As I sit on a warm sofa typing this without falling asleep or the slightest ache or pain, I almost feel guilty for taking the Lites out again and missing "playing bikes" with the big boys, but something tells me it's a guilt I'll get over.... The Lite group is going from strength to strength and despite the temperature, there was a really good group again.
Given the ice on back roads and a south easterly wind we simply headed along the carriageway to Knock and right along the Upper Newtownards Rd. Along the way we tagged on behind Dave Kane looking well and a group of Northern riders. Up Bradshaw's Brae the group stayed together really well and dropped into Ards wary of ice. Casanova was making a rare appearance on the road with us and blew his biscuits sprinting solo for the 30's.
I was tempted to loop round Scrabo, but instead we took the carriageway to Comber, picking up the pace with a temporary tailwind. We headed on out to Lisbane only pausing for a puncture. A left took us towards Nendrum, looping back to Castle Espie for coffee. This is where I accidentally insult someone by forgetting them, but I think the crew was De Niro, Casanova, Lanterne, Philip, Brian, David, Mark, Fred, Bobby, Derek and me.... I never even counted the riders so hopefully 11 was right.
From Castle Espie we returned to Comber and turned left towards Ballygowan, then right towards Moneyreagh. By keeping it steady on the climbs the group held together well allowing us to keep a decent overall pace. We nipped through Moneyreagh and on to my traditional Ballykeel Rd route home. We were surprised to still see plenty of ice and tip-toed on to Knockbracken Rd, thankfully all staying upright.
We split to head home with the majority climbing over Lisnabreeny to empty what was left in the legs. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and I can see a good group forming. Hopefully as the weather warms up, we'll encourage a few more out and get a few regular routes. I don't do computers, but I reckon it was about 53k back to Forster Green.
Strava link: www.strava.com/activities/242660329
0 comments:
Post a Comment