Taken for a Ride!

One of the major events of the last few days was when I joined a group of 5 other guys on a bike ride from Birmingham (where I live) to Ludlow - 42 miles away! It's fair to say we'd been training for it a bit - popping out on our bikes every week or so but the most I had ever done was about 20 miles...

So the weather was overcast when we set off & the first 20 miles were great. We rode out from South Birmingham, past Bartley Green reservoir, through Frankley, Belbroughton & Kidderminster, ending up in Bewdley for our first stop by the river. The next ten miles was a little tougher with more ups & downs & we wound up stopping for lunch in Cleobury. Then came the real test - about 4 miles up Clee Hill... and I was really regretting the burger & chips I'd had for lunch, but we made it to the top & the last six miles down the other side & into Ludlow were fantastic - reaching speeds of 43 mph!

It took most of the day to get there & thank goodness our families had come to pick us up. I don't know what the rest of Ludlow thought as my kids mad a finishing line for me to ride through in the public square just in front of the castle.

Anyway it was a great day so thanks to Paul, Simon, Doug, Ted & particularly Roy who organised the trip. I can safely say it's something I would never have done on my own! Here's to the next one!