It was a pleasant day for cycling, the rain over,
the big storm yet to come and the only worry that there was a bit of a breeze
and everybody in a car had decided it was their chance for a day out, too.
The rides list said Box Hill or Walton on the Hill
for the long ride, so it was into the thrill of the unknown that we arrived at Nonsuch
Park on Saturday. There were one or two
unfamiliar faces and it was nice to see Tim, and a few Wednesday regulars.
The short ride was to Morden Hall Park, which is one
of the shortest prescribed outings and has become too familiar to those of us
who turn up to Beddington Park each month but there was a lot of chatting and the
plan for the day was for leaders to depart like German trains; no announcement,
quietly slipping away, you should have been paying attention. Lynda did it first and then Nigel so that by
the time I had engaged my Strava and got on my gloves I was playing catch-up with
Sue through the doggie lottery that was Nonsuch Park; clinging mud if you left
the path.
It all added to the excitement, especially when you asked
Nigel where we were going and he replied with an enigmatic silence. Mysteriously, though, neither Tim nor Helen was
with us. There were eleven hats at
first, ten machines (Rob and Ruth on the tandem) and I ended up self-appointed
back marker. Sue did not really fancy Box
Hill (this is the same Sue who did the Prudential 100 and the TriVets 100 miles
last year!) and peeled off to do her own thing at Ewell. We used the Epsom Sainsbury’s route to Epsom but
unusually for Nigel, we were moving at a sedate pace. This suited, for I too felt a bit lethargic
and recorded the 8,521st fastest time ever up Col de l’hopital au
centre du jardinage (Wilmerhatch Lane).
At the top, Godfrey went his own way and we were left with Nigel,
Lorraine, Alice, the tandem, Steve W and Ken on his electric bike, and new man
Chris, out with us for the first time.
An experienced rider, Chris had not been on his bike for a few months.
I expected we would take the Ashtead and Leatherhead
route to Box Hill but no, we carried on up the lane, so I assumed it was Walton
we were aiming for and we went right and left up the Headley Road until we met
the impenetrable barrier that has been Headley High Street for a while. There we had a debate because Nigel was
intending to get us to the bottom of Box Hill from there and take us up the
zigzag, but Box Hill had also been closed when I was there on Wednesday and
this out-of-date information and the views of the majority persuaded Nigel that
Walton was the place for coffee. Two young
women in a car were rude because they felt we were blocking their way, though
when they start their driving lessons they will learn how to steer through a
gap one and a half times as wide as their vehicle. Fortunately it was Gentleman Rob in discourse
with them. Back under the M25, up The
Bitch and along the Duck Pond sprint to the Village Cafe, which we made half an
hour before closing time. Perfect.
At Nigel’s invitation, I led us homeward, and with the incentive
of going out with Maggie to the cinema, at a less gentle pace. Personal firsts over the Tadworth Sprint and
the Tattenham Rollers and the Shawley Way climb, where my unfitness overtook
me, along with Steve and Alice, and Nigel and Ken. Rob
and Ruth had fancied the A217, Chris had left us at Tattenham Corner to make
his way home to Cobham, Alice and Lorraine split from us at Banstead High
Street and the remaining three of us went down past the prison, a dangerous road for
speeding now, littered with potholes and poor drains. Nigel took Ken homewards down Banstead Road
South, where I said goodbye. One more
climb for me, Metcalfe Avenue, but by now the cobwebs had blown away and I was
in that pleasant place, wind in the face, cruising down the hills with a song
in my head, happy to pedal up them.
Altogether a splendid ride. 40km, 427m elevation gain, 14.9Km/h. Thank you Nigel. But I still have that nagging worry that we
left people behind at Nonsuch.