With the sun starting to break the cold chill of winter, there were a lot of KCC members out on the roads this week either at the Broughton TT or on the training ride or Social Ride.
Ten riders left Sainsbury’s at just after 9am heading east out of Kettering facing the first obstacle of the climb out of Warkton. The peloton looked a bit ragged at the top of the hill but soon re-gathered its structure as it soft pedalled for a couple of miles before picking up the pace.
Through Thrapston and Titchmarsh the group stayed intact until three riders cracked on the climb up to Clopton and the group was split with seven riders forming a lead group: Andrea Woolcott, Darren Gillings, Steve Wong, Steve Webster, Scott Barber, Ian Bird and Mike Castelete.
Welcoming back Roy Crombie after his recent hip operation, there was dogged pursuit by Mark Brockway, Roy and Andy Parker but the three musketeers were rather enjoying the bright clear skies and countryside as we headed out towards the borders with Cambridgeshire and kept a good steady pace rather than chasing hard.
A slight but perceptible north-easterly breeze created a head wind until the corner was turned. The relief given helped the groups to pick up pace and, with only a little over 600 m (c2,000ft) of climbing both groups managed decent speed throughout.
There was almost a catch from the second group as Steve Webster, tailing the front group after a puncture a couple of miles from the coffee stop, was a couple of hundred metres ahead as we crossed the bridge over the Nene. Stopping at the Water Mill near Ringstead on the way back, the two groups (suitable socially distanced) enjoyed sunshine and shelter along with coffee and snacks in the gardens.
The unfortunate Steve Webster had a second mishap as he led the group back towards Cranford when his pump leapt from his pocket, narrowly missing Andy Parker whose reactions weren’t quick enough to take the catch.
The quicker group clocked up speeds approaching 31 kmph (around 19.1 mph) whilst the more leisurely group still managed around 28.5 kmph (over 17.7 mph) with a few Strava PRs on the way!
A slight but perceptible north-easterly breeze created a head wind until we turned to loop back, the relief given helped the groups to pick up pace and, with only a little over 600 m (c2,000ft) of climbing both groups managed decent speed throughout.