New Year ride

Jan 2nd - ready for a new year of cycling. This year's aim to cycle Paris to Geneva (in June). Back to today, I got ready and went to the bike just after 9 ready to go to hertford for the start of the run to find my back wheel had a flat. Lesson of the day, always check your bike the day before. 20 mins later with a new inner tube in place I was almost ready to go, only had to get the final bits and bobs ready, called ahead to say I would be late and set off to try to catch the group. I got a phone call coming out of Hertford saying everyone was in Bramfield. I thought I was a few hundred metres from Bramfield but was actually 2 miles away! Peter hung back and I caught him 10 mins later and we rode together. We rode a fairly fast pace in the cold but dry weather and all was going fine until I punctured. Lesson no 2 - always check that you have the CO2 cylinder pump with you before you leave! We fixed the inner tube and cycled on, but then Peter called me to stop. Lesson no 3 - always close the saddle bag to stop inner tubes falling out and remember to pick up the tyre levers when you have finished a repair. So being cold and not sure of the exact route, we headed for the cafe stop at the Tea Green Golf Course arriving at the same time as the main group. A good english breakfast later and we set off for home, past Luton airport (where someone punctured and we sat at the end of the runway watching several planes land). After that the journey back was fairly uneventful arriving home just after 3 pm to find Montse and the girls in the rugby club carpark on their new bikes.