Prezzo annual lunch—Wednesday 3 March

This coming Wednesday, 3 March, all the Group rides will leave from Cobham to Cheam Prezzo for the annual Wayfarers' lunch organised by Lynda. Many Wayfarers have already booked. If you haven't but would like to come, that's fine—just join one of the rides at Cobham or go directly to Cheam. I will repay everyone who has given me a £2 deposit. We can then each settle our individual bills with Prezzo in full, which simplifies things.

Lynda says that menus are on the Prezzo website and there may be vouchers for special offers which can be downloaded and printed out. When I looked, the only one I could find expired on 28 Feb. There is a new one for March—see Lisa's link, below—which offers a two course set menu plus drink for £10. I'm not sure this is an improvement on their usual prices—it isn't, see Lisa's comment—but it's probably as well to be armed with the voucher as not. There is a limit of one voucher per person.

Let's hope the weather improves.

Julian

Edit: click here for the lunch menu
And here is the link for vouchers in case there is a new one listed.

Lisa

Thank you Lisa. I've printed off a few menus to bring to Cobham for non-Bloggers—Julian
PS Let's keep checking the vouchers!!

Author: Julian

2 Comments:

Lisa 01 March 2010 at 15:54 GMT

As far as I can see, without signing up for yet more spam email, this voucher is aimed at the evening clientele - the lunch menu already offers a 2 course meal plus drink for £9.95 (or £8.95 with a soft drink), so I won't be signing up to get the voucher (I know I'm not coming, anyway!!!!).

Julian 01 March 2010 at 18:49 GMT

Yes, it looks like a money-on rather than a money-off voucher at lunchtime!

A Group - 24 February, 2010

Merstham - Balcombe - Denbies

At the Half Moon Inn

Having pedalled against the tide to make a tardy appearance at N. Cheam, by the time I had removed my cape, they were off en route to Merstham, offering Simon and me a chase for our money. The climb up Hazelwood Lane was celebrated by Simon's first puncture (see Steph's photo). The freewheel to Merstham brought out the group's latent schizophrenia, with J&J taking the quicker route via Harps Oak Lane and the rest via Gatton Bottom.

Some were already gently steaming at Hunger's End as numbers gradually grew. When time was called, the group divided with the As heading due S for Balcombe and the Bs due W to Denbies. The southerly group was Graham H, Jeff, Julian, Mark and Simon, shepherded out of Merstham by Pete M in time to witness, after just a few hundred yards, Simon's second explosive breakdown of the day- this time his chain. After the exchange of a few furtive glances, a link extractor was unearthed and the chain smartly rejoined - alas outside the jockey wheel. The tutorial was then repeated, the chain now much cleaner with most of the grunge transferred to Simon's hands.

With the rain now at bay it was heads down and head for Nutfield, the pace soon moderated by Church Hill. Then across the A25 down Cooper's Hill and downhill nearly all the way via Outwood, Smallfield, Copthorne, Old Hollow and Turner's Hill Road. The cunning plan to use Standinghall Lane to Worth Abbey had been thwarted by a padlocked gate, which meant we were blessed with the welcome bonus of Turner's Hill, before doubling back to head South again down Back Lane and Paddockhurst Lane. Now just a stone's throw from Balcombe, Simon decided that it was time for another puncture.

This delay gave Mark and Graham the chance to sneak away for a quick sprint to Ardingly to challenge Cobb Lane (see Mark's map). However, P.C. Plod had other ideas and was waiting for them and blocked the road. Thus baulked, they had to skulk back to Balcombe to rejoin the rest of the party, drying out beside the fire at the Half Moon Inn. The menu was basic but adequate, the service relaxed to the point of dormancy, but our orders did eventually arrive. The bar was packed with at least three other drinkers.
At half past the hour it was time for the return. The route familiar via Handcross, Hammer Pond and Grouse Lane to Colgate. Here my left crank made a unilateral declaration of independence from the spindle. Fairly intense and repeated diplomatic efforts, some more forceful than others (including the use of some silver paper from a discarded cigarette packet) were needed to reconcile crank with spindle in order to negotiate the way via Faygate, Rusper and Newdigate to Denbies. The B group had gone, but we arrived just in time for the café closed sign. With light fading, it was time for each to plan his final, homeward leg, depending on distance and whether the handlebar furniture included lights or not.

The distance door to door just over 70 miles

Jeff

Post ride note: the pathologist's report on the crank revealed a missing bolt, absent from birth. A transplant is awaited.

Author: Jeff

1 Comment:

mike morley 27 February 2010 at 16:45 GMT

Jeff, I don't know how you got the heart to talk such Krapp, what transplant? My congratulations on such a wonderful write-up and for me an envious tough day out which I missed! As for Simon he does'nt know his strengh from within but 3 punctures sounds like bad management to me. I can't wait to get my new "Transformer Arm" and be out with you all again.

