Richmond Ride

In actual fact we spent around 45 minutes there lyming and not only because we were enjoying the food and camaraderie but also because Howie, who never disappoints when it comes to punctures, had his fifth in two weeks but  expertly dealt with the problem while we waited.      Jamaica is such an absolutely beautiful country that sometimes when we journey out into the country and are overcome by the sheer peace and tranquility, we tend to forget that we actually exist in the country which is one of the top five murders capitals in the world. So ofttimes we relax out vigilance which could easily lead to us becoming victims of crimes of opportunity. Crimes of opportunity are defined as those "..... committed without planning but simply carried out because a potential perpetrator sees and seizes the opportunity to commit a crime".

Howie the puncture expert

Sharon, the "almost victim"

     I was seriously be reminded of these facts yesterday as Fun &Thrills members set out enjoy a great day at a river at Richmond in St. Mary. 

We actually set out in time and were at Stony Hill by 6.30 am where we waited until we were encouraged by organizer extraordinaire Ayatollah to take our rest break at Golden Spring where Shamira was waiting to join  us.

After that it was great, easy riding along the heavily shaded, lush and curvy Junction Road as we headed hungrily to Castleton gardens where the best janga and cow skin soup and boiled corn is sold and is always ready and waiting.

It was on the way to Westmorland bridge, that wide 185 metre bridge built between 2012 -2013 by China engineering at Chovey to replace the one destroyed by hurricane some years before, that I was reminded how easy it is to become a victim of a crime of opportunity.

As I rode slowly up one of the many hills along the Junction road, I heard Sharon calling to me and the story she had to tell  when she caught up was really frightening.

She had been riding alone with new rider Ashawri and as they passed a white van with two men aboard,she overhead them talking about kidnapping someone.

Shortly afterwards the same van passed them, slowed down and moved over to the left bank so that Ashawri who was ahead of her, would have been banked as she approached . So Sharon called out to her telling her to overtake on  the outside. As Sharon approached, the man on the passenger side opened his door and invited her to get in but she too took a wide berth and seeing me ahead, called out for me to wait on them at which point the van drove away.

The fact is however, had they had a weapon, they could easily have ordered, not invited,  Sharon in to the vehicle and with no support vehicles around, they would have got away without problem. Thank heavens nothing like that happened yesterday but we have to remain cognizant of where we live and our support  drivers need to be more supportive, especially of the women riders.

Apart from that it was another great outing for those of us who love to discover Jamaica via our bicycles.

I have certainly never been to Richmond and only knew of it as the place where "elite" prisoners are held.

Having heard about the series of hills once one crossed over the Westmorland bridge to head west our destination, I had long decided that I would stop riding as soon as we reached the foot of the first hill and as always I kept my promise to myself, jumping into Charles Simpsons' vehicle which was being driven by Gayle. To my delight, not only was I greeted by cool, most welcome A/c but there was even a cooler with ice water in the vehicle. Not one to suffer unnecessarily too was Charles himself who soon joined us.

We journeyed slowly through some of the most beautiful countryside with green rolling hills to the south and the blue Caribbean sea visible on the n northern side, through verdant and uniquely named districts such as Bromley, Clonmel an Alleppo and you could see the fabulous houses perched on the hillsides around Highgate as wee approached.

The final hill to Highgate was really challenging and I could see why those who insisted on riding all the way, bypassed that hill by turning off at Alleppo.

Unfortunately we did not know they were going to do this so waited in Highgate for about an hour before Simpson decided to drive back to see what happened to them. It was only then he learnt from a villager that they had turned off.

By then we had been joined by another vehicle of non riders, and Pat who had not been riding because she had suffered  injury to her ribs on a previous fall, decided to join Simpson and I on the all downhill 2 km hide to Richmond.

When we got there, just about everyone else was  seated and waiting on us and the Ayatollah to start eating as the food and servers were ready and waiting.

The food was not as good as at Old Harbour  Bay and I cannot recall seeing more dour faced server for years but Kim insists that most of the persons serving in the canteens she has eaten at, have been miserable looking! I wonder why?

 We didn't let her bother us as we shared stories about the trip over and it turns out the road the others had taken was narrower and terrible causing the Ayatollah to lose his balance at one point and JuJu to complain about the toll it had taken on the vehicles. Howie of course who relishes off road riding (read bad, potholed,  unpaved tracks tracks with grass growing in the middle!) thought it was wonderful.

After brunch, we headed to the river which was grossly oversold by the Ayatollah who had  claimed we were going to a place where five rivers converged and you could dive off safely.

Where we ended up was under an unsafe looking bridge and swimming in  water below where some people were washing upstream, but what the heck, we were hot and tired and had a wonderful time.

Not long after, Maurice who deserves to get an OJ next year for  ri-biing, (riding back from wherever we go) took off and although no one else volunteered  to accompany him, insisted he would ride back to Westmorland bridge anyway. Later when  Pat called him he was at Castleton gardens!

 We were the first to leave with Stevie driving Howie's vehicle and as we started on the Junction road the rain started to pour but that did not prevent  us from stopping to get some more of the delicious soup with curb service to boot.

It was not until we started to ascend from Golden Spring to Stony Hill that we found Maurice and prevailed on him to join us in the vehicle and that is when we discovered that he had ridden so fast that he had out ridden the rain and was as dry as ever.


Big up Mr. RIBI.