Days of Albion- 5th May

During his time at Anfield, one of the many criticisms of Gerad Houllier was that Liverpool almost never fielded the same team in consecutive games. In recent times much can be said of Ampthill Cycle Club,as the increased membership and inability of many of us to manage our diaries means you just never know who's going to show up.

Variety is the spice of life,as they say, and this has certainly added to the enjoyment over the last couple of years. So far this season, the first three rides have seen an average of seven riders while 14 different members have been out.

This week's motley clue comprised Mick,Chedge, Everton, John, Young Joe, Kieth and Mark-the-Fireman.
The absence of the Chairman added to the usual disorganisation and meant there was no pre-planned route. Thinking on our feet, or in the saddle, we decided on the old favourite of Steppingly, Eversholt, Milton Bryan, Potsgrove & Woburn, with an initial plan to stop at the Green Man on the way home. After calling for Kieth like a bunch of sub- adolescent school boys, we finally got on the way on another bright and breezy April evening.
Squad rotation and the tendency to consume too much beer during the season are probably the only two similarities we have with Premier League football teams. However if we were a Premier League Club then, surely Everton would be a our very own Ryan Giggs- gracefully driving us on despite being several years older than most of the crew. [Mention of RG is in no way a gratuitous attempt to drive traffic to this site-Ed]
Much as I'd like to think of myself as the David Beckham of the team, the fact that I'm well past my sell by date and spend most of my time right at the back probably makes me more of a David "Calamity" James. Any way, enough of football.

With varying levels of fitness this early in the season, it was not surprising that we were well strung out up the climb to Milton Bryan but we re-grouped before tackling the main road towards Woburn. It was strange riding through Potsgrove without Joe K-J providing his "All Our Yesterdays" commentary- but there were one or passable impersonations from the"young old boys".

Everton pulled us along at a brisk pace and we arrived in Woburn well ahead of schedule. After a quick conflab we agreed it was too early to go to the Green Man and that we would ride around the perimeter wall of Woburn Abbey rather than going through the deer park. So, 30 seconds later off sets half the team, heading straight through the middle of the deer park.
I'm really beginning to think we should change our name to the Goldfish Cycling Club!

We'd agreed to stop at the French Horn before heading back to Ampthill but after another brief debate we decided to head to the Albion for some real beer in a real pub (at sensible prices). This proved to be a very good call and, as seems to be increasingly the case, we decided the beer was so good that we made this our only stop of the night.

Come Out to Play (Now the Light Nights Are Here) 21/4/2011

22 Dreams may not be Paul Weller's greatest album; indeed some of the fillers sound like they were lifted from Pearl & Dean cinema ads, but, hidden amongst the also-rans is the excellent Light Nights (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGqDn00As0c).


The light, and un-seasonally sunny, nights certainly proved a great draw for our first official ride of 2011, and eight goodmen and true (Brian, Blunty, Mark the Fireman, Mick, Loren, Clive and Chedge) set out from the Old Sunon a warm Thursday. It's become something of a tradition that the first ride of the year heads out out to Haynes, via Clophill and Great Lane. All too often it's been a truncated affair with the elements convincing us to spend as much time in the pub as on the bike. This year was different and we added an extra loop through Silver End, along the A600 towards Shefford, picking up the surfaced bridelway behind Chicksands before rejoining our original route at Apsley Corner.


Spirits were buoyed by the glorious weather and the golden rape fields of the Bedfordshire countryside mirrored the the bright sunshine. Shorts revealed many pairs of knees that wouldn't normally be seen until well into May, but perhaps the most unusual thing was that Mick had cleaned and lubed his bike, had batteries in his lights AND a spare tube!

As we headed towards the Stone Jug, Mark the Fireman just happened to drop out the he would be celebrating his 50th birthday while on rugby tour over the weekend. I'd always thought that Mark was several years, rather than a few months, younger than me and kidded myself that that was the main reason for our relative fitness levels. This is clearly not the case. Nor can I blame the fitness gap on having had a harder paper round than him since he has spent much of his life chasing around putting out fires while I've been pushing a pen (or keyboard) for most of mine. Perhaps the clue lies at least in part in the fact that Mark left us outside the Stone Jug to pack for rugby tour while the rest of us went in to sample the local ales! Anyway, Happy Birthday, Mark- we drank a toast in your absence.

The welcome at the Stone Jug was as warm as the weather, and the beer up to its' usual high standard. It was very hard to drag ourselves away for the slog up Badger Hill and chase back to the Old Sun. Continuing the theme of warmth, most of the remaining crew partook of Paddy's extra hot curry, making the most of Friday being a bank holiday and staying for an extra pint or two.
A very enjoyable if not record-breaking 22 miles.