A Group 20th January

A Winter's Tale

There was still ice on Elmore Pond as I passed on the way to Redhill, and it was snowing a bit which was not a good start. The weather man had been expecting snow for a couple of days, but it was not clear whether we would get some, none or a lot. But it had stopped by the time I got to elevenses. Fingers crossed.

A select band assembled over the next few minutes, and a Magnificent Seven set off on the A Group run - Bob, Jeff, John, Ray, Simon, Terry and me. It had begun to snow quite steadily as we rolled south on National Cycle Route 21 and by the time we crossed the M23 south of Redhill Aerodrome Ray and Terry decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned for home. Ray's cape wasn't doing much of a job and he was getting wet and cold.

So, the Famous Five pressed on through Outwood and up the hill to Bletchingly where Jeff had a problem crossing the A 25. He had snow on one side of his glasses and condensation on the other, making it very difficult to tell a truck from a street-light. He soon sorted that out and we whisked up Tilburstow Hill where there was quite a bit of snow - not much on the road but very pretty otherwise. At the junction with the Godstone Road Bob peeled off, leaving a Fairly Hungry Four to sprint to lunch at Oxted with the snow diminishing rather.

We ate well at the Old Bell, drying gloves and hats by the fire. Steve, the landlord, wants to ride with the Wayfarers - he was a racer in his youth, so I promised him a copy of the Sou'Wester. All good things must come to and end and reluctantly we donned still-wet kit and set off for Chalk Pit Lane.

This is quite a fierce hill. The GPS gives 18.3% (steeper than Sheephouse Lane); maps and roadsigns say 20%. In the circumstances this may have been a Chalk Pit too far - those who rode were very little quicker than those who walked. Fatter tyres were a definite advantage as normal road tyres failed to grip on the snowy surface after the first bend. The small increase in altitude gave a big increase in the amount of snow and, again, it was very pretty at the top.

Not content with uphill challenges we quickly followed up with some downhill excitement. Ganger's Lane, while not all that steep, was steep enough to test brakes and skill on a snowy descent, followed by a much easier run past Woldingham School to Caterham. Then up again to War Coppice Road and another slippery plunge down White Hill.

Now the pace began to rise. At the foot of the Downs the weather was much clearer, and we could smell the coffee at Fanny's. We were ready for it.

At the bottom of Markedge Lane John left for home - it was half past three and he didn't want to get caught in the dark. Very sensible, even though the weather was rather better. So three of us enjoyed large slices of cake, mugs of hot coffee and set the world of the CTC to rights.

This was my second shot at leading and the common characteristics of my rides seem to be terrible weather and rather fewer people finishing than starting. I'm sure I'll get better with practice ...

31.51 miles, rolling average 10.69 mph, 2494.9 ft of ascent and 1498 calories.

Mark