Ride Report by Norman King...

First time I had organised this but I thought the course was good. Luckily we'd not had much rain in the last few days. 10 at the start, which was nice, including Jake and a mate of his plus George Alexander from Chatteris CC. I wasn't sure if we'd all stick together or not and Jake did say they'd peel off after a few miles. Down the Bitch which had to be taken with care, a couple of guys had issues but no dramas. Then we all rolled/rode down to Everton Road. Up the steep hill on our mix of road and gravel bikes and a MTB. All good fun. Then off for a long road section to Waresley. It was at Waresley that Jake and his mate peeled off. Another offroad, very rideable, we met 4 MTBers coming towards us which was easy enough to avoid each other. Then a bridleway over the old railway line. Simon Richardson took us on a bridleway towards Hatley. Then another long road section and a lovely piece of Bridleway into Sutton itself. Then through the woods, down into Sandy and another lovely piece of bridleway towards Everton Hill again. We were starting to get split up now. So at the road, Adam and Simon Rinaldo said they'd push on and Nick went after them. Simon Richardson and George went up Everton Hill (again) Simon had domestic duties and George had a loose front brake. So 3 of us went to continue, we met Geoff and Mark C and had a chat as we rode. We peeled off to Blunham and Simon Winter got a puncture. So after he changed it we knew it was going to be tight to get to the Barley Mow for 12.30 so we turned back past Tempsford and got to the pub via the River off-road parts. 5 at the pub for a deserved beer and of course chips. Lovely and thanks to the guys for making it a fun ride. Looking forward to next year already.