Wednesday 27th February 2019

The Shorter Ride

John led Rob, Lyn, Ray, Anne, Patrick, Marcus, Anne, Gill and Paul south past Mucklin Wood and through Woodhouse Eaves towards Swithland but turning off onto Rushey Lane to take the rather rough track to Swithland Reservoir dam as there was now little mud to cope with following several dry, warm and sunny days (with a record high temperature for February). Unfortunately Patrick found he had a flat tyre. Rob stayed with him for a time but Patrick insisted that he could make the repair and take the direct route to the tea place at the Rowena Garden Centre.

The riders then continued taking a rather circuitous route via Rothley Station and the Ridgeway to arrive at Rowena just before 11am where some excellent repast was sample while they waited for the riders on the longer ride to arrive. After the presentation of a log book of rides past with photos entitled "Ray Clay 80 years on" to Ray the riders took the direct route along the old A6 to Loughbrough.

The Longer Ride

Participants (12) Howard, Terry, Pat, Tricia, Alan, Mick, Brian, Keith, Philip, David, Derek, Eric.

In the hour before today’s ride there was a stream of WhatsApp enquiries as riders sought to break into the usually surprise plan for the group’s Wednesday missions, in order to join the ride nearer home.

Also, high on today’s agenda was to recognize Ray Clay, for his formative role in the group and celebration of 80th birthday. Most of us aspire to still be cycling at that age, if we are not taken out by a white van swerving to avoid an inconveniently placed tree.

So it was that the two subgroups (Short and Long ride) met at the Rowena Garden Centre restaurant to celebrate.

And this was the backdrop to Terry’s resourceful re-planning of the route in the minutes while we revved up our machines by the Outwoods Drive roundabout.

It was again unseasonably warm and sunny as we took an interesting route via Quorn, Burton on the Wolds, Wymeswold, then up Narrow Lane and down Berrycott Lane into Seagrave, then via Sileby and Cossington to Rothley, about 21 miles. At Quorn, the large fellowship of ten was further enhanced by the arrival of the intrepid duo (Derek (not Dez) and Eric) streaking in like Red Arrows rejoining their squadron. The roads were generally peaceful and amenable to conversation.

As we were approaching Cossington, it became apparent that we were behind schedule to meet the other subgroup; so, the pace was picked up and we arrived at various times at Rowena depending on how much speed we could muster.

Rowena’s serving counter was busy with people and its encyclopaedic voucher system, so whether you arrived early or late we were able to share in the presentation to Ray after some delay.

After the break, three of us (Alan, Keith and David) headed for home, while most others went via Swithland.

It was at Swithland where the group photo was taken. Derek had a puncture just before and walked to the photo-shoot. (N.B. All 9 are in the shot). After Howard stayed to help Derek fix the puncture while the remaining seven were led home by Terry.

Report by David. (Some photos uploaded to the Gallery - all can be seen on the Facebook Page).