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.