Not the Southport Smoothie

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/35633676
 
At about the time everyone was deciding (I Guess) to go out cycling or not the heavens OPENED !!! I was sitting in the kitchen looking out through the patio doors watching the rain blow across the garden in a horizontal fashion !!! I questioned if our home had somehow been transported to Samlesbury (where the rain is always horizontal) but it appeared that we were still in freck.
 
Luckily the rain had eased by the time we left the house and set off to Ponkies to see who was waiting.. that would be no-one.
 
However Tony, Gill and Rossy were soon to arrive and after giving it a few more minutes for any latecomers we set off.
 
We decided that a coastal route would not be the best idea as it was jolly windy - but in our favour as we left the village of music and flowers - so Sam and Tony agreed that we would head for the Delph diving centre again - lots of windy little lanes and hopefully not too much wind.
 
A very pleasant ride, at a leisurely pace in the sunshine... yes readers.. sunshine, in fact we stopped at Preston docks to remove layers :-)
 
Tea and toast, bacon butties, cakes etc ordered at the Delph we relaxed as, once again, the heavens opened - it didn't worry us too much though as we were under shelter and by the time we left the sunshine was out again. Well done Sam for planning the weather to perfection.
 
The ride back was ok - although I could feel the absence of training miles in my legs all the way home and for a good hour after we had returned to be fair - even if I don't get out with the group I soooooooo need to get some miles in before the ship to shap.
 
I thought the wind was very kind to us most of the time and Sam and Tony did a great job of sitting at the front sheltering us form it...apart from when it was behind us when of course I sat on the front for the glory :-)
 
It did get very tricky on our final gentle /but bl00dy awful incline into the village It's always a bit of a challenge that final bit of the bypass - 40 miles in legs and it often just seems to go on and on. Saturday was no exception. Thank goodness my Speedo is bust. I recon I was maxing about 7Mph on the way into Freck, but with Ponkies in sight it didn't feel too bad - and after the first bottle of Becks I was pleased I had dragged my butt out of bed.
 
A nice ride though - even though there was no drowning lady at the Delph this time. ...

Sue