Sunday, 29 November 2015
Ray writes: The BBC were forecasting showers and wind gusting at up to 45mph, so I set off for Brookside hoping to find nobody there, return home, and curl up with a book. However I arrived to find intrepid Sunday afternoon regulars John E and Simon, who were both keen to ride despite the threatened conditions.
Nobody else turned up, so the three of us set off down Trumpington Road for the busway and DNA path. The plan was to ride through Little Shelford, Newton, Thriplow, Fowlmere, Chrishall Grange, up to Elmdon, then drop down to the B-road to Wendens Ambo and onward to Saffron Walden.
We were making slow progress into a strong headwind and in places battling against gusts from the side not to be blown off the road, so when we got to Elmdon I decided to cut the ride short and drop down into Ickleton for a quick cup of tea before making for home.
After refreshments and a welcome break from the wind at Ickleton Barns, we set off for home via Hinxton, Duxford, Whittlesford and, for a change, Sawston. There were spots of rain in the wind as we came into Shelford, and by the time we reached Addenbrookes we were riding in heavy rain.
I was a little ahead of the others, so stopped to wait in the shelter of the underpass where I found some other cyclists also taking shelter. John arrived and recognized one of the Thursday riders heading home to Sawston with their children.
Simon arrived a few minutes later (he'd been battling with a waterproof) and, to avoid another stop in the rain, we said our goodbyes and made our way back towards the city centre via the railway station.
The round trip for me was
37 miles and, despite riding only the final 3 miles in the rain, I was drenched by the time I got home.
Ray Miller
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GPS track (GPX).