A Bank Holiday Cheshire lanes sunny spin

The weekday rides are growing. As the nights get lighter and warmer it seems to bring out the Palefish that have spent the winter in the Gym or on the Turbo. We have regularly had 15 riders spinning through the wirral lanes. Last weekend I was away, celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary (well done Mrs Palefish for putting up with me!) so I was looking forward to today's ride.
The weather has got better through the week, and today promised to be the best of the week. The route I planned took us out to Tarvin via Helsby and Beeston, then back to The Wirral via Chester.
The take up on the Facebook page was great, and I was expecting more to turn up on the day.
Mother Nature didn't let us down. As 10 of us headed over to Birkenhead, the sun started to burn off the clouds. We picked up Ken just outside of the tunnel, and then made our way to Eastham to meet up with Tim, Mark, Steve, Wayne and Jon then round to the Boat Museum to pick up Darren.
As the group grows, so does the Geography of collection points!
All was going well, the group was riding well together, and no mechanicals, but eventually, just as we arrived in Tarvin, 28 miles into the ride, disaster struck. Just after a sharp left hand turn into the village we came across some glass in the road. The shout went up from the front, as as the group jostled to avoid the tyre shredding glass, wheels touched and Paul hit the Tarmac. Luckily he avoided the glass, but he did suffer some nasty cuts. After straightening bits of his bike, and stemming the flow of blood, we carried on.
The original plan had been to go to the Ice Cream Farm, but as it was such a nice day, and also a Bank Holiday, we decided to go a little further down the road to The Manor Farm cafe. Dan was waiting to join us there, and we caused a bit of a problem, as 18 people in one go seemed to slow up the service a little! The team coped well though, and it didn't take too long for everyone to be served and get some fuel on board.

Palefish CC taking over the outside seating area at Manor Farm

It was nice to see a Brace of Onix RH bikes out today, and not too long until another one is added!

The second incident of the day occurred  just as we were getting ready to leave the Cafe. Nothing too bad, a puncture for Graham, but it did mean that we had an extra few minutes in the sun!

The ride back through Chester was uneventful, except for the long queue for the Zoo. We snaked through the lanes back onto the Wirral, and then through Willaston and Thornton back to Greasby.

I rode home, to find the family on their way out, so I decided to add another 10 miles to the ride,bringing the total up to 87 for the day.

I think as the club grows, I am going to have to make a decision about how many is too many for a ride! 18 was ok today, as everyone was of a similar ability, and the route didn't have too many difficult junctions to cope with, but there were still times when the group split. I remember back to when there were just a few of us out, and how tight and fast we rode, and I think that may be the way forward, sometimes. I think we may need to have a social soon to discuss how the club moves forward as we near its anniversary.