Ride leaders have to be reactive to weather conditions and if its not ice then its something else. In this case it was Storm Isha Gale fore winds and heavy rain. The ride was changed from Rhydd to Berkeley to avoid strong head winds on the return. The weather forecast altered to send gales at 11.00 so the ride was altered again to Saul. In the event the gales and rain did not come until 4 o’clock by which time the Group was back in Gloucester. So to start, the group cycled along the canal to avoid the wind and then the lanes via Elmore where a rider broke a sprocket which could not be repaired. He cleverly swapped the wheel round to use the other sprocket. He then had to contend with a tyre mounted in the wrong direction!
The ride made good progress into the strong head wind but left enough time to make a detour to Arlingham to appreciate the wind coming up the Severn Estuary and a couple of diversions around muddy lanes and on to Saul for coffee at the Stables. The long awaited tail wind manifested itself and helped us back to Gloucester.
