Sunday morning dawned and the weather forecast was good; no rain so there would be less likelihood of people dropping out because they were worried about inclement weather. I arrived at the Green Bridge to find that Helen; a new rider who had called me during the week to enquire about the ride, Dave Tuckwell and Kerry Nice were already there. After checking that everyone had done their introductions and that I had filled my water bottles we set off. As we went down off the bridge Dave Withington joined us.
Nothing happened for a few minutes but by the time we had gone through Victoria Park, Dave Withington had succumbed to a flat tyre and we were down to four riders. Dave never did rejoin but sent message that he would try and later told me that as he had failed to make any of the rendezvous points he was going to have his own personal pootle in the lanes to the north east of London.
We made good time out of the built up areas and along the busy Woodford New Road, a familiar route to anyone who has done the Dunwich Dynamo, until we reached Epping. There we had a thirty minute halt for coffee, scones and jam and also had hoped that Dave Withington would have caught us up.
As Dave never made it we moved on to much more pleasant country lanes, although that was briefly spoilt by two encounters with a group of youths on trail bikes, to the idyllic St Andrews church at Greensted. This wooden church is reckoned to be the oldest wooden church in the world and is a delightful place to spend a few minutes.
The second section of the ride was a little hillier than the first so our speed had dropped slightly or maybe we had slowed to enjoy the countryside after our pell-mell dash out of London. The table below charts our progress for those who like the odd statistic or two. After Greensted we progressed through High Easter and Matching to Hatfield Heath where we had lunch.
I must apologise to my fellow riders for hurrying them over lunch but I had realised that we were running slightly behind the timetable and we needed to press on to make the rendezvous with Leigh and Steve at Ware. As a result I increased the pace through Sawbridgeworth and Perry Green to try to minimise any delay for those waiting for the main group of riders. I had already had the unfortunate news that Carol Gray was unable to join us due to some technical problems but her absence was made up by Gerry Matthews who I had last met, or maybe I had only met previously, on the Midsummer Madness ride. Due to missing the train we were going to pick Gerry up at Broxbourne.
We made good time out of Ware and I noticed that the fitness brought about by my recent End-to-End ride meant that several hills which usually were testing seemed remarkably flat. I would recommend everyone try the End-to-End but that they take it at a more sedate pace that the 6½ days that Steve and I had scheduled.
Once we had picked Gerry up we proceed on the direct but rather busy A1170 to Waltham Cross then via Waltham Abbey to Upshire where we admired the lovely views over the Lea Valley and had an excellent, home-made tea in the church grounds. Dave Tuckwell even found time to raid the bric-a-brac and purchase some LP's. The tea break was enlivened by Gerry regaling us with stories of the recent Critical Mass demos against the London Arms Fair.
After tea we made a mainly uneventful return to home via Chingford and Walthamstow. Uneventful for me as I took the cycle path alongside the North Circular Road but the rest of the group for some inexplicable reason chose to ride about 1 Km mixing it with the very fast traffic on the main road.
A good day was had by all and we even managed to get in over the advertised 120 Km in spite of having to cut a loop out of the ride.
A special mention to Leigh who excelled on what may have been her longest ride to date and despite her many pre-ride misgivings managed to keep up with us over the 50 Km or so that she rode from Ware.
| | Distance km | Average speed kph | Maximum speed kph | | Full ride | 123.14 | 22.3 | 50.5 | | Epping | 24.96 | 23.2 | 35.0 | | Hatfield Heath for lunch | 51.69 | 22.5 | 50.5 | | Ware | 75.62 | 22.6 | 50.5 | | Upshire for tea | 96.31 | 22.5 | 50.5 |
Ken Peters
See also Kerry's photos
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 DaveT, KerryN and Helen prepare
 Kerry leads DaveT
 Pre-lunch Kerry, Helen and DaveT make brief stop
 Helen and Kerry at Upshire church
 Helen and Leigh
 Leigh, Kerry, Steve and DaveT wait while Gerry prepares to mount up
 Leigh and Steve enjoying afternoon tea stop
 Gerry, Leigh and Steve plan mayhem at tea stop
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