As the group containing myself, Heather, Simon, Mike, Stuart and Colin assembled various discussions were had covering topics like: Colins new chain rings, getting back to watch Man U v Aston Villa  and some lightweight heated under gloves and feet warmers recommended by Heather.  Hopefully she’ll post a link for these.

Various route options were discussed, with the general consensus being not too far (this ruled out trip to Benson), not steep hills to avoid traction problems caused by the riders immense power output and reasonable roads after last weeks 5 puncture on smaller lanes.  So the group plumped for the standard route but heading to Northend and Christmas Common instead of going straight up Pishill.

For a change the early part of the ride was done at a leisurely pace as we headed through Twyford, into Sonning and up the lower reaches of Playhatch.  Around the halfway point, Colin was the first to get board with easy riding and the pace was substantially lifted for a race to the top.  The group then stayed in a compact peloton as it sped into Henley. 

The work along Fairmile was taken up again by Stuart with a little help from Colin.  As headed through Assinden, I also joined in and the 3 of us to got a gap on the others. While we paused at the junction near Stoner the leaders felt we should have pressed on up Pishill to take advantage of the tail wind. The pace heading up to Southend was markedly easier despite the steeper hill.  At some point near the bottom, one of the group thought a dog walker might have been the anti-bike presenter on Top Gear.  No wonder he had a hat on and his collar turned up.  But we said hi anyway.

In Northend, Heather managed to hit a rock gaining a puncture and damaging her rear tire.  Luckily Simon being the only gentleman in the group assisted Heather to make sure things got pumped up nice and hard.  The rest of the group stood around getting cold.  Shortly after setting off my phone kept ringing, so I stopped (while the others rolled out) to find a minor panic had set in at home.  I was little help being at least 1 hour from home, so set off after the others to find them waiting at the top of Pishill.  Thanks guys. 

From the top of Pishill via Nettlebed into Sonning Common the group normally get organised for some through and off.   Today it was more of a 2up with Stuart and I with the remaining 4 sitting on our rear wheels.  Hence it was pretty obvious which of the group were taking the Boxing Day 10 seriously.

The pace back into Twyford and onto the golf club was then a little easier.  Both the sprints (Winery and Finish line) were both uncontested as one rider got a small gap and the bunch couldn’t get organised to close a bridgeable gap.

We did about 45miles @ 18.8mph on a miserably gray and damp day.  On the way home while waiting for the lights in Twyford we commented about the temperature difference in the Chilterns, 5 deg C, compared to 11 deg C in Twyford.

Next week hopefully both groups will met up at the Golf Club around midday for coffee’s all round.