meat started to bloody hurt. I pressed on.
Then all of a sudden I was back on the edges of the half-town, half-city. The route then took me through Highwood Country Park. I wasn’t expecting that.
I stopped off at yet another garden nursery. This time a plant pot was bought. I’m absolutely CREAMING myself in plant pot land right now.
I slowly headed back towards base. Strava tells me I clocked in 99.3 miles.
Arse.
