The weather forecast was so uncertain that I turned up in King’s Square with three plans. Even at 09:00, it wasn’t possible to predict what would happen later in the morning, so I chose a loop ride, following behind the fast group.
We met the leader of the ladies ride on “the green mile”, and tried to give her a bit of a tow back to her group, before continuing over to Swindon Village, where some roadworks forced us onto some loose gravel. Continuing the theme of checking on the other club groups, we met the 08:30 group in Bishop’s Cleeve, and I nearly got dropped as I slowed to chat with them.
Pushing on, we saw a few classic cars, probably heading for Prescott, before we turned for the pretty village of Alstone. A brief downpour just before the Teddington Hands roundabout saw us cape up, and the capes stayed on until Bredon’s Hardwicke. Following the fast rider’s route through Northway and Fiddington saw a surprise turn to the Odessa, and a final battle into the strong headwind on the A38 back to coffee in Twigworth.
An enjoyable morning with a well matched group, although with hindsight, the weather may have supported a more adventurous route choice
IW
40 miles, 1,100′ ascent @ 17.1mph