It was 24 brave souls who turned up on the Market Square on this cold Sunday morning, and form had clearly overtaken fashion as there wasn't much in the way of St Neots colours on show with about 3/4 of the riders raiding the cupboard for warmer lycra. Thanks to Chris Preston for planning and leading Group 2 today. Joe Finucane was responsible  for keeping Group 1 in order. 

Joining us for their first club run were new members Ed and Yvonne and also Charles although he had been out with us before. Also good to see Stuart join us for a taster of what a club run was like and, as he said on the forum, he now knows the pace required. Also a welcome back to Dan King and Terry Davies.

Group 2 headed out to Staughton and up the Moor Road which had to be negotiated carefully because of the amount of ice on the road. That safely ridden, we headed towards Little Staughton where there we saw Group 1 stopped and huddled together.  We couldn't  see much mechanical work going on so we thought that they where using the old SAS survival technique of using shared bodily warmth to keep the cold at bay - or maybe they were just fixing a puncture. 

We then headed towards Sharnbrook via Riseley, still riding at avery steady pace because of the road conditions, and not until we got on to the Odell road could we get the pace up.

We turned towards Harrold then it was the familiar route back through Milton Ernest, Thurliegh, Bolnhurst and the Bushmead sprint. We are reliably informed by Trevor Porter that he took the sign leaving the others standing, so we can expect him now to be leading Group 1 and do a sub 30min on the TT later on in the year. The group covered 40 miles at a steady ice-induced pace. We also learned a new technique from Yvonne to force traffic lights to change to green - sing Happy Birthday to them - and it worked! 

The group had split just before Milton Ernest as one of Charles's tyres was losing pressure and rather than wait, the main group kept moving to keep warm, leaving four to find their way home. After two more stops to pump up the tyre, Charles decided to change the inner tube and the valve cap broke on the first replacement tube (just not his day). Despite all this, he and the others caught up with the main group at the cafe and warm drinks were enjoyed by all. As we were leaving Group 1 hove into sight and took our seats to enjoy their hot drinks. 

Group 1

Our run had started with a BANG as Adrian B managed to explore St Neots' finest pot hole - if only he had taken his spade? One inevitable puncture and as we huddled together for warmth, Group 2 gave us some encouraging gestures as they cycled past at speed. (So it was a puncture, after all.) 

As with Group 2 the weather wasn't fun - icy conditions and -2 degree temperatures through most of it (confirmed by Garmin, thanks Mr Garmin). Dan Baxter, on his maiden Group 1 ride experienced his first puncture, his repair assisted by Ian we dragged our way home with 55 miles banked. As usual, with many "oops!" we went the wrong way, but overall an enjoyable ride all in all on the 'M25 loop' surrounding St Neots. 

Well done to all who braved the conditions today. Those of you who enjoyed a warm late morning with toast, marmalade and coffee - you'll pay for it later!