Good ride out to GDF today despite the nightmare start... the Hardy car was low on juice so opted to stop off at the sainsburys petrol station on the Team Valley only to find that it didnt open until 08.00!!. After a deep and meaningful discussion with the attendant who was obviously part of a care in the community programme we pushed on in search of another station. Arriving at Hexham it was apparent that the world does not start until 8am on a sunday so I sent a text to Matt Davies to warn him we would be late and also mailed Chris to let him know. We filled up and made our way to Alston, there were s**t loads of pheasants on the roads, I mean tonnes of the b******s. Being a member of the RSPB I was obviously courteous to each and every one of them. We eventually arrived in Alston at 08.35 not knowing if anyone else had been and gone and after a quick reckie we made our way to GDF thats Paul TyrrellSteve WilleyJohnny Murray and me. quite an uneventful ride there other than when a farmers jack russell decided to run alongside my bike and bark at me for about half a mile, after almost unclipping and giving it a swift kick it decided to leave well alone and go back to the farm, from that point on I was to be known as Davey Doolittle!!. I wont bore you with the whole pain of GDF other than it was made even harder today due to a headwind, GDF virgins Steve and Johnny gave a good account of themselves (well done lads) and as always Mr Tyrell made it look easy and was first to reach the summit despite his ambitious gearing choice! When we had almost reached the top we passed three other veloites, Martin,Chris and Kev on their way down. After a few encouraging words (where the f*** have you been !! we agreed to meet them at the bottom and ride back together. So after a quick pose for pics at the top we made our way down, almost getting wiped out by a knob in a merc who thought he could drive upto the top despite all the signs to the contrary. We made our way back over hartside to Alson,and then stopped at the cafe for a bacon butty and a cuppa. I have to say that the cafe left alot to be desired - we wont be going back!!. All in all a good day out 52 miles and approx. 6000ft of climbing, great company as always just sorry we didnt all set off together and another lesson learnt to share mobile numbers on driver assisted rides. Well done all
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 17:20:31 +0000
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