The North Road Leisure and Training Weekend - March 18th-20th, Lechlade, Gloucestershire
 
by John McDowall           

 The North Road training weekend ventured onto new ground with a trip to Lechlade nestled in the beautiful countryside of the Cotswolds.  The trip contained an eclectic mix of sixteen riders, with a mixture of regular North Road lags, some new members and some old familiar faces returning to the fold.  Six partners also made the trip with the aim of enjoying the local countryside and not having to talk about bikes for the best part of a day. 
    After a hearty breakfast Neil Lewis explained the route and handed out idiot proof maps.  The monster ride option involved a huge loop of about 100 miles out to Broadway, over the notorious Fish Hill and then back to Lechlade.  Neil had thoughtfully also supplied several shorter options so that there really was a route to suit any rider.  With a barmy spring day forecast the morning actually started misty and cool with most riders opting for arm warmers and a gilet, except for Peter Nunn who had initially ventured out in what can only be described as a full length Assos Frogman’s outfit.  After some photographs taken by Don Smith with his trusty Box Brownie the North Road phalanx formed and thundered out of the town.  Indeed a local was heard to remark that it was an “impressive sight” – it is probably for the best that he did not witness our rather different return some seven hours later. 
   The ride was planned to go along what seemed like a vast array of back roads that enabled a superb view of the local countryside.  The roads themselves were in excellent condition with very little vehicular traffic to stop the enjoyment of the cycling.  The initial part of the ride was fairly flat and I held out some hope that my pathetic charade of being a proper cyclist would last the day.  However, it was not to be as the terrain graduated from flat to rolling to bumpy to just downright outrageously hilly.  Feeling a little leg weary and a bit worried about the tales of Fish Hill a small group containing myself, James McAleese, Paul Groves and Mark Reynolds decided to take a slightly shorter route avoiding the dreaded climb and meeting the rest of the group at a convenient café.  The climb itself looked awful and we certainly thought of the guys as we tucked into a delightful range of cakes.  Indeed as the chaps straggled in after the climb they all testified to the ferocity of Fish Hill.  Chris Glithero when asked about the climb while recovering seemed to suffer some sort of temporary Tourrette’s Syndrome attack and was unable to provide any coherent response. 
    With the pack back together we set off back on the homeward leg; it is then that we suffered our first loss of the day as Paul Groves’ saddle died beyond any hope of repair.  Allan Mendelsohn’s suggestion that we fashion a temporary replacement out of the local vegetation was not acted upon and Paul was deposited at a hostelry in the village of Ford to be collected by his wife.  Just as the group was collecting itself after this lengthy delay Mark Reynolds suffered a puncture and with the group fragmented Nick Harris and myself made a quick decision to stay with him and take a slightly shorter route back.  The ride back was still very hard with short sharp dips followed by the inevitable climb and it was with some relief that the ‘Lechlade 5 miles’ sign was spotted. We arrived back at about five o’clock a few minutes before the leading elements of the fast group arrived.
    An enjoyable day was bought to a close over a hearty meal in the hotel with most of the riders going to bed early after what had been a hard day in the saddle. 
     At breakfast on the Sunday the talk was of a short ‘recovery ride’ before departing for home.  Four riding members were missing: Chris Glithero (son’s taxi), Paul Groves (er... no saddle), Gianni Altomare (went walkabout) and Mark Reynolds (just tired).  The initial part of the ride started at a steady ‘recovery’ pace and the group maintained its discipline remarkably well.  However, just before halfway we joined a swooping, undulating piece of road biking heaven that is the B4425 into Bibury.  Faced with such temptation flimsy promises made over a rasher of bacon evaporated as the ride became an every man for himself launch into the town with George and Pete leading the charge.  After a quick Cappuccino in Bibury a further flat out run to Lechlade was commenced with George beating Richard, Pete and Mike Wilcox for the town sign. The winner from the ‘B’ group was Allan Mendelsohn beating Bruce Metheringham in a keenly contested sprint that left Bruce muttering of dark practice.  This was certainly my first introduction to ‘recovery riding’ North Road style.
   All in all a great few days. Special thanks should go to Richard Somerset and Neil Lewis for all they did to make the weekend so enjoyable.  So if you missed it this year you missed a real treat, all North Road members should pencil this training weekend in your 2006 diary and in the immortal words of Delia Smith “let’s be having yah…”  
 
John McDowell