Today’s riders were; Matt Lowe (Ride Leader); Alan Goulden; Phil Jary; Helen Hand; Stuart Oades; Mick Lee; Andrew Rex; Robert Stevenson; Oliver Hartmann; Clair Curtis-Scammell; Peter Hanks; Darren O’Connor; Kieran James; Kevin Thomas and Paul Bacon.
It was damp and a bit blustery. Kieran had come past a little earlier and with no-one around had gone home to make adjustments. Imagine his surprise upon his return and fourteen eager riders (perhaps a slight exaggeration) were waiting for a ride to the Skyways Bar. Pete and I had been followed from Rossington by Phil who joined us for his first club ride. Welcome and bring some sunshine nextime...
Usual format – two groups, keep in sight ‘cos the guy leading the second group can’t remember where he left his wallet, ‘phone, jumper etc so he has no chance remembering more than a couple of instructions! As it turned out it was a mixture of different routes which led us to Firbeck (mechanical – chain off, but it was Mick so we left Oliver, Phil and him to it and waited at the top of Kidd Lane!), all back together to go to Letwell and Gildingwells. Rather than the usual ride to Woodsetts we ambled up Lodge Lane to Dinnington. New roads for some and Darren became quite animated with the thought of going down Ryton Road only to have his hopes dashed by the right turn taking us to Miln Lane. The A57 was particularly busy and it took us a while to get over to Sheffield Road and West Street.
A loop through Harthill was today’s choice, rather than the drag up Bull Hill. It was then a quick blast through Thorpe Salvin (not Salem Matt!) and to the Skyways Bar. Great service, super food and we had the place almost to ourselves.
Fed and watered, we photographed and set off in two groups down the back lanes to Shireoaks. It becomes a bit hazy here... I remember Matt saying Shireoaks and Kieran was sure that the last time they turned left down Spring Lane. So we did and they hadn’t... We were now on route B. We made our way through Shireoaks and did a little bit of, well it wasn’t strictly off-roading but we weren’t on the road either. However, it was a very good way to get over the busy A57 and we made our way down Gateford Road and Raymoth Lane, stopping at the Canon traffic lights. We then saw Andrew going from left to right across the lights, into Worksop. Baffled, we continued down Blyth Road, stopping on the outskirts of Blyth for a drink and a pause for breath.
Bawtry Road is now open for business so we didn’t have to use the path and Harworth Avenue. We then found out that the other group were behind us, as two or three riders came past us heading towards Harworth. It would seem that the race for home was on while the rest of us rode steadily back to Tickhill (‘cos we’d sort of gone a bit nuts on Blyth Road).
Thanks Matt for an interesting route and sorting out the stop. It was great to see friends old and new.
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