B Group - 2nd December

Further to the announcement today on the geographic extent of Tier 2 Covid restrictions coming into force on the 2nd, we understand that we will once more be a position to run our rides as we had been until the current lockdown phase. In particular this means we expect to return to meeting outdoors and riding in groups of six. The present Lockdown will end at 00:01 on Wednesday 2nd December and we are expecting confirmation from CUK regarding the guidelines for our conduct and regarding their insurance cover.

Paul has planned to lead a B Group ride on Wednesday.  We currently have two leaders and would welcome one or two more, preferably ones who are happy to lead directly from the RideWithGPS route for which there is a link below. (The route can as usual be exported to a phone or Garmin device or similar.)

We will meet earlier than usual to try to get home before dark, leaving from the Patisserie on Station Road Stoke d'Abernon (free coffee for cyclists) and cycling on roads and sound tracks through Pyrford Lock and Woking Park to Elm Farm at Sutton Green for an outdoor lunch (bring your cowboy hats).  Bikes will have to be pushed over the pedestrian bridge which crosses the A3 at Wisley, and there is a short but muddy lane out of Woking. There is no plan for a Tea stop.

The route back has some interesting features.  The track along the bank of the River Wey was eminently cyclable on the first recce (after a night of torrential rain), but we had to get off and push for two hundred yards on the 2nd recce, in preference to sliding into the river, which looked cold.  The route from Send to Effingham Junction is all on-road, and then we go up Bank's Lane on a beautiful leafy path through to and across Bookham Common then River Lane to end the ride near Leatherhead Station.  No getting off and pushing, but there will be a few damp patches. About 30 miles.

Not much climbing at all, but some might not want to embrace the mud, in either sense, so for you a less scenic but mud free afternoon route to follow can be advised.

Please write to Paul by Monday evening to confirm your intention to join the ride. Please indicate whether you wish to do the whole ride all the way through to Leatherhead or whether you might peel off at Effingham Junction, or earlier, at Send or Ockham for example, or even straight after lunch. We will endeavour to allocate riders going all the way to the early starts, which may be as early as 10:00.

Subject to another leader or two volunteering for this ride places may be limited.

The route is here:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34736437

~ Paul (and Tim)