Sunday, 28 March 2010
It was a cool afternoon with intermittent sun and patches of blue sky visible through the dark clouds, and seven riders had remembered to set their clocks forward in time for the afternoon ride.
Bob Billingham had fallen off his bike on Friday, but bravely turned out to lead the ride. He had suggested splitting the ride into slow and fast groups, but nobody was particularly keen on that idea, and we stuck together and followed his slow ride. I was nursing a sore achilles tendon from last Sunday's ride, so I was glad to have a fairly gentle pace.
Bob led us down the DNA path to Great Shelford, across to Sawston and Babraham, and over the A11 by the footbridge.
We took the Hildersham road to Linton and then turned southeast to Bartlow and the Camps. I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with these roads, and I wasn't paying as much attention as I should, but I think we got as far as Castle Camps before turning north again. There was a strong westerly wind that slowed us down as we passed through West Wickham, but we got to West Wratting only a couple of minutes late.
Tea at the Chestnut Tree was excellent value for £3, with cheese and ham sandwiches, chocolate cake, and a delicious home-made rhubarb and ginger sponge cake. For the return journey, we split up, with Jacob leading an off-road party along the Roman Road from Balsham to the Gog Magog hills, and me leading the less intrepid cyclists down the road to Fulbourn and Cherry Hinton.
I always like it when the clocks go forward: no riding back in darkness, and no need for lights. The sun was still well above the horizon when we got back to town by about 18:00. Just 37 miles, but a very fine ride.