Something is about to give

I have a hunch we are in for a mild winter. No don't laugh, I'm serious. In the Spring of 2004 I splashed (pun intended) out on a Berghaus Meera peak gore-tex jacket. It didn't rain for three months. After the snow last winter I filled my shed with rock salt, well the bits of the shed not taken with bike stuff obviously. Granted it has come in useful this winter, but it sure took up a lot of room during the mild spring of 2010.

On Friday of this week my new Polartex fleece-lined super-dooper Buff (rather disdainfully referred to as "Snoods" by football commentators) arrived in the post. A toasty neck and a lovely warm bonce are now guaranteed for all freezing climate conditions. So, I think we can all look forward t warm and balmy days until the summer, when no doubt it will rain for months.

Didn't apply today unfortunately. I gingerly left my house, walked to the road and prepared to cycle off to Axbridge for a Cycling Group official ride. Just at that moment a runner came panting up the hill from the village, exclaiming, "it's very slippy and icy, be careful". What did she know? Looked OK to me. But as soon as I got to the crest of the hill, on the bit of our road with the beautiful new tarmac, I saw what she meant.

Drat, no way I could cycle on that, black, silver, any colour ice you like, it was all there. So I walked to the A38, and hoped it had been gritted. It had, but the road down into Axbridge hadn't and it too was full of the slippery stuff. My sense of trepidation, no make that fear, increased.

You know the old joke about "how do you like your eggs in the morning?" Well my take is "how do you like your shoulders in the morning? Undislocated". Back in 2006 I fell off on the ice while coming down Burrington Coombe, not an exercise I want to repeat, and which clearly nags away in the back of my mind. Should have been more sensible given what was to come.

If I had been more sensible I would have attempted to persuade people to go home, but instead we all laughed it off and headed down the A38, across the levels to Mark, and then along to the Cider cafe. Quite a short run really, with Skip, Knight, Wonderboy and newbie S (name committee meeting this week), all being fairly sensible.

When not on the ice it was a lovely day, all sunshine and blue skies, I was enjoying myself despite the concentration required to stay upright, almost like a kite blowing out of control on the breeze.

Given the state of my big toe on Friday, doing its best Gary Lineaker impression, I was lucky to be riding at all. Still it's amazing the drugs these scientists have invented for the betterment of society, that Alexander Fleming bloke came up trumps for me today.

After the cafe stop, Knight of the Realm headed off to keep shop, and the rest of us went in search of sunny roads with no ice on them. We found a few, and we also found a lot that were shaded and treacherous. Coming through Blackford my back wheel moved on the stuff, closely followed by the front, a bit like a cycling okey-cokey, but fortunately I stayed upright.

As we headed for Crickham there's a bit of a dip before the junction which was particularly icy. I passed a chap on a singlespeed, gave him a "hello" and a comment about the ice and slowly breezed past. Next thing I know I hear "thump, thump, thump", look behind me and lying on the road are S, Skip and the singlespeed chap. Skip's fall looked to have been particularly bad, indeed her helmet was cracked completely on one side, and she was looking like that Audley Harrison fellow. Except colder. And shorter and with more lycra. But hurt.

They all brushed the ice off, S being concerned about his new jacket, and we slowly made our way back to Axbridge. I made sure Skip was OK, and then after a little solo riding on the flat, south-facing and main roads towards Weston, I went home.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/62664717

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/62664717

Not bad stats. all things considered. By the way if you fancy seeing more about the ACG, I have set up a Facebook group. You do have to join Facebook, which can't be too scary as I have done it and I'm 78. Even all the party leaders, all now younger than me for the first time ever, are on Facebook. Their youth does of course give me the right to tut and make comments like "tut, they'll learn" except I'm pretty sure they won't. Or they'd be doing something more worthwhile.