A warm welcome was given to two new members on this fine summer’s evening, John and Tim, both of whom had discovered the Windmill Club on the Cycling UK website. As well as being keen cyclists they are also car fanatics, John having competed in the Mille Miglia in Italy recently in his hotted up Triumph TR3 whilst Tim has designed and races his own sports car at Silverstone and other places. John lives in Much Hadham and Tim in Fulbourn. They found themselves in good company.
Meeting at The Tally Ho! in Barkway at 5.00pm, John and Tim were accompanied by Maurice, Andrew, Deborah, Charles, Nick and Martin on a pleasant 17 mile circuit around the lanes. But Charles clocked up around 30 miles in all having cycled from Chrishall and back again. Well done Charles! Newish member Nick has been considering buying an e-bike but after just a few rides he is thinking of changing his mind – it’s amazing how quickly cycling fitness can be achieved,
This is where we went:
The pace was fairly leisurely which meant there was ample time to learn about the racing exploits of John and Tim in their very different cars – John describing in graphic detail the crazy nature of the Mille Miglia when hundreds of competitors are encouraged by the police to drive at break neck speeds on public roads and Tim promising to show us pictures of his hairy sports car powered by a Honda Fireblade motorbike engine, which he subsequently did in The Tally Ho!.
A brief stop was made in Sandon before passing Lyn and John Bagrie’s house on the way to Buntingford, where thoughts of what we might see between Wyddial and Anstey on this warm evening entered the minds of both Andrew and Martin. But it was not to be – the scantily clad ladies seen emerging two years ago from their Mini Convertible down what has since been named Visions of Loveliness Lane were nowhere to be seen. Alas, we live in hope for another day.
The Tally Ho! had its usual jolly atmosphere, even though the choice of beers was not quite what we are used to. What a fussy lot the Windmillers are! It was good to see the pics of Tim’s smart sports racing car and we look forward to hearing how he fared at Silverstone.
Thanks go to Maurice as usual for planning the route and to Andrew for organising us.
Martin
The Windmill Cycle Club 