Saturday the 18th Feb
We may have been "off the air" for a while but just for the record Steady ladies have definitely not been off the road. True enough the weather did stop play the odd Saturday but we did penance on Saturday past for those duvet days. It only served to prove that the hardest part of cycling is getting motivated to get out when strong winds and a hail shower weren't enough to convince any of us to turn back or shorten our route.Frances would have been proud of us! Actually all it goes to prove is that the lure of a coffee, French toast and Maple syrup is enough to keep us going, but we won't tell Frances that.
Steady numbers have been growing of late, almost as fast as John Smith's profits . We have been joined by two ladies in pink with pink flashes on their bicycles. Now it's good to see new faces but there will have to be some ground rules laid down about all this pink, it clashes horribly with our red .Mind you worse was to come last Saturday when one member (?) turned out in another club's kit . I am saying nothing more about it , you know who you are , we know who you are and FRANCES WOULD NOT BE PROUD OF YOU!
Now the above may make us seem like an intolerant bunch who would do almost anything for a feed and with a Frances we are all terrified of. Let me make it clear that only the latter two are true. We welcome new members ( so long as they conform ) and we do love our food as the fact that Slimming World are now actively targeting Steady ladies for new members ( yikes) proves. So if you are looking for a cycle club to join don't be afraid to contact us , as we always say all you need is a fairly decent bike , be able to ride the thing , wear red, enjoy food and , oh yes, have a thick skin.
15th january 2012
I have to admit when I got up and looked out at the frozen windscreen of the car I was expecting and, if I'm honest, even hoping for a few texts from duvet hugging ,wanna-be just not today cyclists.However, all I had was an enquiry, skinny tyres or old bike? So there was nothing else for it but to layer up and head to the layby. Present today was Pamela , Patricia, Heather and new girl Glynnis ( welcome Glynnis) . The frost had lifted ( although the temperature didn't feel like it had) so we were able to stick to the route I had planned , heading to Scarva then for Gilford for coffee. Only we didn't, stick to the route I mean, as I messed up coming out of Clare and didn't hang a left when I should have so we ended up in Poyntzpass instead. And I do mean up as we had to climb two mean hills on the Ballysheil road ( should have listened to the new girl instead of Paul). But we made it and had a lovely coffee stop in the new cafe Praise et Chocolat in Le Poyntzpass instead. Warmed up and fed up we headed for home opting for the easy option of tow path to Knock Bridge then back to the layby via Laurelvale and Ahory or Aghory .
Thirty miles later we were all glad that none of us had made that phone call or sent that text but had braved the cold instead. Again , welcome Glynnis nice to have you out and see you again I hope.Good to get out on the road again.
Till next time, over and out ,
Heather ( didn't put this report in poetry as I'm still reading the book! )
A windy day
...and then there were two.
For just a short time there were actually going to be five Steady Ladies heading out on Saturday morning , but one by one they cried off , too sick , too windy , you know the story and so Patricia and myself were left to face the wind together. And boy was it windy! But I had a plan that meant that the 20 mh wind would blow us home. But there was a flaw in the plan and that was the major flooding on the tow path and had it not been for a chance remark made at the layby we might have been looking at a swim home instead of a blow home. What to do , what to do , after all I had my route planned. It was all right for Rossi to suggest that you don't always need to have a route planned, look where living dangerously has got him! However there was nothing else for it but to head off without a set route in mind and hope that some how or another we still got a good blow home. The men left the layby talking of heading to Aughnacloy but we followed them as they headed towards Markethill (?) , see Rossi , that's why you plan a route. Maybe the wind had blown them off course. Patricia and I battled into the wind as far as Markethill and towards Whitecross then we hung a left and headed towards Tandragee and eventually back to base with the wind on our backs (yeah). We only clocked up 25miles but it was 25 more than the rest of you and since we didn't stop for coffee we're calories up ( or is that down ? ) on the rest of you too! Just goes to prove that you can live a little dangerously just so long as you're
very, very careful.
Hope you all feel better soon , over and out for now,
Heather
Steady Ladies tough it out
Having wimped out last week when the predicted bad weather didn't happen there was no way we'd cancel till the very last minute. So 3 of us turned up at the layby togged up for rain and wind and with bad weather escape routes planned set off for Scarva tearooms. There was one hardy Steady male waiting at the layby for his pals but they didn't turn up. He politely declined our invitation to join us......too bad.....we'd have bought his coffee if he'd managed to stay with us.
Helen, Arlene and I set off into a strong wind to join the canal tow path at Knock bridge. On reaching the tow path the wind strenghthened but with heads down we kept up a good pace with the promise of nice bites at the tearoom at Scarva which the management hopes to keep open at least until Christmas.
Arlene's one weakness is ice cream so while Helen and I tucked into warming soup and a bacon butty Arlene put away a Bailey's cone. You see(for those of you who didn't venture outside on Saturday) it really was quite balmy on Saturday morning.
The good news was that the strong wind was definitely behind us on the way home. Glad I got that one right!
So with 25 good miles done and fresh legs we arrived back at the layby just as the rain started at 1pm, dry, warm and wondering why were there no other Steady club members out this morning?
Frances
1st October Report
After a lot of indecision about whether to go out today, given that the weather forecast was awful we decided at the last minute to defy the met office and 6 of us set off from Loughgall for a short run .Welcome to two new ladies, Helen and Patricia, fit and raring to go! Well we went out via Annaghmore to Killyman and back via the Argory, not stopping for our usual coffee en route as the rain clouds were threatening.
We did stop to check Deirdre's wheel wobble and discovered a loose spoke...eh a wee job for a mechanic did we hear someone say 'my Terry'.... The only other little mishap was a little tumble off a stationary bike which was more embarrassing than painful for the person concerned as it was at a junction with a few cars behind.Well it has to happen to all newbies to clippy pedals.....
No other mishaps but we stopped a while and made do with some machine coffee in the little cafe at Loughgall Park and enjoyed some silly chat reminiscing about Heidi and discussing coffee places we'd most like to visit before winter stops play. If you have any suggestions for autumn runs/ favourite coffee stops then let's have them.