Easy Riders Feb 24th

Weather a bit milder but steady drizzle at first. It became dry after elevenses at Walton DC where we had a good turnout but no leader. After some discussion re lunch venues, the others accepted my proposition to try a pub which my neighbour had highly recommended but which was too close to provide a decent ride. So, in a roundabout way, yours truly led Roger, Fuzz, Lynda, Beryl, Phil, Bill, John C., and around four more trusting riders through Walton past The Halfway towards Hersham where I missed a turn and found we were on the wrong side of Hersham bypass. Everyone crossed over without mishap and we joined Queens Road in the direction of Weybridge. After turning right to cross the railway over Sir Richards Bridge, I failed to see the road sign on my left and passed Oatlands Chase to find we were returning to Hersham! Happily most of the others spotted my error and led me to our destination. I have attached some pics and I agree with my neighbour; it is a darned good pub. Thanks for your patience-------Albert

Author: Pete

1 Comment:

Jeff 26 February 2010 at 17:30 GMT

Dear All
A thousand apologies - my fault entirely. Ron had told me that for the next few weeks he has a regular Wednesday appointment. In the forthcoming programme he is down to lead from Cobham on 7 April. Would anyone like to volunteer to lead that ride?
Jeff (redfaced)

A Group 24th February

On a day with far less rain than was forecast, Jeff led us 44.04 sporting miles from Merstham to Denbies. Moving average speed 12.1 mph, 2920 feet of ascent, maximum speed 32.9 mph on the road to Balcombe and 2281 calories.

An update to my software now produces estimates of power used - the average for this ride was 90 watts, with a peak five minutes of 190 watts. For comparison, a ride along the Thames to Staines averages less than 50 watts and Alpe d'Huez averages about 200 watts.

I'll include the watts from now on.

Mark

Author: Mark G

6 Comments:

Julian 25 February 2010 at 12:35 GMT

Mark——I suspect your peak five minutes of effort were climbing Cobb Lane and coincided with my sitting by the roadside watching Simon mend his puncture! Thank you Jeff for an excellent ride--on the hard side for me, but good to get out from under the weather. I hope you got home without any more crank problems.
Julian

Mark G 25 February 2010 at 18:00 GMT

Hmm - I hadn't drawn attention to that, Julian, but you are right!

But I agree, it was a jolly good day out.

Jeff 26 February 2010 at 17:01 GMT

Mark - I'm intrigued by the apparently symmetrical corellation between climb and calories - one calorie per foot of climb.
Jeff

Jeff 26 February 2010 at 17:04 GMT

Ahem! correlation.

Mark G 26 February 2010 at 17:50 GMT

Yes, I'd spotted that. It's not a typo and it hasn't happened before. I'll keep an eye on it.

(Perhaps with all the effort of calculating Watts it has lost interest in poor old calories).

Mark G 26 February 2010 at 18:28 GMT

Duh, it is a typo. I read the wrong column. (There are quite a lot of columns). My software computes (guesses) the calories as 2281. The GPS also makes a guess at this, quite independently. It says 2725. Which harks back to a conversation Julian and I had about calories last summer - there must be an assumption of the rider's fitness in the algorithm, which is pretty arbitrary. The Watts calculation is likely to be better, as it is just an expression of how much force is needed to move a given mass up a given gradient.

I'll correct the blog so that our errors are at least consistent.

B Group Feb 24th

Puncture victim Simon Waller en route to Merstham
Picture from Steph

Hungers End Merstham for coffee. Not the most popular place, only 7 or 8 of us from North Cheam. One puncture on the way, expertly and extravagantly mended, extravagant inasmuch as Simon discarded the old tube with the remark “I never mend punctures”. The discarded tube was gratefully received by someone who did mend punctures.
Coffee at the little cafe in the High Street. Stephanie said she had to wash her hair and so deserted us and Tony said he couldn’t keep up with the A group so he joined us - I’m not sure whether that’s a fair swap! So the exclusive group was: Dave, Ian, Terry, Tony and me. Only then did I realise that I was supposed to be leading. (My excuse, such as it is, was that I had been out all day on Tuesday, home late and up in a rush). The BBC forecast was for heavy rain so I thought a shorter ride might be a good idea so we went to the Denbies at Dorking for lunch. I “led” sans map, in fact what happened was I cycled in front with Terry correcting my mistakes from behind. Lunch at Denbies was quite good, Ian consumed two bottles of wine and wobbled off homeward. The rest of us were taken by Terry the back way to Cobham, a lot of it being away from the traffic. Tea at Sainsbury’s and then we went our various ways.
Regards
Bernard

Author: Pete

1 Comment:

Pete 25 February 2010 at 16:22 GMT

Not Simons day his chain broke after leaving 11s he then joined it up outside the gear pulleys but still managed a full day with Jeffs group
Observed by Pete in passing

