The excellent weather brought out the crowds this morning on the first day this year when cycling has actually been enjoyable. The tempo group was too large to count, but the skills learnt during last week’s maths exam have put the number at 15. This group was too big for the traffic and I was pleased when the climb into Upleadon finally split the group. Oddly, Garmin told me that was “hill 1 of 1”, ignoring several harder climbs that came later (e.g. Poolhill to Ketford). Some muddy lanes resulted in a stop to clean out mudguards, but otherwise, progress was unimpeded, and the slower group arrived at coffee just before 11:00.
Clive’s had already had a bumper morning by the time we arrived, with large groups from Woodmancote and Droitwich, so the cake selection had been decimated, but everyone managed to find something, and the coffee was excellent.
Spotting a “road closed – Flood” sign on the approach to Clive’s, and having seen floods in Upton on Thursday, a decision was made a coffee to change the return to go back up the hill out of Clive’s, which was hard with coffee legs, and then return via Longdon.
A thouroughly enjoyable ride.
51 miles, 2,250′ ascent @15.9mph or14.8mph, depending on group.