A day in the life......
Reveille came in the dark. Paul Andreivich James should have been thrilled. The Supreme Soviet had declared an end to Lockdown and replaced it with alternative restrictions for everyone except Government advisers and popular celebrities. Late the previous evening, just when he was thinking he might have to cancel his plans, the Citizens’ UK Cycle Bureaucracy had given its insurance approval. He would be able not only to meet up with five barely remembered faces of comrades also temporarily released from Lockdown but ride with them.
He should have been thrilled. But outside it was cold, with wintery showers forecast. His friend Tim had told him to prepare his thermals, but even so, today meant venturing out into the open country of the Surrey Gulag where there would be no warm corners, not even a kennel in which to shelter indoors with a stranger.
So when reveille came Paul Andreivich had turned over and longed for the morning not to come. But the morning came as it always does.
He donned his garb and ate some tasteless sugar-free muesli while he dreamed of egg and bacon from the old days. He got out his bike and made his way through the new, secure entry system in the gates he had been painting and through the hostile traffic, the proletariat eager to get to their work so they could the sooner make their way back to the warmth of their accommodation blocks in the dark evening. Perhaps the ponds at Carshalton would be frozen over. Perhaps the Committee would accept this as an excuse for turning back. But the ponds were just cold and wet, as they always are in winter, and the resident heron stood shaggy and hunched, like Paul felt, while the Canada geese laughed mockingly.
But Comrade Brenda was waiting, as she said she would, keen as Georgian chilli by the memorial to the fallen heroes and it was not some idle dream but true; Lockdown had ended and Paul would have company to battle with the speeding Range Rovers of the privileged on the road to Oxshott, and there would be smiles, and friendship and long lost comrades for his day around the woods and the fields.
Step by step, everything improved. The life-giving December sun brought some warmth. The People’s Railway Transport Committee had opened the toilets at the station which had been closed when he was there on his own on Saturday. The coffee was free and good. The path to Downside was almost devoid of people on what was turning out a beautiful winter’s morning. The trucks on the A3 had not blocked the cycle track (as they had the previous Tuesday) and Wisley Lane and Pyrford Lock were a joy to ride. There had to be some familiar (and unfamiliar) roads on the way to the next treat along the riverside after Woking Park, but there was no mud at all on Highlands Lane and a traffic-free Westfield Common and Robin Hood Lane were winter Surrey at its best.
Paul’s group had made good time and Elm Farm was booked for twenty-two expected cyclists and waiting with a newly erected marquee, a dripping egg and bacon sandwich the like of which Paul had not seen for a month, and excellent coffee. The River Wey towpath and the lanes after it were tranquil but on the roads afterwards Paul and his comrades were not lingering; other leaders were also recording Strava times.
Sue got the train from Effingham Junction but in some ways the highlight for Paul’s group was the ride up Bank’s Lane through Mornshill Wood and Bookham Commons, even though we could feel the temperature steadily falling. At the top of the Great Common, Gill peeled off to her new home while Jacqui and John carried on. River Lane was new to John (always rewarding when you find something fresh in your route for the seasoned campaigners) and we were over Ashtead Common in broad daylight. Paul had the longest trip and was reporting back at a quarter past three, sans bike, left at the sick bay with hydraulic brake failure.
Nobody fell off (the leader does not count; he goes down more easily than Cristiano Ronaldo). So, despite a brush with the grass and a problem later on with the bike there was no rain and no mud to speak of. He had met up with sparkling company, traversed plenty of traffic free countryside and, best of all, the comrades were back riding in groups of six. It may have been just one day in the life of Paul Andreivich, but it had been a good day; a happy day, even.
Thanks to Tim for doing so much to help, riding the whole route twice during Lockdown. Thanks to Dave Vine for helping us discover Elm Farm and rediscover that Green Lane, which theoretically offers a more scenic route between Send and Effingham Junction, could not safely be attempted without swamp gear. Thanks to Christina for leading the alternative, shorter ride for the West Sou’Westers and thanks to Fixie Dave for generously stepping up to lead a group through a complicated ride without being given the chance to ride it first.
And apologies to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Paul
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Gill's friend and new Wayfarer Sue Hodgson with Gill and Sub-Leader Fixie
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From Dave Fixie:
Report from the penultimate B group to leave Stoke d'Abernon
Thanks to the route compiler, t’was hard to comprehend how it was all put together?
Also thanks to Paula, Grant, Tony and Terry for the pleasure of riding with them today, and Jacqui of course for the ride to Elevenses.
The RideWithGPS app didn’t seem to work intuitively, for some reason. But it got us around the course without any major deviations, some minor ones, though all part of the course work.
The Lunch stop was pleasant enough, along with the food. The pre-ride café was good with their free coffee idea; it gets them on the cyclists' radar.
~ Dave C
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Team 2 assembling for departure
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From Christina:
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Christina at Triggs lock during the recce on Monday
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I had the pleasure to lead Pam, Liz Bernard and Gill Finlay joining us for the ride today.
We followed Paul's route from Stoke D'Abernon to Woking Park. While taking a loo break at the park around 12.30pm everyone in my group decided to make sure to be home before darkness fell, around 3pm.
With help from a person passing by we decided to head to Send Café for lunch then make our ways home via West byfleet, Addlestone or Cobham.
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Lunch in Send
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Thanks to Pam for leading/pace making to Woking, Gill for leading to Send Café and to Liz, Pam and Gill Finlay for their company. I got home by 3.20pm and hope you all got home safely before dark.
Thanks to Paul for the route and organising the ride.
~ Christina
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From Tim C:
It was brave of Paul to plan such a ride for this time of year but the prospect of a cold and potentially miserable day with an abundance of mud attracted almost as many B Group regulars as we see on a cheerful summer's day. The mud along the Wey River bank after Triggs Lock was something of a disappointment with the quantity and quality not being up to the high standard we experienced during a recce two weeks ago but this was soon forgotten when we entered the woods opposite Effingham Junction Station and didn't reappear until much later after riding along the leafy carpets of Bank's then Bookham Commons into Fetcham.
Brenda noticed a soft tyre on her front wheel after hitting the bump onto the small bridge in River Lane. A few puffs of air got her going again for a few more miles but she decided to take a train from Ashtead which was on our route home. For the rest of us it was fairly dark when we arrived home, around 4:30 for me. When Bob, Tim and I were about to emerge from Epsom Common we came across Brian who was taking the scenic route home to clock up a few more miles after leading A Group down to Betchworth.
Thanks to Brenda, Sue Foster, Bob and Tim Gibbons for their excellent and cheerful company and for not losing hope when the going got sticky.
~ Tim
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Team 2 at Elm Farm, ready for the afternoon ride
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At Triggs Lock (by the Wey)
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A couple of photos taken by Christina during the recce on Monday
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Tim and inflatable Santa near the Hoe Stream
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Triggs Lock on the Wey Navigation
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~ Tim
Author: Tim C
2 Comments:
Fixie-Dave 04 December 2020 at 09:55 GMT
Well done Paul with the organization of the ride. Also well done with the abridged version of the write up. well put together, along with the ride. Please accept my nomination for the Booker prize!
Dave F 06 December 2020 at 17:28 GMT
Tim, A nice surprise to cross paths with the remains of your bubble on Ashtead common as we headed home from our respective rides.
