"High & Low Culture" along Hertfordshre country lanes
24 July 2004
A glorious Saturday morning, July 24th 2004, saw eight riders gather on the Green Bridge for another long Wheelers ride. The party were Alix 'Titanium' Stredwick, who had raced down from Cuffley, Cath, Julie-ann, making a guest appearance with THW, Colin, Gary, Ken, Owen and Steve.
Before describing the day, there are important thanks to be made. Firstly to Alix's mum for laying on an excellent tea. If you haven't stopped in Cuffley on a ride then you will not know what you have missed. I found the lemonade and other cool drinks very welcome. Also thanks to Alix, herself, making a rare appearance now that she is resident in Hertfordshire, on her fantastically fast Titanium-framed machine and Julie-Ann, my masseuse who ventured from Westminster to join us on a great day.
The obligatory faff meant that we did not start wheels turning until 08:30 but we were soon spinning through the lovely streetscape of east London and into Essex, following the route that many THW riders are familiar with from their experiences on last year's Dunwich Dynamo.
Miles passed by, mainly uneventfully, until a well-earned halt at Greensted allowed us to pay a visit to the charming wooden church of St Andrews. Apparently, it is the oldest wooden church in the world. At that stage about 20 miles had been done but the speed was very brisk due to the keenness of the group and the pacemaking of Alix. Soon after that we were reduced to 7 as Colin had to return to town for a lunch date.
Eventually, after 47 miles, we get to the Hoops at Perry Green for lunch. Before getting there we had also passed close by the birthplace of the England football captain, David Beckham and gone to visit the wonders of 'Beckingham Palace 'his country pile near Sawbridgeworth. So much for the low culture part of the day, but we had offset that by our church stop and were having lunch 100 yards away from the Henry Moore Foundation.
Just before the lunch stop the only major incident of the day happened when Ken ran into the back of Alix when she had stopped to allow a large farm vehicle to pass. Fortunately, no major damage was done to either ride or bike but the wags in the group wondered why Ken had wanted to convert the bikes into a tandem in such alarming fashion.
After a hearty lunch the ride continued at a slightly less frenetic pace and a detour from the prepared route allowed us to escort Cath to Hertford east where she completed her day on the train. Thanks to Cath who was entering record-breaking territory and valiantly kept up the extremely fast pace set by Alix and Ken.
Onwards we went down to six and, soon, some hills took us to Cuffley for tea after we had covered 74 miles. Alix had by then completed the full 90+ miles for the day as she had ridden down in the morning. After devouring a wonderful home-made tea, courtesy of Alix's mum and admired the lovely garden, the remaining five remounted and sped through Enfield and via the A10 and Tottenham back onto the familiar streets of east London.
A wonderful day with in excess of 90 miles covered at an on-road speed of 13.6 miles. Beat that Gary!
Scorecard for this ride:
Mileage: 92
Riders: 8
Strays picked up: 0
Riders lost: 0
Punctures: 0
Breakdowns: 0
Detours: 0
Enjoyment quotient: Fantastic
Wind: Very light
Ken Peters
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