For some reason entries came in very slowly, but I was relieved to find that a respectable 18 joined our ride to Warren Row Velolife, including the welcome return of Steve Wiltshire.
First group off included Andy H, Dave B, Mike, Neil W and Janice, led by Fiona.
We set off in glorious weather, lovely route and arrived at Velolife in Warren Row in good time for toasted sandwiches sitting in the much needed shade. A good route back, diverting around Staines due to the fire. Thank you to Janice for back marking and my group for their company and assisted leading / navigation.
Dave W was second.
Dave's ride marked my return to the A's after an eight-week lay-off and, mercifully, there weren't too many hills and there was plenty of shade! My group (Peter S, Frances, Steve D and Steve W) set off promptly and, praise be the Lord, had a largely uneventful ride! Dave V's excellent route took us out into an area we don't often get the chance to visit and there was an abundance of charming, and pretty well traffic-free, lanes. Somewhat to my astonishment, we reached lunch well before 1.00 pm and were able to relax over lunch in the shade and fill water bottles before setting off again into the inferno!
An intriguing route led us back to Staines, where inferno was the operative word! My group unintentionally missed a lot of the action by detouring into Lammas Rec to use the facilities, then deliberately detoured again around the riverside walk to sidestep the disruption. We saw lots of fire engines in the distance, but all the action was over! After a few more miles we were at tea and my ride was, blissfully, almost over. The rest of the group still all had a reasonable distance to ride to get home and that most have been a hot and sticky ride! Well done everyone for sticking it out on a very long day, and thanks to Peter S for backmarking.
Last off was my group comprising Sue C, Richard, Dave F, Andy C, plus Ged who had remained behind to wrangle with a mysterious puncture and Hans who arrived to make up the lucky Seven.
The initial ascent of Tite Hill was the only climb of the day, and the delightful traverse of Windsor Great Park was the idea of Neil C, who was unfortunately unable to join us. For the rest of the morning we benefitted from plenty of shade, with a temperature only about 25°.
I had planned that the groups arrive about 10 minutes apart, to allow for Velolife’s restricted sandwich toasting capacity, which seemed to work ok, and we still had plenty of time together.
My group left last. The afternoon started shady, but approaching Windsor the shade disappeared and the temperature increased to 30°+. Not too bad if you kept moving, but when stopped it was clear we were riding in a furnace.
We arrived in Staines which was in lockdown due to a fire, but thankfully Dave W’s group arrived to pilot us along the riverbank path which was still open. One benefit of the lockdown was that the road onwards to Shepperton was quieter than usual.
We met up with Dave’s group again in Shepperton and those taking tea rode together to Squires in Upper Halliford, for a welcome (for me at least) rest.
Thanks everyone for coming out on a challenging day, especially Fiona and Dave W, and in my group Ged for backmarking.
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