Saturday Spin

I'd agreed to take James Cole out on a 90 minute spin to help him on his training for the Coast-to-Coast in 2 weeks time. We were joined by Paul from Running Fource which was excellent.
I met Paul at 7.15 and then it was up towards Peters Green to meet James. He was fully kitted in brand new gear and a classy looking mountain bike set up with slick tyres.
We headed from Peters Green towards Breechwood Green and then up to Preston. The road is undulating with some nice down's and steep short climbs. Paul and I were riding well within ourselves but were a little concerned for James, he'd only had the bike for 3 weeks!
We reached Preston and were all together and looking comfortable. From there it was down to Whitwell. Paul and I decided to blast it but it was a false start as I forgot about a junction just after the start. Luckily Paul was paying attention in my slipstream and didn't crash through me!
After the junction we were off and the blast was excellent, reaching a speed of around 34mph on the downhill.
From Whitwell we headed to Codicote, and as is usual I passed someone I knew, a neighbour from Cowper Road. I will need to have a word with him and see if he fancies joining up for Saturday mornings.
James was starting to show signs of fatigue as we approached Codicote but bravely tried to keep up the effort. I asked James what route he fancied as I knew there was an easy way home or a longer loop. He suggested the longer option and we handed him the lead. That meant he could set the pace and get home in one piece. However, as we approached Ayots St Lawrence Paul pointed out that we were a man down! We were about to turn back when he came smiling round the corner. Not sure how the lead man ended up so far behind us.
Paul and I decided to get James home and then do the "hill" as our return to Harpenden. We left James at 8.58, 2 mins short of the 90 promised but I think he was glad to be home by that stage.
Paul and I went back to Peters Green then down to East Hyde and then up the hill. We were chatting when Paul says we're about to be overtaken. This guy on a mountain bike goes passed. We looked at each other then Paul says, lets go after him. So we did, taking him just before the summit and then he drafted in behind Paul for the descent and blast back to Harpenden.
All in all it was a good morning, 30 miles covered in just over 2 hours. The weather was ideal and it was good to give James a hand in his training. Also great to have Paul along, hopefully he'll be back next week and we can do a few more miles in our alloted time.