It was great to be joined by 2 new members, Pete & Steve, both of whom peddled well with what was tonight a quick group. This brings me to a thought which has been building these six days since the ride. When I joined the club some 2 years ago, I could only just ride a bike, returning to the saddle as I had after a 30 year hiatus. With the support of my fellow pedallers, I then did my first 100 miles, cycled the Dartmoor Classic and Ride London events and this year climbed Mont Ventoux! We need to ensure as a club that we continue to nurture new riders as our ethos has always been. Some clubs I have ridden with and heard about seem to have the objective of dropping riders on a run, not the AVP. I have seen, like myself, many of my fellow riders of 2 years ago increase in speed and stamina such that we are reaching a point where we could support two 6:30 rides, club and sprint rides or may be in the words of one club commentator, a Zone 2 and Zone 4 ride. So perhaps, should our numbers be great enough on a Thursday we could look to do this. Where we do not have such a critical mass of riders, we should always remember the peloton moves as fast as the slowest rider .. this makes me think of Froome's support to his team in this year's TdF group time trial. And consider this, the fastest riders to the top of a hill or the end of a sprint should may be return to the start and do it again.
Off the soap box and back to the ride. It was a glorious sunny evening, hard to recall after the last few days of soggy greyness. Around 10 pedallers met at the Kings Arms and agreed a route to take in Sidmouth so as to experience a bit of the Folk Festival which had been in full swing since the weekend. The rest of circuit was left fluid which made for an interesting lumpy adventure as Quiff selected a melange of favoured hill climbs, some of which seemed to be placed in the landscape for no other reason than to test climbing ability, as they moved one no further forward replacing level ground with an incline akin to an Escher drawing. That said, the views from the ridge on East Hill, after the White Cross climb, looking towards Dartmoor were sublime and we rested there for a few minutes watching the sunset. We returned in a chaingang along Farway and the main A3052 back to Seaton, 30+miles and over 2500 ft of climb completed. Note: lights are now needed, one member who will remain nameless, may have cut things a bit fine this evening. Another highly enjoyable ride and a route I will revisit, particularly the ridge on East Hill, thanks for sharing this Quiff.
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