Clarion Christmas
Festivities
Saturday night the forecast for Sunday morning
was a dire looking one, wet and cold with a hint of snow in parts, surely our
downhill event will not be cancelled
Sunday morning began as forecast, rain belting
down early as I was getting ready to meet John Mann and Charlie Whittle at Lostock station, but the most striking thing was the wind, gosh it was really
blowing hard.
The rain had abated as I set off to meet the
fellow members but still lightly falling and not a problem, yet.
Surprise surprise, John was already there and
as I rolled up right behind me was Charlie and Ray Fairclough, Charlie I was
expecting but not Ray.
As usual riding into the very strong headwind I
found myself on the front as we rode up Chorley New road. Behind I could hear
talking as well as my heavy breathing, at least my sacrifice on the front was
of some assistance to our venerable eighty four year old member John.
We arrived at the barn just behind the familiar
figure of Steve Menhams who had suddenly appeared from an off road track. The
gathering was underway and as this year there was no timed kettle boiling to
keep us amused hot coffee in the barn was an eager option.
As we sat enjoying the coffee it seemed
altogether much better as fingers pointed outside to the rain that had become a
deluge, thank goodness we were comfortably under cover. One or two late comers
were not as fortunate and were almost drowned.
As if by magic, the rain ceased as we left the
barn and out came the sun on the colourful cavalcade of cyclists making the
trip along the ‘Street’ to the downhill venue, Nick Hilton lane, starting from
the Yew Tree pub.
After the obligatory group photo by Pete
Singleton using with difficulty the ‘gorilla’ mini tripod, a hands and knees
job seeing the viewfinder, the fun began.
One by one the members rolled away from the
start line, some on classy bikes worthy of a road race, some bog standard and
just a couple of mountain bkes, Fleur sporting a nice pink one worthy of the
rough stuff fellowship gang.
John Mann was a non starter and stayed on the
pub car park, after reassurance from me that we would be coming back up the
hill, he still looked uncertain we would.
I hopped (?) on my bike as last man off, just
pushed a little on the pedals to start rolling. Soon I was flying, so fast
tears filled my eyes, even with a hub dynamo on the front wheel I was at warp
factor one. A car approaching the finish area slowed me down a bit as I stopped
just ahead of someone’s chalk line, at least I wasn’t last.
Paul came down the hill counting his strides,
‘twenty one, twenty two’ yards, I was second twenty two yards behind the
winner, I felt cheated, especially when it was declared Steve Horner had a pair
of £600 pound wheels fitted, crickey I hope Paul has a prize befitting such
will to win.
Back up the hill to Back Lane
Cresting the short steep hill at Cowling we had
a regrouping before continuing down Stump lane where we were greeted by a ‘No
through road’ sign, as on the Arnside ride it was ignored and on we went, at
the bottom and to the left was McDonalds, time for more coffee.
With our entrance it meant a very large queue
but as I had abandoned my bike I was almost at the front but the lady behind
the counter declared a ten minute wait for coffee. A quick thinking Paul
changed his order to hot chocolate and was served almost at once, I was quick
to follow suit and I have to say the drink was delicious, despite someone
saying it was fattening, on a day when a big turkey dinner was next up it
hardly mattered.
We filled one end of McDonalds managing to more
or less all sit together, noisy cheerful chatter filled the air, the spirit of
Christmas was well and truly upon us.
Time to move on and the good nature continued
as a customer was gesticulating and pointing his finger at one of the bikes and
a piece of paper attached to the saddle. On the paper was written, £75.00. or
near offer, a good laugh as it was on an expensive looking bike, a better joke
than those in the Christmas crackers.
Again we had managed to miss a cloudburst while
in the cafe and the leisurely ride the two or so miles to the Cherry tree was
enjoyable, the strong headwind that had troubled us going to the barn was now
behind us. The strength of the tail wind was highlighted by the sight of flying
Fleur on the downhill and flat sections of road, she made that mountain bike
move.
Bikes locked and it was into the restaurant,
most of us eager for a pint of good beer with me looking forward to a pint of
the very nice ‘Dirty Blonde’ special but I was to be disappointed as the barrel
was not yet connected, ah well, lager would do for now.. At the bar were three welcome
guests, Pete Wilson, Craig Smith and his brother Barry, more than welcome as
they were busy filling in membership forms and paying long overdue subs, about
three years overdue. Welcome back Pete, Craig and Barry.
Once again we filled one end of the eatery
pulling crackers and putting on the party hats and looking for the novelties
that usually fly as the cracker comes apart. This tradition is then continued
with a reading of the jokey slips of paper, smiles elicited by the sheer
weakness of the jokes, jokes we all told in junior school, still it’s all part
of the overall fun.
The Christmas lunch was superb, I did not hear
one word of criticism, chief guests Geoff and Yvonne Smith particularly enjoyed
their Vegetarian meal.
Party spirit continued with our festive grand
raffle, again generously supported by Geoff and Yvonne and of course by the
members, the outcome was a sum of some ninety odd pounds, again to be donated
to our adopted charity, Bolton Hospice. The ‘Dirty Blonde’ beer came on tap so
I relaxed with an after dinner pint in the equally relaxed atmosphere.
Members began to drift off as dusk and more
rain approached and a good number of us continued the party with a ride back to
Rivington Barn for coffee, riding up the hills to get there on a full stomach
really was a chore for me.
After coffee, more tall stories, looks cast by
the hard worked staff told us it was time to leave and so we did.
The last bit of tradition now took place for
the hardy (foolhardy?) ones among us, the trek over Chorley old road to the Doffcocker pub and
again, as last year the ride was in rain but at least we had a strong wind
behind giving us a welcome shove up the long, long hill. At the top there is
the bonus of a nice long much appreciated downhill right to the doors of the
pub.
Another enjoyable couple of hours were spent,
the exploits of the day and past Christmas events being discussed and laughed
over. We were joined as usual by singing barber Nev Street Charlie , Nev
We broke up the party eventually and found as
we ventured out that the rain was still persisting down but a few pints
consumed meant it was hardly a problem, especially for me, as once up on the
ring road it was all downhill home, right to the front door.
I wound up the long day enjoying the latest
episode of the thriller serial Homeland along with two rounds of toast and a
pot of tea after that I went to bed, and fell asleep as I mused on another
successful Bolton clarion Christmas do.
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