Mind the Gap

A goodly crowd met at At the Chapel on Saturday, with Mr PT and Mr JM deciding to pedal out ahead of the rest of the pack, with the thought that we might regroup towards Wells. Standard route out via Wyke and North Wootton, with a good chain gang spurt along the A361. The hares beat the hounds good and proper and were well through their first coffee when the trailing 8 arrived at Loaf Bakehouse. Usual banter over refuelling before the return journey. The hedge cutting tractor wasn’t a welcome site (for Mr KL at least) and punctures ensued causing a split in the riders, but all got safely home in the end, with Mr GA adding on another 30K or so for good measure. We didn’t scare Mr AC too much either, as he decided to join the club as we reached the top of Wyke on the return leg! Consensus on the WhatsApp chat after the ride was that Mr KL should be buying a new bike - not just new wheels, I think that’s the polite summary anyway.

Sunday brought mixed but mostly dry conditions, for the 4 who mustered on the bridge, having just missed Mr SC heading off on a long whizz for his Mallorca and Ironman training. The headwind was testing all the way out to Langport and on across the levels to North Petherton, where the Quantocks protected us somewhat during the 5 mile climb up to Fyne Court. A brief sustenance break, then the whizz back the way we came but with some wind assistance now, but the final climbs towards Bruton still felt like hard work. Mr DC peeled towards home at Castle Cary while Mr Trims, Mr TW and Dr L decided to take the Wyke route home. Mud, a ditch, brief inattention and speed resulted in a coming together of Mr TW and Dr L, one stayed up, the other did a wheelie and crashed out, some bike damage, a good winding but nothing broken. Dr L still managed to ask Mr Trims to save her ride on the garmin though…..