More Maritime Metaphors

Ian Dring was guest reporter from Thursday morning's ride:

"Captain Sharp pulled anchors at 9.35am. On board were able seamen Dring, Wright, Larkin, Williamson, Morton, Hunter and “cabin boy” Dickens. The ship launched on a rising tide and set sail for the Far East (even more east than Drumoak). Weather was a moderate 6 degrees and virtually no wind. We followed our leader out on the Deeside Way until “Dick’s Wiggle” up to the West Entrance to Crathes Castle. General instructions were to cycle up to the castle and then down to the main gate. Seven arrived at the main gate without our Skipper. First suggestions were that an angered bear had taken him after coming out of early hibernation. Five minutes later Ian emerged from the woods saying he had been approached by a women who wanted to swing both ways, Ian has her telephone number.

We progressed across the Banchory Junior pitches and along the river. At this stage a cycle path was spotted coming out of Garden of Crathes Estate. We made a U-Turn to look for the fabled “Back passage to Stewart Milne” but it petered out after 50 metres. A little further along Jeff mentioned he was from Ilkeston. Dave said he went to Ilkeston Grammar and was Head Boy. Jeff responded by saying he was also Head Boy at Ilkeston Grammar. Jeff was in year one when Dave was Head Boy, hence “Cabin Boy Dickens”.

We deviated from the Deeside Way to stop for photos at Park Hut. The flooding mark from December 2015 was on the roof. Under the bridge at Park, mainly cycling but a little risk assessed walking. A gypsy site with a fierce Rottweiler was traversed and finally we made it to Mains of Drum. Mr Dring was chastised for leaving his scone and tea on the tray, otherwise an uneventful pit stop. At least I had a scone!

On the way back the group split 6:2 in favour of “non-road” and met up again at Park Bridge where John took some video of the peloton approaching at high speed! After crossing South Deeside Road we pushed on through Woodlands of Durris towards the Slug Road. Jeff split off to go home via Garrol Hill to Strachan. Old Slug Road, Knappach and then Tilquhillie Road  came and went before the ship moored at the Guide Lodge Harbour. First trip for me on what was a great route home on the south of the river."

John Morton took the photos:

Drum was also the destination for Wednesday afternoon's Booze Cruise - only Colin Kilgour, Keith Gray and I showed up. Colin completed the Cruise whilst Keith and I managed the Booze bit as well.

This week's Strava leader board shows:

This Week's Leaderboard

• 
 
• 6/7
  Your Rank
 
• 36.2 km
  Total Distance

Rank	Athlete	Distance	Rides	Longest	Avg. Speed	Elev. Gain
1	John Larkin	228.1 km	4	95.3 km	19.9 km/h	2,918 m
2	Michael Reilly	164.0 km	3	68.5 km	20.1 km/h	1,572 m
3	Jeff Dickens	104.0 km	3	46.0 km	16.2 km/h	1,047 m
4	John Morton	71.8 km	3	40.6 km	14.2 km/h	717 m
5	Scott Hunter	41.9 km	1	41.9 km	16.2 km/h	316 m
6	Ian Stewart	36.2 km	1	36.2 km	14.9 km/h	193 m
7	John Perry	28.3 km	1	28.3 km	17.4 km/h	362 m

(The above, of course, shows all rides, not just FW group ones.)

That's us now fully 3 months in to the 2017 database and we now have 32 rides, with 31 FW's having participated in at least one of these. Just over 1,000 kms of distance to date with over 9,000 metres of climbing. Leaders in terms of frequency of rides are:

• Sharp - 20
• Simpson - 19
• Larkin - 18
• Hunter & Taylor - 17

10 different scone stops so far, notably not including Tease, which was the original stop for all of our rides when the Freewheelers first started. Other stops in prior years that haven't been on this year's rota yet include:

• Crathes Castle
• Drum Castle
• Black Faced Sheep
• Rock, Salt & Snails
• Cowshed