No feeling in my fingers …

…. No feeling in my toes. Yes, you are right. This week’s OGIL ride was Wet, Wet, Wet.

Won’t be much I thought, and with the warm weather we have had recently, wearing my Night Vision, all weather coat, from Evans Cycles, would be a bit over the top. My lightweight ‘plastic bag” would suffice. How wrong I was. But I was not alone; Martyn, Phil1, Paul and Kiwi Dave, at Union Corner and Simon, Phil3, Mike2, Andrew, Trevor and Keith at the other place. I suggested that we head to Portreath, with an option to cut short at Miss Mollys if the weather deteriorated even more. It did, and we did. Trevor only got as far as Carmenellis before turning for home. Simon taxed himself with setting an interesting route but we settled for Bolenowe and down past the dog and duck yard farm then through to Brea tunnel. And as well we did for the rain that had until then been steady excelled itself. We dripped into Miss Mollys, leaving coats and helmets in the porch. Removing the dainty chair pads before we sat down we arranged ourselves around two tables. I am not sure of the extent of the fire that caused the tea rooms to close but it is all now newly painted, with, if not a collection of new photos around the walls, a fresh collection. In spite of our appearance the waitress sounded as if we were welcome, though strange looks came from at least one of the other customers. The food was as good as ever, and for once the rain did not take a break whilst we were sheltering. Conversation on the one table was mostly around Internet safety, with Andrew relaying a sorry tale of hacking, and the “wonderful” customer service from HSBC and the Fraud Hotline. To be serious for just the one moment, it did impress upon us the importance of regularly changing passwords for all of the accounts you have on line, and not just your email and bank accounts. The conversation began with me mentioning Drew, a Bury Clarion member who had ridden with us on Sunday. At one point of the ride a comment was made about his gleaming chain and cassette. He said that he used Tungsten Bananaslip lubricant. None of us had heard of this before but, spookily, later that evening, when I was checking my facebook page, an advert appeared, for Tungsten Bananaslip. I hadn’t been looking for it, so, had Mystic Meg been listening in to our conversation?

We put off our departure as long as we could and after giving apologies for the pools of water on their nice new laminate floor we braved the weather again. There were no takers for the usual route out along the cycle path to St Euny Church, everyone preferring to retrace our steps, the shortest route, home. With a number of OGIL now using bikes with disc brakes, and the rest of us having calliper brakes, a little suspect in heavy weather, you might think that there could be some risk of collision when heads are down and minds on a hot shower. Thoughtfully Phil1 and Paul have fitted audible devices to their bikes that sound a screeching noise that warns the rest when they are about to brake.

Although I had only completed 30 mile, by the time I got home I was starting to shiver. The “coat” went in the bin. Spookily, as I checked my facebook page, before starting this report, an advert popped up, for a lightweight waterproof cycling jacket. Spooky indeed.

Dean