Well, if anybody had woken in the night they may have thought there was little chance of a good day on the bike but the rain stopped and the wind subsided and by 9.30 there were eight eager cyclists keen to see what was in store. Six Wheelers, Stelly, Eddie Stobbart, the Doolster, Geedee, Dodgy and JPS were joined by Robbie and Chippy from PCC.
The group as a whole rode out to Longridge and Chipping without incident. We took a left turn in Chipping over one or two bumps towards Bleasdale. The road out of Chipping seemed busier than usual and nice Mr Farmer had once again not cleared all the shit and hedge cuttings which made the going a little tricky. A little jostling for positions took place after the turn up Oakenclough Fell and we all blasted down the other side to the Mill where we saw the first retirement of the day, Mr Stobbart under doctors orders having to restrict himself to a couple of hours. As Eddie turned left the rest of the group continued over Harrisend Fell before saying farewell to the second victim, Geedee.
The group continued towards Galgate where Chippy turned South and the remaining 5 riders turned right up the A6 to Lancaster in order to make sure of our intended mileage. The road from Lancaster past the golf club brought back some fond memories of this years National 100 for both Robbie and JPS. Once we hit Stakepool the group dwindled to just three with Stelly and Robbie turning off for the A6 via Killcrash Lane, Stelly feeling that he had had enough miles with his eighty odd yesterday (Saturday). By now the three musketeers from last week made the most of the slight tailwind all the way to our lunch stop in Knott End caff.
Nicely satisfied in the stomach area we set off once again. Immediately JPS noticed that his mount was running lower at the front end and appeared unwilling to turn. On closer inspection we were able to diagnose a soft tyre which had obviously been deflating steadily whilst we tucked in to our refreshments. We were soon on our way again although JPS finding the head wind and the under inflated tyre hard going. Unfortunately there was another separation of riders as Dodgy pulled ahead of the other two and disappeared at the T junction. JPS and the Doolster deciding to take the most obvious route home were unaware that Dodgy was now chasing hard to rejoin them. It was hard going all the way back to the A6 but this was made easier with the reappearance of our vanishing rider to help at the front. A brief pit stop at Hoyles Hall in order to inflate JPS’s front tyre to a more appropriate pressure and the lads arrived back in Preston with over seventy miles in their legs.
Thanks lads, see you all next week.

Thank you to Jose for the excellent report and photos. Hopefully see you all out this coming Sunday