A grey, threatening day, perhaps, but still seven members turned up for the ride. Over the last few Saturdays our rides have become distinctly exotic culminating in the 50 miler to Bradford on Avon and it was time to return to basics, maybe. Over the years, we have mainly concentrated on cycling around 30ish miles making our Saturday ride relatively accessible. This year has seen an increase in distance travelled and we are now regularly cycling 40 miles. However, roots are important and a shorter ride was the order of the day.
For the shorter distances it is quite difficult to come up with an original route and this ride was no exception! So, what to do? One place that we rarely visit, for various reasons, is Cirencester so the roads there and back are seldom ridden by our club. Destination sorted. Although there were some speedier riders in our group we did, on the whole, ride together which, given the number of club tops being worn, looked pretty impressive. We made good time to Cirencester and immediately hit one of the problems that usually makes us avoid the place, where to stop for coffee? We settled on the Brewery Arts Centre and opted to stay outside. And this is the problem, very limited outside seating. We like our comforts and we always bear in mind the regime of the professionals who never stand if they can sit down and never sit if they can lay down. There was no sitting space here let alone lying down opportunities!
Coffee and cake consumed (standing) we set off on our way. (It is worth pointing out at this stage that if you don’t know the way it is worth cycling behind someone who does. You know who you are.)
With the exception of the climbs, few and not really steep, the group stayed mostly together on the return journey. Back at Malmesbury the group had collectively ridden a total of 231 miles although this was not enough for one member who increased that total to 248 miles by taking a longer route home. Not me, I might add.
Howard
Howard
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