AVP Ride Over Hills and a Broken Chain

I would guess at around 8 of us headed out from the Kings Arms this evening with, for the first time this year, a little light still in the sky. It won't be many weeks now before we'll be able to see where we're going without the need for bright lights! In spite of Bobble's appearance, the evenings are still a little too chilly for most to pull on the shorts but it will not be long before this changes too!

The route tonight took us out to Boshill and a quick dogleg onto the narrow Bruckland Lane to Musbury. From here we climbed Pudleylake Road and Mounthill Lane, 600 ft to Trinity Hill before descending into Yawl and Uplyme. At this point, someone had the 'great idea' of dropping down into Lyme Regis for a ride along the front. We entered via Silver Street and regrouped at the clock by the chippy, which was unfortunately closed. This was a circuit into Lyme that I feel many of us had not done before, as the route out was to take us up the near vertical Cobb Road to the 3052. A climb to test all our legs!

The ride along Marine Parade was taken briskly but on this occasion, without Ed's sound track, he being a busy chippy tonight - the wood kind rather than the potato one! It was as we exited the Parade that the call was sounded that one of our Pedaller's chain had come adrift. We halted under the lights of the Cobb Arms to discover that it had not just come adrift but had snapped! We've had many a puncture, double punctures and even broken spokes, but I hear a broken chain is a first for an AVP evening ride.

As is the norm with the AVP, there is always someone who has an idea of a solution and with no one knowingly left behind, Jolly and Andy, illuminated by the rest of our lights, set about the field operation of making a temporary repair. It was a clinical procedure involving Jolly's chain tool and Andy's steady hand in completing the final pin insertion - although how he was the only one involved not to get caked in oil I'll never know! Something else to remember to carry - a chain tool and a spare link - or ride with someone who has ;)

Once we were all finally back on the main road, we split into our usual groups for the short ride through the now thickening fog back to Colyford. The road bikes took the lead with Barry and I following up on our hybrids. We were even delayed a little more after Barry hit a pothole spilling his backup headlight into the path of an oncoming car. On this occasion, however, there was too little of it remaining for us to attempt a repair.