Just a small group of 5 riders turned up for today’s ride.  These being myself, Callum, Mike, Matt and Dominic.  A number of the other regulars were flying out to Majorca for a week’s riding in the sun.  Before setting off we had a short discussion about yesterdays 15tt where Mike was hoping he beat Gurpal otherwise he was going to take early retirement from cycling.

The common view of the group was to keep the ride relatively short, so we headed out through Hurst and Winnersh and eventually found our way to Theale.    Going this route normally means a longer ride, but after some discussion we agreed to head to Pangbourne then follow the main road back to Reading / Caversham without crossing the river.  The ride to Theale was done at a relatively steady pace, with the group talking freely about various subjects at an average power of 207w and 221NP.

Heading into Pangbourne the pace was lifted and we covered the 3.1miles in just over 8mins so a good turn of speed.  We headed back towards Reading on the A329 and up the only real hill of the day through Purley-on-Thames.  The road down into Reading has a very good road surface, so the pace was kept high and we managed to drop Mike.  We continued on through Caversham and on to Sonning.  Due to my time pressure we all then heading along the A4 into Maidenhead.  Mike turned off on route to Shottesbrook and I left the remaining 3 at Highway Avenue.  From Theale back to Maidenhead the average power was 251w and 270NP so significantly harder work for everyone.

From the golf club back to Maidenhead we covered 45miles at an average speed of 19.5mph.