Report today's MTB ride.

Six riders made it to East Molesey Cricket club on a clear cold and in places icy route.

The five riders from Cheam were Mick Ayliffe, Bob Green, Andrew Adams, Big Dave Repson and Paul White. The sixth rider Barry Gregory would meet us at the tea stop, but more about that later.

The usual route was adopted along the Hogsmill river of late a little soft, gooey and slippery. Today’s ride still had the slippery bit, but replaced the soft and gooey  with crunchy hard frozen mud stuff.

Today’s weather was freezing, bright and perfect for a leisurely ride to Kingston and down the north bank of the Thames to Hampton Court.

We dodged the usual two or three dog walkers along the Thames ‘Shared Cycle Path’, who, whilst we slowed to walking pace in some places to pass them seemed to think it was totally our fault that their little ‘Off the lead’  furry rat foo foo nearly got itself run over.

This doggy phenomenon we are well experienced in. It’s when the one brain cell kicks in inside the little canine head and it trots merrily across straight in front of five cyclist with a combined weight of around 52 stone.

No Dog was harmed in the making of this cycle ride.  We have  far  more experience and common sense than a lot of dog walkers and save doggy lives. We don’t go out of our way to end them, like so many of their owners seem destined  to do!

After all we are the, “Ever exceedingly polite members’ of the Clarencourt cycle club”.

At Hampton Court some riders chose to stop early at the cricket club at East Molesey and other’s like myself, Big Dave and Andrew Adams decided to push on for Walton on Thames to meet the happy smiling face of the legendary Barry Gregory cycling towards us for tea.

Little did we know that Mr Gregory had dropped in for a “Nature Break” at the facilities at Hampton Court Lock and we’d cycled right past him, so whilst those stopping for tea early laughed and laughed as Barry rolled in from their same direction, the big hitters carried on towards Walton expecting to see Barry’s happy smiling face travelling towards them.

The guys enjoying their extended tea stop and naturally texted us straight away to make us aware of Barry’s location, IE. There.

SOME TWENTY MINUTES LATER!  into the ride to Walton at Sunbury Lock a phone call was received. (I’m sure there were sounds of giggling and stuffing of Bacon butties etc. in the background!)

We turned back and headed for tea stop rolling in some twenty minutes later, BUT WITH A WHOLE EXTRA FOUR MILES under our belts, so there,  ‘You stop early light weight riders!’

After tea, cake and the usual highly educated conversation you would expect from men of our caliber it was back on our bikes to reverse our route. This had now been mostly vacated by dog walkers and now was cluttered with  post 11 o’clock  posh coffee sucking, mobile phone worshipers.

Again no posh coffee sucking mobile phone worshipers were harmed in the making of this cycle ride, for we are the, “Ever exceedingly polite members’ of the Clarencourt cycle club”.

We left the Hogsmill river in the Worcester Park area, which thank you to MJA for refreshed my memory of a better, safer route.

After climbing a short sharp hill towards the Church (St John’s Church, Manor Farm area))  we dropped onto and across Church Road, Worcester Park, avoiding the dangerous bends of Old Malden Lane.

A nice straight route took us along bridal ways and paths on top of the hill that then  drops us right, via Stoneleigh railway station to Nonsuch Park and home.

 

Good ride chaps.

I hope the dish washer has a speedy and happy recovery from surgery Mr Ayliffe!

Paul White

(Paolo)

 

 

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