Saturday, 06 January 2018
Ian W writes: Thanks to everyone who supported the first Saturday social ride of 2018, with eleven of us by coffee, so very much looking forward to continuing through the winter months that follow. Today I didn't notice any icy patches on my way to Brookside, though with the temperature only around 1C from then on I was particularly wary when Phil mentioned he had come across black ice on his way to the start.
Having arrived in good time (more luck than arising from any New Years Resolutions, please note) we were able to make quite a prompt start, with traffic levels remarkably low I thought. With a week before university students were back, Sidgwick Avenue looked deserted and allowed us to sail on through.
In order to offset the cool temperature, after a regroup leaving Coton village I decided to throw in some roller-coaster terrain incorporating the loop via Madingley and onwards to Comberton.
Once leaving Comberton it was virtually gradually downhill all the way to Haslingfield and The Moringa Tree, which no doubt particularly appreciated by Clancy on his first outing with the club. Here John E very timely caught us up so we all piled into the cafe together; apologies that we were rather too quickly off the mark earlier!
The cafe proved very cosy as we almost filled it, not to mention arising from the heater blowing warm air down above the entrance door and we were made very welcome. I believe plans are in the pipeline to further develop the site so look forward to further outdoor seating options once the weather warms up later in the year.
Upon leaving the cafe, Phil and Sue H soon had their work cut out heading over Chapel Hill whereas Angela T and Anne were virtually home, leaving the rest of us, now seven, to head towards Harston to sample the new cyclepath along the A10 there. I must say I was quite impressed by what was in place so far and was pleased to see the middle section now under construction, so hopefully it won't be long before we have a through route!
Beyond the Hauxton turning it was time to wiggle across the Trumpington Meadows Nature Reserve complete with headwind; we normally face these when travelling south-west, not when we were riding north-east as today.
When we got close to Waitrose John S left us and headed directly to the Shelfords, whilst those who were remaining picked up the busway to the railway station from where we headed our individual ways, rather missing the sunny periods we had enjoyed earlier. Was that just me in my shorts? Our total mileage was about
20 miles Ian Wright
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