Team Motley Crew

Well, the storm never materialised and it was still dry this morning, so I headed over to Pat and Kev's for an outing on the roadies. Their good friend, an American called Julie who owns and runs Ride Strong Bike Tours is in the area at the moment. Pat and Kev will be supporting and she will be guiding some clients of hers through a Pyrenean tour next week, so what better opportunity for us to hook up for an outing. We were joined by Kev's riding buddy Cédric who is a Rather Good Cyclist. Together, we formed Team Motley CrewWe had a hoot. The outing was billed as a 'bimble', as Pat's knee cannot cope with any daft exertion such as going up hills, Julie had keyhole knee surgery just a couple of months ago and I am a punter with short legs. Cédric and Kev on the other hand, well, they are both fast, strong cyclists so it was going to be interesting to see just how much bimbling they were capable of.
It was fun riding with four other people which is more than I have ridden with before, but we soon got into a rythmn of Kev and Céd blasting ahead, Kev and Céd slowing down, us girlies catching up and picking up a tow and then, ah, café stop already - hurrah! It was lovely riding on fantastically quiet roads and with pretty sceneryWe eventually reached a point where the boyz could carry on up that hill and us gurlz peeled off for the shorter ride, which still turned out to be a respectable 60kms with 525m of ascent which is probably more than Pat should have done, but she took it steady and heeded her knee when it told her to knock it down a tad. We happened to pass through Laroque d'Olmes just as P&K's cycling club buddies were about to set off for their Wednesday afternoon outing. It was fun to ride the last few kms with them as their ride passed P&Ks house.

All in all, a wonderfully sociable outing of which I hope there will be many more in months to come.

Stats and figures are on the usual site