With Sue still away on holiday I offered another Thursday ride today. What a difference in temperature from yesterday! I set out from home in 11 degrees. At long last I cycled without glove liners, snood and arm warmers. But of course with warmer weather comes the chance of rain.... which was forecast.
I messaged the 2 ladies who had signed up last night, and we agreed on an 8am decision. I'm glad we didn't cancel last night, since the forecast was now for the lightest rain, so light that it wasn't even raining. I met with Jane whom I not ridden with before, and Nicki W, whom I had only ridden with once. They had driven to Cantley from Bracknell and Sandhurst.
Route link screen shot at end
Not knowing what speed they were comfortable with, I let them take the lead as we climbed over the 2 motorway bridges, and also for the first few miles. Nicki has a mirror, so was always aware that we were all still a close group. Speed was not a problem, in fact by half way round, we were doing 11.3mph average. Fast enough for me. I was also enjoying my fully inflated tyre, after bouncing on a soft tyre for 20 miles yesterday. 😊
We headed to Shurlock Row, and discussed our bearings as I pointed out the Corgi weather vane on Smewins Road, as we approached White Waltham.
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| The layered hedging along Butchers Lane |
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| A brief stop at Shottesbrook side entrance, and I told them about the recent filming here of "Miss Austin". (Too messy to ride through, but lovely in spring). |
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| Further down, and now Bottle Lane. We saw quite a few patches of snowdrops today. |
Crossing the A4, our climb now to Warren Row, and unfortunately the light drizzle was now quite heavy rain. We were almost exactly at the furthest point from home, so no point turning back. From Crazies Hill, we enjoyed the downhill on Highfield Lane and soon arrived in upper Wargrave. Back over the A4, and the rain pretty much stopped by now.
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| Arriving at Stanlake, where Jane walked the last section over the gravel |
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| We got off to a great start, found nothing in the tyre, and soon replaced the tube. When removing the tyre, we had to use a bit of force to get it out, since the brake pads were tight. Jane has block brakes and none of us could remember what to do when not disk brakes! I knew that pulling out a cable somewhere was involved, but nothing seemed obvious on Jane's bike. Nicki looked for help on youtube, but short of watching a long video, we gave up on that. She tried callling her husband for advice, no answer. My hubby out on a bike ride, so I didnt want to trouble him. I asked Nicki if she knew Ferdi? (the bike maintenance man). I have just used him recently, but didnt have his number, but Nicki did. So I suggested we give him a call for advice. Nicki sent him a couple of photos, but they weren't too clear, so we ended up doing a video call. He was so helpful, and within 2 mins, we were sorted. What a star. The funny thing was, that although he gave my bike a full service a couple of weeks ago, my hubby took my bike, so I never had met him. So, I introduced myself on the video call. 😁  |
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| Getting ready to go, and I suggested that Jane test her brakes in the car park to make sure we had put them back together correctly. |
We used the Hurst Lanes next, crossing Hurst Village, and lots more snowdrops in Poplar Lane
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| Poplar Lane with snowdrops either side. |
Our circular route completed with crossing the motorway this time near Dinton Pastures, and finally on the cyclpaths paths on Toutley Road all the way back to Cantley.
Thanks for joining me today ladies, and we only really got wet for about 15 mins. We all learned something too, about sorting a puncture on a bike with block brakes! 😇
Hope to see you both again soon.
