The pre-ride advertising of “fair and frost-free” may have applied in the Severn Valley, but up at Foston’s Ash, we were in a cloud that was so thick, it was hard to see the front rider from the back of an 8 rider peloton. It proved too much for the club president, who chose to return home from The Camp. We struggled to make out the turn to Stancombe in Bisley, but after that, started to drop out of the cloud to Stroud.
Butterow Hill is not one we use often, and yet, I think it is probably the most pleasant of the options to get up onto Rodborough Common. The traffic calming rumble strips at Tom Long’s Post shook the vice-captain’s rear light off, and the following traffic ensured that this was fatal to the light. A road closure in Minchampton saw a diversion to the Ragged Cot, and the vice-captain’s saddle-bag gave up at this point, luckily fitting into a rear pocket.
It was a friendly group, and we enjoyed a good chat over coffee and cake. However, bad luck comes in threes, and so it was no surprise when the zip on the vice-captain’s jersey failed catastrophically on leaving coffee. He claims it was not related to any weight gain!
Bowldown Lane back to Kingscote is always tough, with its long slightly uphill gradient, and this was made worse by the wind, but some stirling work on the front made it bearable, and soon we were rewarded with our first glimpse of sunshine down in the Severn Valley as we crossed Selsley Common. Bouyed by the improvement in conditions, we opted to return up Slad Valley. This is an odd climb in that I think all would agree that the views mean the ascent is actually more pleasent than the descent. Having said that, the climbing we all had in our legs made us very pleased to see the topiary that marks the end of the steep section. A final blast down Birdlip rounded off a great ride.
58 miles, 4,000′ ascent @ 13.6mph, although my legs are telling me it was tougher than the statistics suggest.