Sunday weather was still and warm once the early morning chill had lifted. Twenty six riders turned up in the Market Square - with a few being away on holiday or competing in the St Neots Nicetri Sprint Triathlon, this was a good turn-out. It was a small Group 1, made even smaller by the defection of Wayne and David to Group 2 at the last minute.

So we had twenty riders in Group 2 who set off towards Abbotsley after Trevor, road captain for the day had briefed everyone on what was expected. The first part of the ride was taken at a decent but steady pace - we had decided to stick together for some distance and this meant that occasionally the group soft-tapped to allow one or two riders to get back on. This continued through Comberton and Hardwick to near Cottenham where cried of "mechanical" brought everyone to a standstill.

We decided at this point to split, with almost all the riders electing to go in the faster group. I'm not sure whether everyone choosing the faster group was aware of what they were letting themselves in for, as with the wind on our backs and Wayne, David, Dan, Alec, Mark, Andy Mac and one or two others pushing along at the front the pace ramped up all the way through Hilton back to Graveley.  The little ramp at Graveley split the group again and the pace down the Toseland straight and down the hill into St Neots remained high for Group 2.

The average for the first group back was close to 19mph which meant the second half of the ride averaged well over evens - on the other hand everyone got a ride at the pace that they enjoyed as about four groups of varying sizes arrived back in the Market Square with some averaging about 16mph for the 48 miles, and all seeming happy. The fastest were as fast as Group 1 on the day, although following a much flatter and slightly shorter route - so Group 2 catered for a wide range of riders by riding as one big bunch for half the way and splitting for the second half.

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