the not a breeze network ride, ride

the not a breeze network ride, ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

"I just want to do a ride" said @charlotteTCR so with no more than a vague plan of trying to stick to quiet lanes as much as possible we headed out and just followed our nose. It was surprisingly mild for the first day of December and despite a lot of the road surfaces being covered with mud the going was good.
@charlotteTCR wore her @breezenetwork jacket with pride and should have brought her business cards with her as we passed quite a few solo women riders, infact the clement weather had brought a lot of fellow riders out.
we found out=rselves at the Feckenham Community shop for a cuppa and a teacake and chatted to a cyclist in his 70's who was just leaving on a tandem ride, his first on the road since being hit by a car in February, i hope things went ok for him, before his accident where a car ran into the back of him he was a regular century rider.
After food we again took to the lanes, but within a few mile Charlotte developed sever pain in her side, something she's had before when riding. if she stops, the pain stops, she battled on for 15 more miles but things were not getting any better and eventually the sensible thing for her to do was to stop somewhere safe (a pub, naturally!) while i rode home to fetch the car. wanting to get home as fast as possible was tempered with the fact that i knew at this stage of the route my energy was used up and i didn't want to push too hard, bonk and hit the wall and be even slower. thankfully i managed my pace well and i got the car and picked her up in good time.
since getting home we've done a bit of internet research and "side stitch" can be caused but riding too soon after eating (tick), riding hard/fast without warming up after stopping (tick), shallow breathing (tick) and riding in cold conditions (sitting outside to eat for 40 mins might not have been a good idea (tick) and Charlotte remembers the last time it occured it was after a cafe stop.
so hopefully with a bit of sensible planning this can be avoided in the future.
ride 142
31 miles
2931
commute 1353