Sunday dawned clear and sunny but very cold - quite a contrast to the previous week when the roads were running with water and there were floods.

There has been no club run report for the previous Sunday because the floods were so bad that the riders who were out were in small groups dotted around the countryside, unable to get together.  For a good idea of what it was like see Richard's report on his blog here.

So it was good that the floods had subsided and 20 cyclists turned up at the Market Square to brave the sub-zero temperatures and the icy roads to enjoy the beautiful sunshine.

Group 2

Fourteen riders set off up Crosshall Road in Group 2.  Not far into the ride, we spotted a lone cyclist in St Neots strip in the distance, and we soon caught and incorporated Steve Rodley, out on his first Sunday run after surgery. It was great to see him back on his bike, and he went well - you'd never guess he's had such a long lay-off. Also a big welcome back to Adrian B who was on his first club run after a long lay-off and he also went scarily well.

The roads needed quite a lot of repect as a big slide in Great Staughton proved - luckily with skill and judgement, it didn't result in a crash. We continued west until Gaddy puctured - he's riding some flimsy summer rubber and he's had a few recently.  He wanted to turn back and go home but we wouldn't let him. Di2's cross bike with cantis seemed more appropriate fior the conditions. On to Harrold where we had an emergency coffee stop to thaw Adie's hands. Steve R and Trevor didn't stop but the rest of us wrapped ourselves round a coffee.

After Harrold the roads were smaller and even more slippery with constant shouts of "Ice!" coming from the front of the group. But without any mishap we made our way to the Bushmead crossroads where Richard, Mark and Alec headed off towards Perry and Buckden and the rest continued on towards St Neots.  Richard et al passed Group 1 going the other way on Spring Hill. On Perry Hill, Richard disappeared into the distance and it turned out later that he had done the fourth fastest time overall on this popular Strava segment on his winter single-speed. Too much hill-climb form left...

Just over 40 miles for Group 2 at a good pace when the road surface allowed, and thanks to Mark our route master for the day.

Group 1

The sun was out, the sky was blue, but my goodness it was cold when six of us set off from the Market Square. We were:  Steve “pee stop” Blows, Adrian “fat Pantani” Taverna, Wayne “quiff” Tunnah, Richard “I don’t read the forum” Wales, Joe “Boonen” Finucane, and myself, Tim ”I’m struggling to get round” Pennell.

We were off to Castle Ashby via the undulating Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire countryside; our destination took us through Bushmead, Bolnhurst, Thurleigh, and then onto Milton Ernest and across the A6 towards Radwell and then Felmersham. We had completed nearly 15 miles before we took our first wrong turn. But thanks to Steve’s sat nav we were soon back on track. On to Harrold, but before arriving there we were waiting at a set of traffic lights when Ade decided to exercise his vocal chords – Red Light (spells danger) by Billy Ocean (I think). Oh dear. We passed Harrold Country Park and then on to Bozeat and Castle Ashby; along the way encountering several patches of thick ice which mercifully were all negotiated safely; except for the good name of the route master whose name was associated with a few unsavoury things.

Heading home it was very evident that Joe was spending more time on the front than the rest of us and as soon as the road went uphill he was off like a rat up a drain pipe (mixing metaphors) with Steve closely on his heels, leaving the rest of us to chase back on. Passing through the red brick village of Wollaston our next destination was Poddington, then crossing the A6 again to Yeldon, Swineshead and Pertenhall. At the T-junction at Little Staughton we turned right up Spring Hill when a rabble of uncouth cyclists passed us coming the other way; now because the sun was so bright and low in the sky we could barely make out who they were. At this point I was on the back struggling to ascend the incline when one of them shouted out “come on Tim” - the unmistakable tones of our Chairman who was riding back home with Alec and Mark.

The descent into St Neots through Bushmead was quite leisurely and although Steve made a daring (or stupid) break with about a kilometre to go, Joe had it covered and took the town sign with ease. A challenging and picturesque ride of about 58 miles – thank you route master.