It was already pleasantly warm at the Square at 9 am. The presence of the ride leader’s fixed gear bike was met with appreciation by the riders who anticipated a nice flat ride as a result. There was one new rider who’d come along for a try-out; welcome to him.
Half a dozen of us set off shortly after 9, and proceeded via Southgate Street, Bristol Road, Seymour Road etc to Podsmead, then straight across the traffic lights on Cole Avenue (no waiting as they were on green, hurrah!) and down past the Fire Station to Bodiam Avenue. At this point one rider surmised that we would be going right past his house and he could have saved himself a trip into town – he was right and he pointed out his house on our way past! So on through the rest of Kingsway and Hunt’s Grove to a short gravel section leading to the bridge over the motorway. This was navigated successfully even for those of us with only one gear and soon we were in the lane (I assume called Colethrop Lane) and thence towards Haresfield to take the newly resurfaced lane alongside the railway and onto the Stonehouse Road. Crossing the main Whitminster to Stroud road in the usual place, aided by the traffic lights, we then ascended the hill to Leonard Stanley (not taking the first right to avoid the villiage, but rather continuing straight on with the rather steeper section to the village). This necessitated the ride leader pushing on somewhat in order to keep the cadence going up the hill, causing some temporary fatigue in the legs. Then we took a small but picturesque detour past the church and proceeded on via Frocester.
There was some banter about going via Frocester Hill in order to test out the fixie, but this was ignored, the leader pointing out that the ride category was AA. It was also realised at this point that we were doing a rather nice pace and would be very early – however, all agreed that it would be a good thing to be in and away earlier than usual, given the heat buildup. So we continued past the ruined church of St Peter’s, gave way to a taxi en route whose driver surprised us by saying thank you, then right and right again to take the little-used lane to cross the motorway at Elmcote Farms.
Very briefly onto the A38 at Cambridge then right and through the lanes to Slimbridge where a curveball was thrown and instead of turning right and heading for the canal, we turned left then right into Moorend Lane, then right again into Lightenbrook Lane, arriving at the Black Shed a little after 10:30 (the last little loop to ensure arrival was not before half past ten, as that would just be too too early. There were quite a few cyclists and motorcyclists already there, but we were fortunate enough to get a table in the shade by the canal. All riders then left together at 11:10 to head back to Gloucester (via the towpath to Frampton – no punctures!) and avoid the worst of the heat.
21 miles from the Square.