With this weeks ride cancelled, it just so happened to be good timing for James Lockers previous weeks fast paced ride report to drop through our letterbox! *** The Locker Report - DR Fast Pace - 10/11/15 *** For the second week in a row the weather just wasn’t playing ball and we were faced with a wet and very windy 45 mile Bidford Loop. Luckily I missed the previous week’s ride where I heard you all froze and as the many people who came into the shop said it was the worst ride they had ever done! It must have been a shocking two weeks for Ian Wheeler then who first bonked on the unofficial DR ride and then had to contend with those conditions a week later! The ride was eventually shortened due to a fear of the gale force winds blowing all the skinny cyclists sideways and causing carnage out on the Warwickshire lanes. Still, despite the adverse weather conditions small groups of riders ventured out, firmly holding onto their bikes. The gusting winds made the weather unpredictable at best, the first hour was spent riding through a melee of conditions from driving rain to small bouts of glorious sunshine. This didn’t hamper the pace though, slow progress in head winds was matched with high speed when the wind was in our favour…albeit for a few minutes at most. The first challenge of the morning was the fearsome Irelands Lane wall just off from the Finest Catch. We rode into its lower slopes with vigour but this was soon extinguished as the gradient reached the high teens. Half way up a large branch had fallen which presented a tricky obstacle to navigate around. I stopped to move it aside - to the delight of a charging Turbo behind - and in the process snagged my two week old Velobici leg warmers which I had bought to replace my older ripped Velobici leg warmers. I also made the school boy error of leaving my gears in such a ratio that meant it was quicker to walk to the top of climb, which I did. The state of the lanes ensured we had to communicate well to avoid potholes, branches, fallen riders and the like as we swept into Wootton Wawen. Then the inevitable happened, a puncture. A swift change followed as the biting cold rifled through our layers of kit, then, just as we were about to set off again Gaz conveniently noticed he too had a front puncture. After a few minutes of expletives and repairing we were back on our way. Turbo Thomas was in his usual buoyant mood, eager to make others suffer. We crested the Armouries climb together with a slight advantage over our pursuers and the wannabe sky rider piled on the speed. Everyone remember that next time he is suffering ;) By the time we entered Snitterfield the sun was out casting great shadows on the road so Turbo will have seen mine keeping close guard behind every time he surged up a rise! Sky Rider No2, Richard Dorney was keen to show his form after his first week out of six months off the sauce. This fine athlete cut through the countryside with speed and poise. Russell Phillips would have made a good companion as he endeavours to trim his figure through a low carb diet (yet he did have a slice of carrot cake at the shop on Thursday and an apricot crunch flapjack Saturday morning…) On the approach back to the shop a block headwind tried to scupper our speed but being hardened road warriors we forged on with the thought of hot soup, cake and coffee waiting for us back at the Flying Squirrel Cafe. Back in the warm confines of the cafe with Tina and Alex’s hospitality it was another successful morning on the bikes and bodes well for 2015! Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear about any antics from the two intermediate rides but the relaxed group never fail to amuse with their impromptu pub stop at The Boot in Lapworth. No doubt, Mark Hood was one of the key instigators in this decision and I have heard he will soon be swapping his Garmin for a map of ‘Warwickshire’s best pubs’. Apparently they did still manage a 20 mile ride, though I’m not sure any of them remember much of it! In other news the WattBike sessions started this week and have been a great success with Toddy introducing another earlier session to keep up with demand. James Middleton has set an impressive benchmark of 495 watts for 3 minutes for you all to aspire towards. And so I must say farewell as this is my last ride report for Dynamic Rides whilst I am away In Europe pedaling around and getting dropped up mountains by skinny Italians. Without wanting to bore you all I want to thank Dynamic Rides for giving me the opportunity to work at the shop and for Tom for putting up with my incompetence with anything related to bike mechanics. It has been great meeting all the people who come into the shop and ride with DR, the atmosphere and sense of community sets it apart from all the bog standard bike shops around and I can’t wait to be back in the summer riding and chatting with everyone again! Ciao!
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:10:00 +0000
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