11 of us turned out this morning for the clock tower run, on a much sunnier day than we could have possibly have hoped for. There were plenty of regulars, some newish faces and one completely new lady who was new to cycling from being a runner. After a bit of discussion we decided to do a few hills, and once we got to Frieth we would make a decision whether to go back up to Stokenchurch or carry on a flatter route through the Hambledon Valley. Delia, the new lady, did amazingly well for her first time but what with stuck gears and all the hills it was a struggle, which meant there were a lot of riders having to hang around a lot. Once in Frieth if was obvious that we would not have time for my longer hilly route, so the 2 Daves offered to take Delia back, whilst the rest of us put our foot down a bit and went through Hambledon, Henley and Shiplake before coming home through Sonning and Twyford.

So, it was a nice ride - but it made us think there must be a solution to this. At the moment we are scaring off new members with, what has become, a fairly brisk pace (despite staying with Delia for much of the first half of the ride I managed a 17mph average (and John Gibsons was much higher)), whilst we are frustrating the members who are not quite fast enough to go to Birds Hill.

So, here is my suggestion

We set up a roster of riders who are happy to take newer members out - and if there are enough of us willing to do this it shouldn't be something that each of us would have to do too often. Most weeks this is falling to Dave D which is not fair on him. Kevin has offered to set up a Facebook group, or we could manage it on here If I get a few names and weeks that they would be available to do this, I can start a roster which we can populate and then when we arrive at the clocktower the designated person can take out new members, or less experienced members, on a shorter, less challenging and slower ride whilst the rest of the group go off at the usual pace. Some weeks we my be able to plan it so that the 2 groups meet somewhere en route, especially during the winter (cafe stop anyone??)

If this seems like a plan, I will also advertise on this website the new slower route, and hopefully attract some new members who might be scared off by how fast and far we go. Its amazing how quickly they can get up to speed (I hope Elsa doesn't mind me mentioning her - but a few weeks she was really struggling and we had to wait for her, today she stayed with the fast boys and kept up). It may also be that eventually a newer slow group will establish itself and won't need our input.

What do you think? Could we give it a go, and would anyone out there be willing to be on a roster? I am happy to try to maintain it....comments below please!