Essex weekender

Out training at the weekend, My efforts to do a long ride on Saturday were thwarted by the weather as I set out South from Leicester. I had planned to stop for lunch in Bedford with friends but 'packed' in the town after a soaking with the river Ouse ready to break it's banks and the roads gridlocked in chaos. Fiona and I continued to Essex in the car as the rain fell into the evening, I feel I had made the right choice to save it for tommorrow
We were staying with returning cyclist Adrian who was now a member of the Shaftsbury CC and going out on the weekly club ride the next day. Sunday morning greeted us damp and windy but surprisingly warm no rain though so we were off to a good start. The ride set out from Mountnessing on the A12, in the 70's we used to start the super fast E8 '10' here where we saw the great Alf Engers with his oxygen mask and cylinder on his back before racing to amazing times (the oxygen to psyche out the opposition I feel)

There was an A and B group but one of the latter had broken his chain so there was a delayed start while that was fixed. And then the first hour of the ride was punctuated by three 'flats' to the same rider on a sub-standard machine (some people never learn but every club has one!) but the 'three and out' law of the road left him roadside with his mobile to call for assistance from the emergency services (the wife)
The ride for the remaining seven over the flat lands of Essex, we zig zagged in the windy conditions avoiding the traffic on minor and B roads. The tempo was good as we all shared the work in difficult conditions and only one major climb of the day at ?
this was the territory where the GP of Essex used to kick off the road season finishing up Halstead high street
Over the last quarter riders peeled off and only three of us returned to the start after a good workout and in need of some grub