With another scorching day forecast, we pre planned an earlier start from the Clock Tower today so 15 of us set off from the car park at 0830 whilst it was still vaguely cool.  We used to regularly ride a route up through Twyford and Playhatch to Nettlebed and Christmas Common so thought we would give this a go, and if we split we would meet for coffee at The Barn.

By the time we got to Twyford, Dean had joined us after sleeping through his alarm, lack of breakfast didnt seem to slow him down too much...and a few of the faster riders decided to split at that point and go on. 

That didn't last long though as Steve got a puncture, allowing the rest of us to go past.  The route is nice and flat to Sonning but then heads up the hill and climbs steadily pretty much to Nettlebed.  A couple of regroups, and the faster guys caught us up at Sonning Common to pass us and pick up a few who wanted to ride faster for a bit.  We were very much ready for the stop at the Barn, temperatures by now well into the upper 20's, and coffee and cake beckoned.

At this point we lost Mike (who to be honest was so fast I hadnt seen him since the start!) as his leg was hurting after his accident, but we gained Lawrence.  The faster guys didnt get in much before us and it just meant that they got out of the queue so we could get through quicker so that worked well.

It was all downhill from here - down to Stonor and Henley, gorgeous in the breeze when riding, getting rather steamy when stopped! 

Then through Wargrave to the A4 where Em headed right to Reading, the rest of us going straight on to Twyford - at which point we split up and everyone headed home.

A distance of 50mph give or take, with a suprising variation in speeds today considering we stayed together for most of it - from around 15mph to over 18mph.