What happened to Autumn?

It seems that the seasons are rolling into one! we didn't have much of a summer to be happy about, and there doesn't appear to be an autumn to enjoy either. The clocks have gone back, and the mercury in the thermostat has dropped to single figures in a week. Well, to be fair, I am commenting on the weather at the times when we are stupid enough to go out for club rides! Tuesday and Thursday night's spins were peppered with heavy cold downpours. Both nights I returned home soaking wet and freezing cold. Despite the weather we are still enjoying larger groups than I expected. 

This weekends club ride promised to be a little different. We met at 7.30 at the 12th Man and rode over to Birkenhead to meet Tim, Mark and Ken. We then rode round to the Seacombe ferry terminal to meet a friend of mine who is working on an exciting project. After Chris repaired the only puncture of the day, We rode round to Moreton via new brighton and Leasowe. Along the way we assisted James with his project of which more will be revealed in a couple of weeks. We then rode up to Heswall via Irby and enjoyed a blast along the Chester High road to Eureka. We usually ride through the lanes, but sometimes it is nice to ride along the straight High road in a group, at pace. 

When we arrived at The Cafe we were welcomed by lots of comments about the new club kit. There were 10 of us in kit today, so we did stand out a bit. Everyone was very complimentary and some even said they would check out the club on Facebook and here, on the Blog. 

Whilst we were there, we agreed to help with a charity bike ride. Not your usual kind, but an attempt to ride the 2235 miles from Neston to Lapland in 24 hours! The charity Northern Lights raises money to take seriously ill children to Lapland each year. To achieve the distance, without leaving the country riders will be riding an hour each on one of 5 turbos at Cheshire Oaks Outlet village on November 23rd ,24th and 25th. We will be helping out on the morning of the 24th. If you would like to support this charity you can donate via this LINK or by texting NLCC25 and your donation amount to 70070 e.g. NLCC25 £5

We headed off back towards Birkenhead,this time meandering through the lanes, and as usual, lads peeling off to head home along the way. 

Palefish CC spinning in the lanes

 We dropped Ken off at the station in Birkenhead and the last of us headed back over Ford hill and into Greasby.
We were lucky with the weather, the rain and wind held off, but the temperature didn't get much above 8 degrees. In this kind of cold weather a few of us wear a Buff to keep the cold air out, this is especially important if, like me, you suffer from Asthma.
Graham has found a great style of Buff to wear, an ideal piece of kit to intimidate errant drivers!!!

Palefish CC Stig?

Wet and Windy Welcome back to Wirral

I'm not sure how many times this has been said, but the weather in Scotland last week was fantastic! The sun shone every day, and the wind and rain stayed away from the West coast so that we could enjoy the stunning scenery.

There were some great roads around the area too, which led me to think about the possibility of a possible Palefish CC cycling holiday there next year.

Anyway, enough about my holiday and on to this weeks club ride!

The weather forecast for today was not good! Wet and Windy which ever forecast site I looked at! I remembered to reset my alarm clock back an hour, and even with an extra hour in bed, I wasn't too keen on getting up and out into the rainy morning gloom. I rode up to the Twelfth Man expecting to see a couple of other there, and was surprised to find the car park bereft of other Lycra clad madmen. I wasn't alone for long, Dave B joined me and after we waited until 7.15, with no other riders appearing we set off towards Birkenhead to hopefully meet up with Ken. 

When we arrived at the mouth of the Tunnel, we were pleased to see 3 Palefish CC members, Mark, Richard and Derek, sheltering under the toll booth canopy. We considered doing a Tunnel run, but decided against it, and also to rearrange the route to keep away from the North Wirral coast and take a more direct route to the Mills. After receiving a text from Ken to say he wouldn't be joining us we set off in the now torrential rain. We took the usual route through the lanes, at a more sedate pace that usual due to the conditions, which suited me as I hadn't been in the saddle for 10 days, and had maybe overindulged a little whilst on holiday!

We arrived at Eureka in good spirits, if a little damp, and were surprised to be the first there, even though it was nearly 9. By this time usually there is no where to sit and a big queue waiting to be served.

Richard shot off before the rest of us, as he had a date at a football ground to keep. The rest of us headed back towards Heswall via the lanes. Mark and Derek headed back towards Birkenhead, and Dave and I continued on to complete a loop of Wirral via West Kirby, and Moreton, with the wind behind us for a bit, but no let up in the rain.

It was good to be back out on the bike, and even strangely enjoyable being out in winter conditions again. As we always say, no bad weather, just bad clothing!!

Damp Palefishers!

The First outing in the new Palefish CC Kit

It has been a hectic week this week. Well it seemed that way by the end of Sunday, which is why I am writing this on a Monday night for a change!

After a couple of weeks off the bike due to other stuff and the typical October cold, It was back to business as usual, even though I still have the remnants of the cold, sniff sniff!
Tuesday nights route was devised by Graham, who also led the ride, which was nice as I could sit back and let someone else take the front. The only issue is that I think I may have created a Strava monster! It was a pretty quick first section out to New Brighton and then a steady pace back through Claughton over the hill and back up Beryl* and down again before a loop round Irby and back to the 12th Man.
(*Beryl road climb)

Thursdays ride was the first really wet one of the season. It rained from start to finish of the 23 mile loop. I was surprised to see 6 people waiting for me and Tim at the 12th Man and even more surprised to see a new rider wanting to join us in our foolhardy session in the rain! Although the pace was slightly slower than usual, we still managed a good average and a few climbs. The only casualty of the rain was Laz who took a corner a bit too fast and lost traction with his tyres but gained it with his thigh! I am happy to report that he got straight up and carried on. I also have to mention that I am very impressed with my Sportful hot pack no rain jacket, which kept me bone dry from the downpour. I would highly recommend this jacket, well worth the money.

