Thanks to Mike Sirett for this lovely report about his sporting weekend. I hope he’ll forgive my ignorance but apparently there are other sports apart from cycling and bubbles is something to do with football!
Over the weekend past I had the pleasure of enjoying a couple of nice days with fellow members off the club, firstly at the Macmillan sportive on Saturday and then attending the football on Sunday.
Part 1
On a slightly chilly morning I and 170 other participants assembled at the Langton’s Brewery for the sign on and start of the Macmillan’s Sportive. I wore arm warmers in the hope that the sun would arrive later but this didn’t happen.
I entered the Full Fat 100KM course but noted on the profile that it was rather bumpy early doors and over the last 15 miles so planned to do the course in a steady fashion. The course looked like it had the fingerprints of Mr Dainty all over it but I was informed it was Kamilla and Greg’s planning.
I started off with Bruce Main and we caught up to Ian Parker, “Little” Steve Nixon and Dave Mcgrew and after a quick chat decided that we’d stick together with a No Drop vibe.
As we caught up at East Carlton, it was lovely to see Judith, Jo and Ann amongst others and say a quick hi. The course was lovely and hilly and enjoyable until we got to the roads out of Corby and had to remind ourselves that we weren’t on the Gravel course, but it was soon over and we went over to Tansor, Warmington and Fotheringhay, which were particularly delightful as I’d never ridden through them previously.
We had a team photo taken at a gate and were joined by a very pleasant chap who we’d exchanged pleasantries with previously. We were rather impressed to notice that he was riding his bike in what appeared to be Chelsea Boots.
Ian Parker was most welcome as he carries a plentiful supply of Jelly Babies so we had to decide when the Jelly Baby stop was. On we went and I noticed a sign for a Greggs en-route that was inviting but we thought we’d carry on to the food stop. This seemed to take a while so we had a discussion about the contents of our dream food stop. FYI, Little Steve went for a Bacon and Egg sandwich with a Victoria Sponge slice chaser.
Eventually Bruce informed us that the stop was a few miles away on we ploughed, but were a little bit surprised that a nasty little hump had to be overcome just prior. Bruce is a rather cool dude, but even he may have sworn.
I told the chaps that I now do a bit of flexibility work since I pinged my back late last year and much to my surprise, Ian and Steve joined in with me at the food stop. I didn’t notice if we got any funny looks but it all helps.
Now we were on the homewards stretch and the drag to Uppingham seemed to be a bit harder, Knob Hill seemed suitably named and the hill up to Church Langton felt awful. The guys were true to their words and waited for the group to re-assemble at each big hill. We all went the last bit to the Langton Brewery and the finish in and organised line.
We had a lovely chat at the finish over the nice food, beers and coffees.
I’d like to thank the gents in our group for a lovely day out and also Kamilla, Gregg and all the others that ran the event as it was really lovely.
Part 2
Stuart Haycox and I had been talking about taking in a game for a couple of seasons so on Sunday we attended the West Ham – Notts Forest game at the London Stadium. I’m West Ham, Stuart is Forest.
It was actually Stuart’s birthday on the day so his wife Ruth had given him a pass after doing the Sportive on the Saturday so many thanks Ruth.
After getting off the train we went to the very nice bike shop at Kings Cross Coal Drops Yard (Via Atelier – lots of nice stuff) then onto Stratford where we had a very nice Italian lunch and then sauntered off to the stadium.
When “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” was sung I sung it with more gusto for some reason. Stuart tried not to look too embarrassed.
It was a bit of a roller coaster for Stuart as Forest were desperate for the win. They were hanging on at 2-1 when it was announced that there were 11 minutes of added on time. Stu held his head in his hands and started to rock. When the whistle went and they had won he exhaled rather loudly and had a massive smile on his face.
He was so happy when we got outside, he did a little dance to Camilla Cabello’s “Havana”, which I may struggle to forget for a while.
We had a picture taken after the game with Stuart sympathising with my team’s loss to his team.
We had a very nice coffee and cake at St Pancras before getting the train back home. Despite the loss, we had a lovely day out so thanks, Stuart.
All in all a top weekend in good company.
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