Early bird ride report 10 April

Nine of us (me, Ivan, Mike K, Mike, Paul K, Malc, Rob, Simon G,Tony)set off this morning for the 'Tour de Romney marsh'. We rode to appledore along the royal military canal at a fair pace before heading off into the marsh on a big loop.Rob soon started to tire, this was due to him riding the day before and decided to turn back on his own.The 8 of us carried on but before too long Tony was finding his saddle uncomfortable, this was because the nose was tilting further and further upwards. he had a rather painful ride for the next 10 miles until we stumbled upon some friendly builders who had a spanner of the right size to tighten it.We then carried on to Appledore at which point we split into two groups of four. Myself, Ivan, Mike C and Paul K wanted to go back via the planned lumpy route through Wittersham and broad oak while the others opted for the flatter blast back along the canal. After saying goodbye the four of us headed out. The lumpy route back has some excellent quiet roads but also a fair few hills. I found myself really suffering after a while and was glad when we finally got back to ore via rocks lane. For me this was the hardest ride of the year so far, I felt as if I was on the limit of what I could do (must lose some weight!!), the other three were in much better shape than me when we finished the ride at the fairlight church tea shop where we stuffed ourselves with cake and bacon sandwiches. Total distance covered 65 miles, average speed 15.7 mph.