It's a cliché, but what a difference a week makes. Last Sunday was cold, wet and windy; this Sunday was dry, sunny and still, and although it started cold, warmed up as the morning wore on. Twenty five riders turned up for the St Neots CC Sunday run.

Twenty five is also an impressive number because ten of the Sunday run regulars had decided to ride the Bedford CC Reliability Ride, so there were 35 or more SNCC riders on the road on Sunday.  We'll post a short report on the Reliability ride soon. Back to the Sunday run and the wall-to-wall sunshine had encouraged quite a few new faces to join us, and in particular a couple of triathletes and a couple of guys who had been out on the Introductory Ride two weeks earlier, one of whom I think was Alan.  If you were on the ride on Sunday and we don't know you, please get in touch through our contact form on the website. It was good to see Andy Kinglake out doing his annual ride.

With 25 riders we decided to split into two groups, one led by Alec and one by Richard O to follow the same route at about Group 2 pace. Richard's group set off first followed a few minutes later by Alec's and headed out of Eynesbury towards Abbotsley golf club and Gamlingay with little or nothing to stretch the legs once we got beyond the Cinques. We continued on through the Hatleys and enjoyed the 40mph descent that is Croydon Hill. The demoralised road surface through Shigay cum Wendy caused a few choice comments from people whio hadn't been there before.  We were soon turning north through Meldreth and beginning to feel the light south-easterly on our backs. Further on, Alec's group swept past Richard's, who were parked on the side of the road fixing a puncture, and they were never caught again.

Chapel Hill was the major leg stretcher on the way home which split the groups up a bit, but they soon reassembled. Once across the B1040, we decided it was every man for himself and the final few miles were ridden at a breakneck pace with Andy Mac and Trevor showing an impressive turn of speed.

outside nero 17-02-13Alec's group made it back without any mishap to enjoy the sunshine outside Nero's - the first time this year that it's been warm enough to sit outside. Drinking coffee outside in February - can't be bad. Richard's group turned up later - apparently they had had four punctures and two crashes, including an off for our illustrious chairman, and one for Dan. What a contrast between the fortunes of the two groups - it just goes to show that leadership matters.  Forty five very enjoyable miles for everyone in excellent conditions.

richard crash

Richard's ripped kit - and the kit order has already gone in!