The early start of 08:00 proved difficult, but six riders left King’s Square into the strong headwind. The Newent road was surprisingly busy, even at the early hour, at least to the M50 junction. Around Upton Bishop, the Garmin reported hill number 1 of 15, to musings from the peloton as to what they had let themselves in for.
We lost one rider at the picturesque Hoarwithy, with the remainder climbing to Turkey Tump, and our first glimpse of Hay Bluff – was coffee still that far away! With the headwind, it took forever to get nearer, but eventually we arrived, to find the Captain warning us off our regular stop due to exceptionally slow service. Sone friendly motor cyclists directed us to a quirky riverside cafe under the road bridge, where we enjoyed coffee and cafe.
After coffee, the wind was on our back, but it didn’t compensate for the gradient as we climbed over Cusop. We were rewardrd with a descent that went on for 9 miles (with a tail-wind), before having to attack Campston Hill. A navigational error near Cross Ash saw us miss our afternoon stop, and by the time we reached Peterstow, the peloton were getting quite hungry. A convenience shop corrected that, and we rode home on the very quiet A40.
107 miles, 7,300′ ascent@14.5mph
IW