Today was action packed. Twelve of us started with a lap and visit to the Ciclovia festival in the city centre. We just wanted to show our support and show off the jersey.
Being pretty much Halloween, a couple of us had added some spooky accessories to get in the spirit. Digger had matched his socks to a cool skull n crossbones rear light and was sporting a collection of spiders on his toptube. In addition to my pumpkins, I'd somehow attached a witch's hat to create the least aero Kask Protone ever.... I'm not saying we looked cool, but at least one kid thought it was hilarious - made my day.
Unfortunately Dracula stuck his fangs in to Bones and The Man with No Reflection's tyres and we were two riders down before getting in to the countryside.
Given the slow start we didn't want to be too ambitious and set our sights on Banbridge. The Beast helped me throw in a twist or two on the way to shake things up. The route went from Culcavey to Hillsborough then down a lost road beneath the A1 and on to Dromore. From there the direct but hilly route to Banbridge.
Blend & Batch provided refreshments, which were amazingly consumed outdoors in the warm sunshine. Like the witch in the Wizard of Oz I was melting once we got up to speed on the way home. That took us over to the Castlewellan Road, through Corbet, on to Flough Road, Gail Bog Road, Kinallen, Annahilt and homewards.
Approaching Temple via Bailies Mills and Boardmills we decided to split, with the frisky spirits heading cross-country to Saintfield, while the rest turned for Carryduff.
Brilliant weather, a lot of laughs and some great riding - Chris is definitely getting stronger. Apologies to The Beast, I'd hoped to write a spooktacular report, but as usual forgot everything by the time I got home.https://www.strava.com/activities/760595673
