A Group, 3 July, 2016

Cobham - Rowhook - Denbies 

A chequered peloton

 A hiccup having imposed an unwelcome hiatus in my weekly cyclotherapy, it must be more than twelve months since I last led an A Group ride. My thanks to Brian for taking a gamble! The group has some new faces and is impressively strong. I therefore thought that I should plot a modest, pancake ride, as flat as possible. So a chevron-free ride it was. Within one mile of leaving Cobham, I was having to fight off sympathetic offers to take the headwind. This did not sound too promising. With a bigger group than I am used to, we were soon obstructing traffic on Downside Road. Oh dear! Are we going that slowly? Let's have some gaps and remember our Ride Guidelines. Where is Company Sergeant Major Barratt to drill us?

Soon I caused a flutter by improvising a diversion along The Drift, to take us to West Horsley and Shere Lane, rather than East Horsley and Chalk Lane. No matter. Both have an upward angle of inclination. Then it was down Coombe Bottom, impeded by timid motorists. They shouldn't be allowed on the roads. Soon through Shere to Burrows X, then S down Lawbrook Lane, past The Windmill and Pitch Hill to Ewhurst. A few flat miles direttissima due S along Horsham Road soon brought us to our lunch stop, the Chequers Inn at Rowhook, with not a drop of sweat to be seen on any brow. Although a baguette-free zone, the ciabattas were pretty good and worth waiting for, as we dined on the front porch.

After a languid lunch, the question was: where now? Downhill of course, down Rowhook Hill to Slaughter Bridge, Strood Lane and Warnham, where we were briefly truncated at the level crossing. From here, the Group was on automatic pilot. North now through Langhurst and Cripplegate to Clarks Green, Capel, Newdigate and the familiar potholes of Henfold Lane and Punchbowl Lane to the traditional watering-hole of Denbies, where we found the B Group, already slaking their thirst and whetting their appetite for cake. We were not slow to follow their example, before soon heading homewards on a warm and breezy evening. Our distance from elevenses to tea was a modest 50 miles.

It was a pleasure once again to enjoy the leader's privilege of being at the front. I do hope that the pace was not too geriatric or pedestrian. No Garmin maps, I fear, as I rely on what is left of the old grey matter. My thanks to the patient peloton, the willing corner-markers and to Brian as TEC for efficiently keeping head and tail in touch.

Jeff