OGIL ride Wednesday 7th October 2020
With the Rule of Six becoming a reality, the usual method of organising the OGIL rides of everyone turning up at Union Corner or the Other Place and then debating what the destination should be and what route we should take obviously cannot continue. But the default replacement method of using the OGIL WhatsApp group to negotiate numbers etc was clearly not ideal. Simon noted a total of 60 messages on the group about today’s ride, Ian complicated things by introducing spurious mathematical problems, and Sylvia used it as an excuse for a stiff drink. We clearly need some other method to organise ourselves. An obvious route would be to use one of the free online ticketing apps that are available. This would enable us to set up each Wednesday OGIL group as a separate event with a ticket limit of six, and then invite riders to subscribe to whichever they think is most suited. What do people think? All we need is a volunteer to run the thing.
Anyway, the TUC (Team Union Corner) group of six decided to risk riding through the road closed signs on Bullhead Road (Dean’s innovative new route), despite warnings from the operative guarding the barriers that it would be a bit rough. As it turned out, the scoured surface was no worse than the tarmac used to be, and apart from a slight hold-up whilst the machinery manoeuvred we got through safely. Reaching the turn to Halvasso we dutifully avoided any contact with the two representatives of TOP (Team Other Place) loitering in the gateway, and passed by on the other side. They may have been waiting for John H who was reportedly having a nap at the cement factory (??).
The weather was kind to us as we headed to our chosen destination of St Agnes. After stripping off at Longdowns due to higher than expected temperatures, a short shower near the ATV crossroads made us stop to don our macs. But inevitably as soon as we were on the move again the rain stopped and we began to do our boil-in-the-bag impressions and we had to stop and disrobe. Ah, the vagaries of the Autumn weather.
Noticing the imminence of the OGIL witching hour of 11 of the clock, we took the direct route to St Agnes and the Green Room. The solitary bike rack on the opposite side of the road soon filled up, so others were reduced to parking their steeds against a wheelie bin kindly left there by the famous war hero General Waste. Luckily a table big enough to accommodate all six of us was secured inside, and we tucked into our coffee/tea/cake/breakfasts. Curiously during our stay it emerged that Jan was not only in the illicit Marmite trade but was also peddling (geddit?) unbranded kinesiology tape for those who might have a slightly dodgy knee and were planning to run a marathon in the near future.
We took the usual route home, but to avoid Hillhead Road we returned through Mabe and Penryn. Winners of the in-ride competitions are as follows. Chain off – draw: Phil1 2 / Sylvia 2. Unscheduled stop – Jan (after rear-ending Phil in slow motion). I took the prevalence of chains unshipped due to front changer problems and/or rider incompetence to be vindication of my decision to go for a single chainring on my new winter bike, but time will tell…
A nice little ride with pleasant company. Just slightly less than 73 km for me.
TUC group of Six: Dean, Jan, Kath, Phil1, Sylvia, the author.
Excellent report Colin. Accurate and Hilarious!