When planning this ride a couple of weeks ago I had hoped we could enjoy some signs of spring, early flowers, maybe a little warmth in the air, even a little sun. On the day we had neither rain nor wind which is excellent for cycling, but otherwise continuing cold and grey, grey, grey.
For the route from Teddington I had looked for the least urban roads out of west London, which took us to Chertsey, leaving only the selection of a pub for lunch.
And so I found The Garibaldi at Knaphill, last visited by us under Dave B’s leadership in 2019, and ripe for reappraisal, supported by its inclusion in this year’s CAMRA Guide. And as it turned out, it was the most organised pub I have ever visited, although it took us a few minutes to realise the organisation would only work if we sat in our allocated seats and didn’t move around too much.
My group of Dave F, Diane, Sue C, Richard and back-marker Jennie (thanks Jennie) set off first and arrived at lunch just after Neil C’s last group. The morning had passed pleasantly and uneventfully, just what a leader needs; the highlight being the yellow gorse blossom on Chobham Common, the only colour in a vista of grey and mist.
The excellent lunch was swiftly served and just a quickly consumed, meaning we were back on the road after only 43 minutes (a record?). On the way out the landlord spoke of his experiences riding the Downslink Challenge charity cycle ride, Knaphill to Brighton and back off-road, which the pub organises in support of Woking Hospice. No mean ride.
After lunch we had a short, swift-ish, ride back by-passing Woking, and across Wisley bridge to tea at Cobham, where I left the remaining riders at Gail’s warming themselves with hot drinks.
Dave W’s Group left next.
I am pleased to report that the 10.40 group (Janice, Dave B, Steve D, Patrick, Clive and me) had an event-free ride, unless you count essential nose-blowing stops as events! I just about managed to keep up with the others as we cruised along Dave's clever route which integrated familiar and less-familiar sections into a bit of a mystery tour! Patrick detached himself from us after Chertsey, alleging he had to get home for work (I wonder if hadn't found the pace a little too fast....?!!!), but, apart from that we were thankfully free of excitement until we reached The Garibaldi at 12.30.
After the briefest of delays while we got ourselves in the landlord's mindset, lunch was astonishingly well-organised - this must count as one of the fastest 'A' group midday turnarounds ever - and I did a double-take when paying my bill which was very reasonable to say the least!
To avoid frostbite, photo stop delays were kept to a minimum when leaving the pub, but it still struck very cold as we set off on the shorter ride back to Cobham and tea. Once again, Dave surprised us with a route which combined familiar and unfamiliar bits in an unexpected juxtaposition, but we kept our heads, and a steady pace, and were at Cobham at about 2.30.
It is always a pleasure to sub-lead (if you can call that what I did!) on a well-organised ride, so many thanks to Dave V for master-minding the whole thing. Definitely one to repeat, I would have thought. Thanks to Clive for back-marking all day, and thanks to my group for putting up with it all, for keeping 'incidents' to a minimum, and for their company!
And then Neil’s group.
I had the pleasure of leading the third group (Simon, Ged, Mike, Brian and Peter). We may have been the last away but we were a disciplined and experienced team. Dave had arranged for dry weather and empty roads and we made good progress. Peter S had volunteered to back-mark and a mere glance over my shoulder or in my mirror rarely failed to show Peter's hi-viz overshoes. Even the traffic lights seemed to be on our side.
Occasionally I would wonder if I had been down a road before, but usually after a while I realised I only knew it in the other direction. The weather was good for February but too cold to stop on Chobham Common and take in the enchanting views of central Woking. After the quiet sweep around the lanes to avoid Chobham we just had one more hill to take us up to The Garibaldi.
Lunch was served promptly with military precision and we were on our way again within an hour. Ged escaped from the group and so does not feature in the obligatory photograph.
Now the roads descended gently all the way to Wisley and so good time was made. After a couple of short rises it was more downhill to a leisurely tea at Gail's in Cobham.
Thanks from me to Dave and Neil for so-ably leading their groups. And to everyone who came out to share the experience.
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