For some time now, a few ambitious members of "
Fun and
Thrills" have been toying with the idea of riding to
Negril, Westmorland,
some 140 miles from Hope Pastures. Now it seems our toying days are over as the
date has been set for Sunday October 18th and based on a resolution adopted on
top of some hill, we have started to do long endurance rides.
So on Sunday 13th September we had our first endurance ride
to Morant Bay, St. Thomas, a distance of 34 miles according to our top
sprinter, (the Bolt of Fun and Thrills) Barry. Well departure time from Hope
Pastures was set for 5.30 am to beat the sun, but having arrived on time many
times and having to wait on the latecomers, I have slowly been becoming a
latecomer myself! So I arrived at 6am only to find everyone on board. Winston
drove the support vehicle accompanied by his son Zackaria.
Actually, it was a pretty non-exhaustive ride to Yallahs,
(Barry tells me that a rasta man told him the real name for Yallahs is
Ayallah,but the English colonial masters could not pronounce it and therefore
corrupted it to Yallahs). So mi get it so mi give it and since rastas don’t
lie, I believe it!)for apart from a small section in the Bull Bay area, it was
level riding. I was actually feeling so comfortable that when I saw a number of
my colleagues resting at Albion, I didn't feel like stopping. On hearing that
Andrew had gone ahead, I decided to try and catch him up.
Now that was probably my gravest error for unbeknownst to me,
Andrew stopped in Yallahs. So there I was killing myself to catch him up , long
after he had stopped! By then the sun was in full swing and extreme heat was
coming up from the asphalt, but I was determined not to stop until I saw him.
Then thank God I saw Barry and Darragh (a young Irishman who is so fit that he
has competed in the Ironman triathlon although he smokes!) at a shop where thy
had stopped to buy a cold beer and Guiness and give Darragh an opportunity to
smoke a cigarette. So I got a little rest before they took off like Bolt and I
did not see them again until they had reached Morant Bay and turned back to
"Washoff" where there is that little waterfall by the road.
So on I plodded by myself and in the hot sun, still
determined not to stop until I caught up Andrew. On approaching Whitehorses,
there is quite a challenging hill and I heard a bike coming behind me which
changed down to first gear as the hill was so steep. That's when I knew I was
crazy to be using woman power to get up that hill when no one was paying me to
do so!
The irrationality of the situation was further reinforced when I saw a
man ahead of me pushing his bicycle up the hill. Aha I thought, if a man has to
pushing his bicycle up this horrible hill the so can I. Then it occurred to me
that maybe he had a puncture. As if to tease me, he then jumped on his bicycle
at that very moment, then after pedaling for about 30 seconds, he dismounted
and started to push again. That was all I needed to dismount too, but my
conscience said to me that I ride up Long Mountain every week and he doesn’t so
I should not get off. So I obeyed and on I toiled. That's when Howie, who had
stopped in Albion to wait on the others, flew past me. That’s about when I
finally reached the top and saw the lovely downhill ride and the clear,
inviting, blue, sea which seemed to be calling out to me to jump in and cool
off. All that seemed to have been sent by God as a reward for my perseverance !
As the downhill section finished, I had arrived at
"Washoff" and there to my delight, sat Howie and Damit at a stall
drinking cold coconuts. Boy was I ever happy to join them, especially since my
water had been exhausted and I had been becoming quite thirsty. There we stayed
in the shade till Andrew who I had stupidly been chasing,, arrived. Then came
David, Charles, Michael, Grace and Renee (not necessarily in that order).
Next, we saw Darragh and Barry coming back. Well those of us
who thought that we could have called it a day, were in for a disappointment as
team leader and dictator Michael mandated that we must finish the ride. So
after a while it was back in the sun for another five miles to the round about.
We all got there within minutes of each other and started to
ride back to find the support vehicle. Luckily Winston came within view very
quickly and Renee and I gave up our bicycles immediately for a ride in the van.
Then we saw Betty arrive in an air-conditioned vehicle and Winston was
immediately rejected! At one point we thought mad Michael followed by naive
David were planning to ride back to Kingston but when we got back to "Washoff"
they too jumped into the vehicles.
Then it was on to 'Survival" for a delicious breakfast
of ackee, mackerel and callalloo with wonderful food and fried jonnie cakes.
That was around 11am and only after that did I begin to feel normal.
Well as we of "Fun and thrills” like to finish a day’s
expedition with a swim, we headed for Grants Pen beach (in St. Thomas). But
bearing in mind the frequent reports about crime in that area and seeing how
narrow the road was, making it difficulty to make a quick getaway if necessary,
we decided to go to Cable Hut beach in Bull Bay instead. That was a wise
decision as the sea was unusually calm. Barry, Renee and Darragh who left us
after breakfast, missed the best part of that ride!
