Three rides set off from the Square on a cold and clear Remembrance Day morning. The sport riders headed for the Vale of Evesham. With two planned crossings of the Avon they must have recovered their confidence after the problematic flooded roads they recently encountered! Club A and B category rides headed into the north wind for Ledbury and Trumpet respectively. The Treasurer had nine followers for his route through Maisemore and Highleadon, with only one flooded road encountered. There was excitement at Redmarley with one, two , three, no, more, emergency service vehicles hurtling up and down the lanes, their “blues and twos” in action. Once we started recognising them coming past us again we realised that it was impossible to count them. Unfortunately their presence must have distracted our navigator for, faced with the (connected?) closure of Drury Lane he took us down to the A417 to cross the motorway, which we did without incident. A meandering route from Bromsberrow took us past the homes of the Dymock poets and, after stopping for a one minute’s silent tribute at the stroke of eleven o’clock, on to the Nest at Trumpet whose sausage rolls proved as good as their Scotch Eggs.
As usual, after refreshments, riders went their various ways. One group of four followed the Three Cities route to Dymock, keen to get home for the Remembrance Parade in Gloucester Park, or perhaps the European Cyclo-Cross Championship on Eurosport. Whichever it was, a sense of urgency and SWOT (sheer weight of traffic) made for some quick bit and bit riding until, weary of the traffic, they turned again into the lanes to pass through Dymock Wood (twice) and Oxenhall. Ed’s enthusiasm for the hills provided the President with some unexpected interval training and he was surprised after the ride to be told by his GPS computer that he would need 31 hours to recover. Still, he thought, it was worth it to be out on such a nice day after all the wet ones we have suffered lately.