Our local cycle club is road minded. In fact it is fast road minded with most of the members being on the young side and several of them are County TT champions with the rest trying to catch them. So although I know a lot of them- I do not belong to the club. However I have been asked to turn up at their Monday evening ride to join the "Slow" Group. Sounds OK- distance of about 20 miles and average speed of 14mph. Sounds about my mark if it is at that speed so I'll give it a try

However I have just found out there is an ulterior motive behind the invitation. They have just started an offroad group and after 3 rides they realise they need someone that knows the local hills. 2nd ride was cut short when they lost the trail and some had the sense to cut the ride short and the others found a Long steep hill between them and home and several finished up walking.

But the rides start about 1 mile from where I live. They are looking for someone to show them the routes and the ropes of offroad riding. I have been suggested- along with my son-in-law as leaders of the group. Don't know how they will feel about an old git and a younger rider that is still trying to recover from a long lay-off but they will get a shock when we turn up with our "Old" skool bikes. 12 year old Bianchi Grizzly and a Kona Explosif that is older than some of the youngsters.. They all have fairly recent machinery- most of it full suspension and in the good class of cost so seeing our old machinery should give then a laugh.

Hopefully They will be about as fit as they look (Which means nothing) and their Offroad skills will be in comparison to the bikes- Still needing sorting. If not I'll struggle but I'll still get them on the downhills. So may be going back to the mud for the winter months.