Our annual Christmas social ride has become so popular! And there were a few ladies for whom this was their first Christmas ride. Fantastic.
First priority when planning a few weeks back, was to choose a date that all the Champs could ride, which meant it had to be a Friday. The fact that it was Friday 13th was a little unnerving. 😟 Not all the riders are free on Fridays, so apologies to the ladies who not able to join us today.
I spent some time putting together a poster a few weeks ago. 5 individual posters with the various starting points. (The poster is a combination of 2 of my watercolour paintings from last year, digitally combined with some text). The size worked great on FB on my computer, but unfortunately on mobile devices it was too long and chopped of the top and bottom, with some of the important information. 😡 I need to learn about social media sizing for next year. I always thought it did it automatically. So here is what it SHOULD HAVE looked like on FB.
Winchfield Church, nr Odiham, with one of my Christmas tree decorations added.
A "hold the date" announcement a few weeks ago, so when the rides were posted, they quickly filled up. To spread the numbers evenly, each champ created 5 spaces to start with, and once those filled up, a few more spaces were added, as a few more riders requested they would love to join us.
Our British Cycling area coordinator Rachel, who covers Berks, Bucks and Oxon, also asked to join us. (from Amersham). I missed a call from her at 8am, to say the rain was really heavy and she made the decision to turn around. I did call her back, but completely understand her reluctance as its a long way to come, if we decided not to ride at the last minute. What a shame Rachel, who I know will be reading this. The weather was fine for our ride here.
A few cancellations this morning, as expected in a large group. I hope those who weren't feeling well soon recover. Andrea would love to have ridden, and her bike was all ready to go, but when the ground is wet, she prefers not to ride.
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| Andrea's lovely Orro all ready to go... until the rain came last night. But she drove to join us for coffee. 😊 |
Whether starting from Ascot, FBC or Cantley, our aim was to reach Dinton close to 11am. Sue and I met our riders at Cantley. I promised I would take no photos enroute today, but just 2 before we set off.
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| Amanda T, Sue, Jeanette, Martina and Louise J, were first to arrive at Cantley. |
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| And the rest of the Cantley starters. Janet, Sandra D, Amy, Daphne, Karen, Lynne and Susan G. (not met Susan before. A baptism of fire!) |
Meanwhile, Jill and Hazel and their riders were setting off from FBC... photo by Hazel.
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| Nikki, Kim, Hazel, Cathy Wilkins, Julie, Joy, Jill, Louise W, Cathy Whittington, Angela, and Eva. |
A bit drizzly as we left Cantley, and whizzing down over the motorways, I realised that my pointy Santa hat, stuffed with newspaper, was not exactly "aerodynamic" lol. What a lot of drag!!!😄 It got heavier as the mist persisted too.
An incident free ride for my group, as we headed to Shurlock Row, Waltham St Lawrence, and back via Binfield. A few nose blow stops, but Martina seemed to be really struggling to keep up today. (I ride with her most Fridays, and normally she is fine. She's young! But with new tyres on today, she seemed be struggling. So much so, that she peeled off at Winnersh and headed home. 😟 All that effort and no cake! )
We had spotted Sue's group near Shurlock Row, doing pretty much my route in reverse. Sandra had a puncture, but she was putting the tyre back on, so they were fine. I got my timing wrong, since we were a bit slow and possibly did 5 miles more than we should have. We arrived at Dinton 40 mins late! oops! At least there was no queue.😂
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| I think the others are here already! Since we were not allowed to reserve tables, I had asked whoever got their first to do their best to keep some seats. Apparently it was pretty busy when Rose's group and drivers arrived on time, but as other diners left they were able to take over the place! lol My group arrived to a room FULL of Breeze ladies, with just a couple of other diners. (I bet they were pleased! We were a little noisy).  A couple of photos by Jill. Lynne, Caroline, and Jane. (Caroline and Jane on the Ascot ride)  (Sandra drove to join Rose from Chalfont St Peter!) |
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| Rose, Kim, Jeanette, Andrea, Sue, Amy., Sandra D. |
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| Joy, Nikki, Louise W, Hazel, and Angela |
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| Cathy W, Lynne, Susan, Daphne, Janet, Sandra W Linda, Louise, Eva, Julie, Cathy Wilkins. |
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| Anne, Amanda T, Daphne, Janet, Sandra W, Linda, Jill Louise, Eva, Susan, Jane, and Karen. |
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| An attempt at everyone! |
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| Breeze Champs Jill. Sue, Hazel, Rose, Anne |
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| Amy, Louise, Daphne, Amanda T. |
Time to go, and Rose's group had about 12 miles to get back, my group almost home. I got a drone recently, and thought it would be fun for a group shot. I had envisaged taking the shot near the lake, but ran out of time, so a quick shot next to the café. With all the recent storms, I've had no chance to practice, so after a few minutes of minor panic, I got the shot!
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| Everyone looking..... except me 😂 |
Thank you Champs and riders for your efforts today in making it a fun ride. Thanks for your wonderful company on our Breeze Rides this year. This was the 199th ride that I have led, and hope to make it to 200 next week.