'I'm just going outside and may be some time.'
Captain Oats - South Pole 1912
Our cycles were about to carry us through the white teeth of icy flurries so this time we all honored our machines by holding them aloft for the traditional photo shoot before heading out. The snatch, clean & jerk lifting process was repeated because of late arrivals but no matter as the effort served as a useful warm up. Refusenik Stuart announced he was not in need of an arctic outing & offered to take the photos before vacillating with a should I stay or should I go look & then finally electing to join us.
Our group of five struggled to hold it together from the start with the recumbent duo of Dave & Stuart going fast to get warm & diamond cyclists John & I in the middle looking back for Patrick who seemed to be skillfully pedaling at that rate just enough to avoid toppling over.
After loosing sight of the leading pair in the north driven sleet & snow, John & I settled on our own company only to be surprised by catching Dave & Stuart at Abridge. With the pace set by Dave we became warm & it was good to be outside on the bikes again. The country side around Stapleford Tawney was as if in January, the trees flanked by snow & there was not much green to be seen, it was like passing through a black & white movie.
There was no need to go the whole hog today, we stayed out for about two & a half hours, coming back via Epping before stopping at the the High Beach cafe for a quick tea & spot of snowman building.
All returned safely with all digits intact & frost-bite free!
KA
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