It's been a cold week, with snow flurries and below zero temperatures overnight, so our rides earlier in the week have all been cancelled. Just too cold. Quite a few areas of the country have had proper snow with schools closed and trains cancelled.
But watching the forecast ,with a slight rise in temperatures by the end of the week, I decided a couple of days ago to offer a short Friday Breeze ride, since most of my regular "Friday buddies" were busy today anyway. Rose was happy to assist. The ride initially filled up, but by today a couple of cancellations, so we were 5. Lovely to see Jo again after many weeks of not riding with us. (good excuse... holidays!) Amy & Lynne, made the group up to 5. Jill also decided to run a short ride from Crowthorne, and we agreed to meet up at The Greyhound, Finchampstead.
With a later start of 10am, the thin layer of ice on our pond was starting to melt as I left, but I knew we therefore had to be cautious on any lanes which had water on them.
As I peddled away from my drive, my gears wouldn't change. I was wearing thicker gloves today , and initially thought that I wasn't pushing the gear levels correctly because of my gloves. The penny then dropped that my electronic gear shift wasn't working, due to the battery. My app told me it had plenty of charge, so must have been affected by the cold in the garage. This was a problem since my ebike, my reserve option, is in the bike shop for a new chain atm. Thankfully, after riding up and down my road and trying the gears several times, they suddenly started working again, so I got to the start on time. 😊
We headed onto the pedestrian/cycle paths across Woosehill, with the low winter sun shining straight into us. At one point an engineer in a high viz jacket shouted "STOP", literally a second before I rode into his cable running across the path at head level! (this is not on the British Cycling risk assessment!). What an idiot! He had hooked it onto some tree branches at decapitation level. I had to duck really fast to avoid being taken out. 😡
A beautiful morning as we passed Ludgrove School , down Heathlands Road, and into Ravensood Village, where the light was lovely.
 |
| Ravensood approach road, with the long shadows from the low sun. |
 |
| then across the golf course. |
 |
| I loved this group of trees and the long shadows today. |
Our average speed was a little slow at this point, so I told them we needed to up the pace, or we were in danger of not making it in time for complimentary 11s's . That did the trick. 😎
 |
| Two ladies opted for bacon rolls, and we were told it was"illegal" to share them with anyone. 😂 |
By the time my group had ordered and got their drinks, Jill arrived with Eva and Joy.
 |
| Eva serving the complimentary Stollen, and Rose with the sherry glasses. |
 |
| Plenty of chat over drinks, before we split up once more, but with Eva now returning with my group. Lynne, Amy,Rose,Eva, Joy, Jill. Jo and Anne standing. |
A cheeky little climb up Jubilee Road next to get us going, then into Church Lane to Finchampstead Church. Rather than go down White Horse Lane, which I thought could have had some icy patches, we continued down the other end of Church Lane, to join the newly tarmac surface on the road leading to the California roundabout. What bliss... no potholes! And through the leaf covered roads at the roundabout. Painted leaves, not real leaves.
Finally up Nashgrove Lane where Eva left us at the top, whilst the rest of came back up Blagrove Lane.
Well done ladies for coming out on this coolish day of only 5 degrees and a northerly wind. So glad we got out, since it's now looking like a horrible wet weekend with a named storm "Bert" passing through.
