Ride Reports

Saturday 3rd June 2017

A Ride to Crosby by Paul Baillie
Due to the ill health of Mrs W our ride leader Rick Wiggans (the only one who knew where we were going) had to pull out at the last minute. We all wish Kath a speedy recovery.

With the route loaded up on Michael's Garmin 5 of us set off with the intention of meeting Boz near to Preston. We were myself & Mick B, Paul Whaley, Eric Hall and my pal Paul, who was to do his first 100 mile ride.

All ran smoothly as we cruised and chatted all the way down towards Preston where we duly scooped up Boz. Once we'd negotiated our way out of town, we were soon onto pleasant, quiet lanes making our way South West into a nice SW'ly headwind! No matter though, as it would hopefully be behind us on the way back.

This route is very twisty and turny so Mick's Garmin was working at full capacity to point out turns that came thick and fast. We missed a fair few (usually while chatting) and after about 30 miles Paul W & Eric turned for home. The remaining 4 made our way towards Crosby to see the Gormley Statues out on the beach. I'm not the most cultured of chaps so they were a bit lost on me, but there seemed to be plenty of people looking at them! After a few minutes we headed back towards Formby and stopped for lunch at about 60 miles. The sun was out and it was nice to sit & chat outside before heading back with that nice tailwind.

Of course, the wind had turned by the afternoon so no real help but it was still a pleasant ride back north, using pretty much the same lanes as the outward leg. At about 75 miles my pal was starting to feel the miles so the pace was eased back to allow us to ride together.

Preston was soon reached and negotiated and soon after Boz left us the 3 of us were on the final stretch home, where I managed to get stung by a wasp whilst being yelled at by a van driver for being on his planet. That was an excellent 30 seconds.

We were soon home and a well deserved pint in the Barn at Scorton was enjoyed in the late afternoon sunshine.

Stats from my Garmin were 112 miles not much climbing and a pace of 17.6 mph.

 Comments (click to expand)

Loading comments...

Add a comment (click to expand)