Mark Roy

My photo appeared in this weeks blog, Glamour birthday boy. I had number of calls best wishes, I thank you for this. I don't know why Albert posted my picture, but with every picture, a few words should be accompanied. My birthday is not out of ordinary, but I feel some achievement of my life. I give a brief profile of me:- It was my 85th birthday. When I came to this country in 1949 I worked very hard in industry eating the wrong type of food and doing no exercise; I had my first heart attack in 1964 at the age of 40. I carried on but changed my eating habits. With the Angina set in, it was difficult to walk any distance and I survived with a handful of tablets. Around 1980 I met Arthur Butcher in a library, he started talking about cycling and asked me had I done any cycling, I said only when I was in school in India. He persuaded me to come out one Wednesday and try. The first ride was elevenses in Cobham. I cycled behind him, the ride nearly killed me! I refused to go any further and came back! It took me about three hours walking most of the way. I said to my wife no more cycling. However next Wednesday Arthur appeared on my doorstep, and coaxed me again for one more try. To cut the story short he did not leave me alone for few weeks, by that time I was getting stronger eating well and my blood pressure began to come down, and I was more or less hooked.

In 1990 while out cycling at lunchtime I had pain in my chest and told the leader that I was going back. We were in Rushpur, and somehow by resting many times along the way, I made it home. As I sat down I had severe pain and called the Ambulance, went to hospital and found my 3 arteries were completely blocked one 75%. I had a quadruple by-pass. After about five weeks I started cycling . To start off a couple of miles and gradually over several months back to 30/40 miles. B.B.C. world service heard about this and they came round to make a film together with our wayfarers . About twelve members took part in making the film including Bill & Margeret Squirell, Ron Beam and others and included the surgeon from St Georges hospital in Tooting who did my operation. The film was shown world wide and the Wayfarers were stars for a day. In 2006 Borough of Kingston organised a group charity ride from Lands end to John O'Groats in aid of the Pakistan earthquake. They persuaded me to take part in it as one of Asian. I cycled from Ross on Wye to Clun and second leg from Clun to Chester. A total of 150 miles in two days and collected £3500. After the charity ride I decided to do all my cycling in aid of charity. Every mile I cycle at the end of day with the help of my family, we put 5 pence per mile in a box and that money go to charity in India who perform cataract eye operation free of charge to poor people. Last year money restored eyesight of ten people. Each operation cost about 10 pounds for medicine and after care, that is most satisfying thing to me rather than pedalling away miles for nothing.

In December 2008 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The doctor said that at my age they did not give Radiotherapy, but because of the cycling and right diet, they decided that I was healthy enough and gave me the treatment. I took part in an experiment where they wanted to cut the treatment time from 39 days to 19 days. so my turn came to 19 days at double dose. The surgeon said to me to carry on my usual life style. I can say that I had terrible side effect inside Bowls was badly damaged . However other than four weeks I carried on my cycling I am more or less back to normal. On Wednesday last from Weybridge I cycled to have lunch at Ripley and tea at Cobham where I treated my friends for tea.

I am really thankful to you all to carry me through all this time, especially to Arthur Butcher bless his soul in heaven who started me cycling.

Author: mark roy

3 Comments:

Pete 21 February 2010 at 14:07 GMT

thankyou Mark I wish you good health for the future and many more rides with the Wayfarers
from Pete Mitchell

mike morley 21 February 2010 at 21:21 GMT

Mark. Having been one of your well wishers on the phone I am also so glad you have written this history. I wonder if a VDU of that BBC programme could be obtained. It would be a good idea to show at next years Barn Dance or even to a wider audience or even use as a CTC promotion. Would anyone have taken a video tape at the time which could be converted?

Ray Dare 24 February 2010 at 09:17 GMT

Really remarkable Roy.I knew of some of yor past having ridden with you in France.Just keep it up,you have proved you can do it.

Ray

Easy Riders Feb17th

A happy group at lunch

Birthday Boy Mark Roy

We could not have had better weather for our first ride in Lent. Great sunshine all the way and just like a spring day. We had a good turnout at Weybridge. With Fuzz in the lead plus Beryl, John C., Roger, Chris, Mark, Bill H., with Peter and me on our tandem trike we set off for The Seven Stars at Ripley. We took our first diversion at the foot of Heath Road, going left into Waverley Road by The British Volunteer. This was my route to prep school so it`s not surprising I remember the names, although I must add I was not an habitue of the last named establishment in those far off days. The old school has given way to housing and is now part of Weybridge Park through which we passed before joining Hanger Hill (site of an early Roman settlement). Having crossed the railway bridge near Weybridge station we followed Brooklands Road passing the site of Vickers Aviation and the famous track. We pressed on to West Byfleet then left to Pyrford. After about a quarter of a mile on the left of the road stands a place which dispenses certain natural herbal remedies and Peter took the opportunity to bring to our attention that it had been visited in past days by the late Princess Diana. Then Warren Lane and a pleasant lunch at our destination. For tea we made for Cobham day centre, under the A3 at Ripley,Ockham Road, past The Mucky Duck and with a fast downhill on Plough Lane with quite a flooding of the road after we crossed over the motorway bridge. Thanks Fuzz for a good considerate ride. I`ve attached some shots we took in the pub-----------Albert p.s. It was Mark`s birthday hence the glamour shot!!

Author: Pete