Punctures on the way to Petersfield Village 09/08/2023

As ride leader, I had an inauspicious start to the day. My Red Thorn bike had a flat tyre on the back wheel! Drat! Fortunately, I have another bike available, so I rang Jim to tell him I had a flat (delegating the repair to him!) and pedalled off with Andy P to assemble in Weavers Park. I discovered the saddle on my Oxford bike was too low and tipped backwards with the nose too high. Andy resolved my situation, using his bike toolkit to adjust the saddle – which made me think of antiheros and a play-on-words. If an antihero is a story lead character who lacks the traditional characteristics of hero, then an ‘Andyhero’ is a BER rider who carries bike tools (we have several) and comes to the rescue of various BER members, in the role of a conventional hero!

The long ride headed off to Dunmow, followed by the medium ride going to Gosfield Antiques (now called Petersfield Village). There were debates about the Ukraine ‘friendly’ football match which seemed somewhat over-competitive to be truly friendly, and puzzlement at why bungalows are so often converted to chalet bungalows, with upstairs bedrooms that experience extremes of temperature, and that also sacrifice a downstairs room to site the stairs.

Today’s health & safety tip is from one of our allotmenteers. Don’t eat runner beans (particularly the mature/older pods) raw/underdone – they contain small amounts of lectin phytohemagglutinin, which can really upset your digestive system. Another gardening fact-for-the-day is that squirrels can pick, and bury plums, just like they do nuts. I was seriously underwhelmed by this as they are stripping my crop, and I do not want random plum trees growing in my garden.

On the steep hill into Greensted Green, Steve B discovered he had a slow puncture, and approaching Petersfield Village he had reinflate the tyre a second time! Sounds like Steve acted as his own ‘Andyhero’! Julie G assisted by holding the bike and Helen provided refreshments once he’d got the inner tube out.

We pedalled back in two groups, via Gosfield and Beazley End. A good-humoured group who enjoyed each other’s company. Well done all! The only thing that can improve my bike ride next week will be having my Thorn bike back!

21 miles, 9.9 mph

Cathy MacTaggart