When the coach is away.......

Today's Vita team ride was always going to be different to the normal routine. Dave the coach had an appointment at Goodison to watch his team get beat, so it was up to me to lead the ride. I only found out last night so I decided to stick to a route I know well. Dave and a couple of the others went out at 8.30 for an hour and then came back to the shop to join the main ride. I was originally going to join them, but didn't make it as the boys needed feeding before I could leave!! There were 10 of us to start with, including two new faces, Paul and Scott. Dave dropped of first, to get off to the match. As we headed out towards the Chester High Road from Willaston, Jeff needed a pit stop, so we carried on at a reduced pace to let him get back on. Unfortunately when we hit the high Road, thinking he was on, we raised the pace again, but unfortunately he wasn't with us, and it wasn't until we reached the turn off to the Chester Cycle path, we realised he was not there. Sorry mate, rookie ride leader error!!! Anthony was the last to peel of leaving the magnificent 7!!
We carried on, into the wind, into Chester, playing with the traffic through the centre of town, and out to the Dee path. We got a good pace going along the riverside path, through and off for the entire length. As we climbed back up to the High Road, it was suggested we pay a visit to a local cycling land mark for a brew. Sorry coach, we didn't stay long!!

Refreshed, and a little guilty, we headed back through the lanes to the shop.
The Vittoria Paves behaved very well, they rolled very much like slicks, but seemed to bite well on the slippery bits. They look like a good investment.
The weather is a bit odd at the moment, Shorts yesterday, and thermals today!!! The squiggle at the beginning of the ride is me heading out in shorts and coming home to change into my longs!!
So my first time leading the ride didn't go too badly, only one rider dropped, and one rule broken, but I'm not sure Dave will agree!!

Today's ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124970225