Christmas Ride 2006

Adrian and Julie kindly offered to host this years annual 'Xmas Poof's Ride' from their base in Nywood. Freezing fog may have been shutting down the domestic transport system, with all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled, but there was no keeping the TCA down! It was a bitterly cold (-3C) pea-souper of a night; a thin layer of ice had formed on both Jon and Al's bikes while they were strapped to the cars for the journey's from Arundel and Hambledon respectively. There was much jumping around the farm yard and clapping of hands to keep warm before the off, from Ad's parents' place, while the final adjustments were made... to the tinsel which adorned the helmets, rather than the more usual technical adjusments the group are more accustomed too.

The TCA Xmas ride is traditionally a gentle, sociable road ride taking in a couple more beers than usual. This year we planned to do a circular route taking in three of the best pubs in the area around Elstead and South Harting. Using country lanes we headed north towards Steadham. The ride was a generally unevenful affair at a slower pace than usual; although it was extraordinarily cold speeding up to get warm seemed to be more detrimental than helpful due to increased wind-chill! Also of note was a bizzare display of Christmas lights in a field apparently in the middle of nowhere, somewhere on a country lane near Iping: A large ring of illuminated tents, fairy lights and festive paraphernalia were strewn around the field with no reasonable explanation. It was an eerie sight with no obvious power source miles from the nearest building. Jon was keen to investigate but the others thought it too sinister - it had a definite touch of the Blair Witches about it - and pressed on to the first pub, The Elstead Inn. Al's first attempt to order a round was unsuccessful as his mouth was so numb with cold he could not enunciate the word 'beer'. However, using the language of internationally recognised hand signals, 3 lagers and 3 bitters where obtained and paid for.

The Executive Committee in Session
(Left to right: Jon, Al, Ad)

As if the festive season wasn't enough cause for celebration Ad pointed out that this was a record turnout for the TCA with 6 riders in force - hearty toasts were made, as is by now customary, to our various absent members and for the continued success of the TCA into the New Year. In truth the first pints didn't really touch the sides and, to the disbelief of the local punters, we were off into the freezing fog again heading for the Three Horseshoes a mile down the road. The distance was covered in record time by Matt - like a horse whisperer Al quietly pointed out to him that the sooner we got to the pub, the sooner we would get our next beer - he shot off like a rocket!

After another swift pint, and more hearty toasts in the 'shoes, it was a fairly flat run to South Harting (albeit quite dark as lights were running low), Al teaming up with Matt to guide the way and, using his new coaching techniques (any mention of beer), coaxed the last ounce of speed out of him! The White Hart was our last stop for a pint (and round of toasts) of the evening; having pronounced 2006 one of the best, discussion turned to activities for the New Year. Ad and Ju move to pastures new over the holiday (Devizes) and a commitment was made to try out this potential new site. With the riders in good spirits for the short ride back to Nyewood a rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas ensued (up until 'eight-maids-a-milking' anyway, as no one could remember nine). If the ride wasn't good enough then what awaited our return was exactly what six-cyclists-a-freezing could have wished for: Chicken soup with crusty bread; cottage pie; mince pies and cream laced with brandy, and all washed down with a bottle (yes, a whole bottle) of Jura single malt donated to Al on his last birthday by Billy-Bob [Cheers! Ed.]. Needless to say, queue more hearty toasts.

The TCA festive party
(Left to right: Julie, Jon, Matt, Ad, Al, Jerry)

Thanks to Ad and Ju for organising a fitting end to a brilliant TCA year, thanks to Ad's folks for letting us crash at their's for the night. Thanks also to everyone who's come out for a ride in 2006, we look forward to seeing you again in the New Year, and finally thanks to all the readers of TCA2006 for your encouragement; your comments are always appreciated!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TCA
...see you on a bike in 2007!

Route Map:

(Posted by: Al)