Club Ride Saturday 31st March 2012

Three riders set off from the usual start point, Jackdaw Cafe, at 10.30am. No concession was given to late comers as we speed off into the Malmesbury traffic at about naught mph. Taking about 5 minutes to clear the town we headed towards Shipton Moyne and, following the first directional surprise of the day, on to Tetbury. There was some thought of stopping for coffee, but I was out voted, it was too soon apparently. We continued past Chavenage, and why oh why is this road always so difficult? Once over the A46 we cycled through Kingscote and stopped, finally, for coffee at the Hunter's Hall pub. For one of us at least, the last few miles across the Hazelcote Valley was a first time experience and mention was made of it beauty. Don't be fooled though, the scenery may be great, it is, but the road surface is rubbish and there's a hill!!

An historic decision was made during coffee. For those that care anyway. A club jersey design was agreed. Slightly retro, it will be green with a white band wrapping the chest and similar white bands around the sleeve. The words 'Malmesbury Clarion CC' will be emblazoned on the white banding on the front of the jersey and, probably, running down either sleeve. Tim came up with the idea of our logo, a flying monk! His idea, but agreed by all present. I have found a company that will make as few jerseys as we like and I will contact them for prices soon. I'll let you know what I find out and people can choose whether to have one or not. So the club colours will be green, black and white.

With the excitement of that decision made, it was on with the ride. Brilliantly, we were able to exit the pub car park directly on to a little side road via the car park thus avoiding a 10 foot ride along a busy main road. Cycling continues to amaze and, on occasions, seems to go against the very laws of physics. What comes down, must go up! And yet another valley to cross, this time Newington Bagpath. Actually a rather stunning hill to be honest and one that I am sure the club will return too with the other members sometime soon. Once at the top the road is more or less downhill all the way home and we sped along like speedy along things. Home in no time.

In all we covered about 25 miles in slightly under 2 hours not including the stop.

Full route details can be found here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/163308435

Howiecycles