Sorrento Cycling Club

I was hoping for a bailout fund to help with keeping Avoca in business but members can be assured that the petty cash box remained firmly fixed to the carrier even during a sprint finish with Eileen and Sadie…..the lame excuse of" I forgot the key" was used…

Post edited 10:42 am - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by The Brad

The Piece of Cake Tour

Billed as an easy tour but with a breeze that would keep your spinnaker filled if you could afford one we set off with a baker’s dozen on a southerly heading… The jolly and motley crew of the SS Sorrento left their home port of Willow Grove with a tear in their eyes and a lost look on their chiselled faces…

The crew made up of four senators of cycling royalty including a President in office(three wheelers and their coach Dermot),three Ryan’s  (all sprinters),the AA in case of emergencies(Annemarie & Ailish),MTB Martin, Eileen just back from high altitude training on the piste (those with racing aspirations beware)  , the Treasurer Clare with her petty cash box firmly fixed on her carrier and your mileage challenged scribe…took to their first obstacle the pedestrian bridge in Kilpeddar like mountain goats…and headed down the N11.

With a northerly helping gale we forged a course to Newcastle village with the occasional bit flying off a bike or two to add interest to our voyage and continued to the port of Wicklow to view the multi coloured fleet we resembled… with the black castle but a distant memory and with a bit of effort  we headed south trying to avoid the entourage from Bray Wheelers which their President Paul seems to attract everywhere he goes…south to Blainroe from where we headed to Deputy’s pass avoiding the metal obstacles on the N11 and enjoying as we went along a healthy diatribe of unsubstantiated folklore from the road captain…a coffee and a sticky bun put out, in a carrot and stick effort to try and make them smile awaited in a very quiet Avoca coffee shop in Ashford where Dermot had promised a table, dancing girls, a pole and his credit card behind the counter.

He came good as we were served by a pole that I had seen in the disco across the road once before and although a little worse for wear certainly could dance in 1985…the credit card bit turned out to be pure fiction like most of this report.

After the milky beverages we arose and some tired bones got ready for the last 15km or so (a bit further for our senators) braving a north wind like a bunch of Sherpa’s mad keen to get back to watch the omnibus edition of Eastenders….

The spin was a little or lot (depending on who you believe) longer than planned but as the saying goes "no pain no gain".

Patrick Bradshaw.