On Saturday I went out on my first ride with Poplar Peddlers. Here’s a poem about our day:
The Peddlers gathered outside Kafe 1788
For a day, they were promised, would be great.
Some lycra clad, some cycling mad
The sun was shining, how could it be bad?
After coffee and some chatter, the Peddlers departed
Most pushed off with energy, some more half-hearted.
Dave the brave took the lead, the rest of us followed
As we darted through traffic, and by lorries, were not swallowed.
We stayed mainly together, true to the group
Though some saw the A12 and thought…I’ll just do a quick loop!
At midday we saw countryside – we’d finally arrived,
in the forest of Epping where we took time to revive
With a tea, some cake, and sandwiches a plenty,
Hannah ate more than others…and left the cafe empty.
With everyone full, and heavy as toads
We bombed down the hill and into the road (not really).
We paused just a second to enjoy the sun on our face,
Then set off back to Poplar, our favourite place.
The route was downhill, smooth tarmac and long
Riding was easy, we thought what could go wrong?
Then out of the blue, a car signalled out right
Breaks were slammed on, the gap was quite tight…
Into the back of my bike, one Peddler careered
causing her to pop out her peddles, as the pavements neared
Noone was hurt; the incident was not dark,
And nothing else happened…until a tyre tube popped in the Olympic Park
With a sleight of hand, the tube was soon changed
And we made it safely back to Poplar, with no more fun and games
Our legs were achy, our thighs felt of great weight
But we were proud of our distance of 50.8! (km)
By Harriet – a Peddler
P.S. if this has inspired you to join, you can find out more here
