So the weather forecast was looking great for today's ride. I was hopeful and overly optimistic that the 10% chance of rain for the first leg of today's ride would mean a pleasant mostly dry cycle until the return leg after we had a well earned coffee and refreshments.
How wrong was I. Who ever coined the phrase luck of the Irish was not meaning myself today or the 8 brave cyclist who also took on the challenge of the elements and some of the hilliest roads that Gloucestershire has to offer. Considering there was a 90% chance of dry weather we managed to beat those odds and found the 10% the Met Office had forecast.
I will say however that the cheesecake and coffee in the Halfway Cafe was worth the slog up the hill made even harder by not having the easiest two cassette rings on the rear to help with the hill. So note to ones-self you must re-index your gears before your next ride.
So back to the ride, what an amazing route it would be totally breath taking in the summer or even a dry December Sunday morning. To top of the run of bad luck on the return to base with 10 miles left of the ride I heard that tell tale sound of someone losing a lot of air very quickly. I shouted puncture, who has a puncture to be told its you. Looked down to see a flat rear Tyre. So just beside was a gateway and the ideal place to stop and fix the problem. Quickly get the stuff out of the saddle bag and flip the bike into that well known position of 'oh dear I have a problem' on the handle bars and saddle. Got the rear wheel out swiftly and that's where the swiftness ended. Those wire beaded tyres and these wheels are an absolute pain in the bottom. My tyre levers where not man enough for the job and kept flexing and slipping out from under the bead. The one great thing about today's ride was my old friend Seb was there and as we had found out the previous week when he had a puncture he has a beast of a tyre lever and quickly stepped in to lend a hand and we got the tyre off between the two of us. However I would have to admit Seb did most of the work. So with this fixed and the tyre inflated I righted the bike up ready to set off and at this point I realised that it was not just a puncture in the rear tyre but also the front. A quick look in the saddle bag revealed that there was only one inner tube and given the time taken to battle with the tyre on the rear and the fact the other 8 riders had been hanging around now for a fair few minutes I decided to chuck in the towel and admit defeat and send them on their way and made the phone call to the team support vehicle for an emergency evacuation back to home. Fortunately I did not have very long to wait and it wasn't too long before I was unloaded and sat inside drinking a nice cup of tea before a lovely warm shower.
So I hoped you have enjoyed listening to today's ramblings and will pop in again to see what the next episode is in my journey to remember.
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