The big event of the week, and one of the proudest of my life, after kids, wife etc etc, was getting the message from Ken at Onimpex that our new Bio-Racer Club kit was in the country!

To say that I was excited is an understatement, I was like a kid at Christmas. Friday morning I arranged to meet Ken and collect the kit, I couldn't wait for the great British postal system! As always it was great to see Ken and we had a great chat about all things cycling and how Palefish CC was growing fast.
It was really strange to actually see the kit in the flesh.
The Palefish brand has been in my head for years, and to finally have it in physical form, in this blog, the club and now the kit, it feels fantastic.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again say thanks to everyone who has helped get Palefish to where it is now, Mrs Palefish, Ken who got me started road cycling, Paul and Tim and all the riders in the club, Laura from Lime 26, Shaun and Ade the Wirral Mamils, Ken at Onimpex and all the cycle shops that support us, and I now look forward to the next chapter.

Anyway, back to the kit! Palefish HQ was a busy place on Friday night and Saturday as the lads came to collect their kit. To be honest, I got a real buzz from seeing their faces as they opened the packaging and smiled as they liked what they saw.

Sunday was a busy day for the club, Three of the lads headed off to Hebden Bridge for the Mills and Hills Sportive, a great opportunity to show off the new kit.

Mark, Mal and Rich

Closer to home  Dave B, Dave C and Jon were running the Liverpool Marathon. I'm not a very enthusiastic runner but I have massive respect for the lads in taking on the challenge of running a marathon. Well done.

For those not partaking in Hilly Yorkshire rides or pounding the Streets of Wirral and Liverpool, there was the Sunday club ride. It was the coldest start of the year so far, and I was a little worried that the new kit wasn't going to provide the best protection against the temperature, as most of us had chosen the lightweight Cool Max sub 100g jersey. I am pleased to say that with a good base layer, and the excellent Gillet I ordered, along with some arm and leg warmers, I was toasty! It was great to see 6 other lads all kitted out in the kit, something we have all been looking forward to.
It was great to see Phil from Cheshire Oaks Cycles, one of the shops that supports the club, for his first Palefish CC ride. We also picked up a new member along the way to Birkenhead. Giles had spotted us on Facebook, after a Strava interaction with another club rider. We met up with Ken and Neil in Birkenhead and then Dave on the way to Eastham where we were joined by Tim. Phil was impressed to see so many riders out early on a cold Sunday morning. It has been a while, but we managed to get lost on the way out of Eastham, I blame local knowledge overriding my Garmin instructions!! As I mentioned before it was quite chilly, Phil's Garmin showing 1degree, and unfortunately Dave L was feeling the cold quite badly. Luckily Steve had some mechanics latex gloves in his saddle pack, which were green, so not only did they keep Dave's hands warm, they matched his new Palefish CC jersey!
To add to the getting lost, and Dave's mild hypothermia, we also had our first puncture in a while. It always comes in threes!

We progressed event free for the rest of the ride to the Eureka Cafe, where we all rolled into the car park resplendent in our new kit. It was great to have an Identity at last at the Country's best Cycle Cafe.
We had a good reception to the kit and it was great to catch up with the aforementioned Wirral Mamils.

Dave L and his Latex glove, Owen Andy and Dave F With Graham Neil Chi and Paul in the Background

There were too many of us for one table so we had to spread ourselves out in the Cafe!

Phil and Tim

After our brew I decided to take a team photo outside the Cafe to mark the club kit's first outing.

Palefish CC at The Eureka Cafe

Spot the Mamil?

I wasn't surprised to find a certain Wirral Mamil posturing in the background as I got the lads lined up for the photo!

We headed straight up the Chester High road, as time was now against us for some of the group, and as we reached Heswall we started to split off in our different directions. Before the majority left I managed to convince the lads in new kit to pose for one more Photo.

I hate to say it but it was a bit too sunny to get a great photo, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future for Club kit photo's!

It was also a fateful decision to stop as things seem to happen in four's now! As we were preparing to set off, Chi missed his footing on his pedal and fell off onto Steve's back wheel, which didn't stay too round! It amazes me how easy it is to buckle a wheel, especially as we tend to put them through some tough conditions on British roads. After a bit of cogitating about what to do, Chi called for a lift and took Steve and his bike home. the rest of us headed home ourselves, via Birkenhead to drop Ken off at the Station. And that was the First Club Kit ride done!

I am away again next weekend, but Zel is doing a ride on Sunday and some of the lads are going on that, and I'm sure the rest will get together at some point too. 

The most exciting thing is that as I was dishing out the kit to the guys on Friday and Saturday, they were giving me new orders for more kit, and on Sunday those who missed the first order run were telling me they wanted to put an order in. I think that by Christmas we will have a lot more riders in Palefish colours in the lanes of Wirral, Cheshire and Wales!