OGIL ride report 24th August 2022
With a rather threatening outlook from the weather forecasters all of the twelve that gathered at ToP were happy with the suggestion of the Helston boating lake for our destination today. Needless to say, Ian had an interesting and unusual non-direct route up his sleeve for us: Releath, Crowan, Praze, Townshend, Godolphin and Sithney.
The day had a number of highlights worth mentioning. We were joined at UC by Ginny from New Zealand on her full touring-equipped mountain bike. Apparently she has ridden with us a couple of times before. The fact that she has come back must make her judgement a little suspect.
When it was announced en-route that we would be passing through Carleen, several members of the group spontaneously broke into song (or at least a poor imitation of it) with a rendition of Charlene. This has happened before, and it is probably time that we had a club rule about this sort of thing – bringing the club into disrepute, possibly?
The route included a fair amount of good, fast roads to keep those amongst us who like that sort of thing happy, together with some quiet, gravelly lanes for those of a more laid back disposition. After passing through Carleen we took a right towards Sithney onto a lane that was more than generously coated with slimy brown stuff that we took to be mud but could have been something else. It put Muddy Lane to shame, and when we actually rode down said Muddy Lane on the way home it turned out to be remarkably free of the material we associate with it.
Arriving at the boating lake, we were all surprised to see Trevarno Dave arriving at the same time from the opposite direction. Apparently, this was pure coincidence, and just goes to show how riding as a group for a long time creates a sort of group think. Perhaps we could abandon bothering to meet up at UC/ToP and deciding on a destination, and instead just set out separately, and we would probably all arrive at the same place at the same time. Or maybe not.
At the boating lake we took full advantage of the recently installed bike racks and commandeered three of the outside tables, getting tucked in to our favourite food and beverages.
We were a little surprised to see a turkey guarding the entrance to the cafe rather than the usual geese, ducks and swans, but we are in the run-up to Christmas (as was confirmed at the club meeting the following day). A suggestion that we could split into two teams and stage a pedalo race – the swan versus the flamingo – was pointedly ignored. On my table at least a vigorous discussion took place covering such diverse subjects as speed limit enforcement zones (?), BA Steve’s imminent Trafalgar Way ride, Adrian’s new boat and Paul’s recently abandoned boat delivery from Scotland (a long story).
During a lot of the ride we endured intermittent mizzle which constantly threatened to turn into something worse. It duly obliged as we neared home, and the last 10km or so was ridden in deteriorating conditions that culminated in a deluge. The weather crept up on us in such a way that it never seemed the right time to stop and don a rain jacket until it was clearly too late, and we arrived home well and truly drenched.
An interesting ride which included several lanes either unknown or less travelled, with a good stop. Shame about the rain at the end – about 67 km for me.