We had arranged to meet at the local Leisure Centre at 10am, and up to this point I had felt quite happy at the prospect of a group ride.
The sky was clear and the sun was trying to peak out from behind the clouds, life felt good.
BUT ... the others weren't happy!
Apparently the roads were treacherous with ice!
I had happily cycled the mile to our meet up point and had been oblivious to this!
There was a big discussion about changing the planned route to stay on the gritted "A roads" for everyone's safety!
I was beginning to feel ever so slightly stressed by this point - I was beginning to wish that I had hit the turbo trainer instead!
Anyhow after a lot of deliberation and with my anxiety level now sky high we set off in two groups the "A" group and the
Just in case you are wondering I was in the latter group!
Now that the seed had been planted that the roads were icy I was convinced I was going hit black ice and end up in a heap in the road!
Not only did I have the fear of ice I also had the fear of cars!
With sticking to the "A"roads there was far too much traffic for my liking and my overactive imagination had me skidding on ice and then being run over by about 100 cars!
I was delighted when we eventually turned off the busy roads at around 13 miles and stayed on the much quieter "B" roads for the rest of the ride!
We stopped at around 18 miles for refreshments at Greenlands Farm Cafe!
I was well and truly ready for my cappuccino and flapjack by then! A shot of whiskey in it at this stage would have been welcome!
After a 40 minute break we were back on the road and someone up above must have been having a laugh as by now it was raining!
Thankfully it didn't last long and I really enjoyed the second half of this ride once the "ice factor" had left my mind!
Altogether we did 33.31 miles at an average speed of 12.1 MPH although in my mind I was going much faster!
I am glad I went, it was certainly character building stuff!
I know if left to my own devices I definitely wouldn't have gone today!
Tomorrow IS run day!
Bring it on!
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