What a day !! 
Quick summary
Really pleasing turnout for the last round of the road series in the Cotswolds , we had a total of 7 dedicated souls still keen to ride despite the weather forecast.
In true retrobike fashion the early birds flocked in with various projects that needed doing to their steeds, worst being the Mr Ededwards having to wrap bars on his arrival!
We set off on time and out into the wilderness and what came to light immediately was the wind :shock: heading out of stow normally consists of a nice fast decent down into lower swell but as Bobinnogs said "I checked my tyres thinking I had a flat" the head wind was like a brake :shock:
The route over to winchcombe was pretty harmless out of the wind and still no rain everyone was digging in and only bugloss a little disappointed that the rain hadn't given his new rapha jacket a workout
Then came the first shocker of the ride ....the decent of doom down into winchcombe .....wet ...steep ...mud and leaves ...really was a horror show , I only made it by mirroring eds trick moves
After the horror came the first cat climb of the day , stanway is its name a nice long not to steep but gradual climb. On a nice sunny day the scenery and views are stunning .... Today it was hurdle that needed dealing with !
While muttering away regarding the weather john quite rightly indicated it could be worse ...could be proper rain..... :facepalm: that's when we were hit by the monsoon.
The driving rain and wind soaked me straight to the bone just before we hit the legendary Dover hill .... Looking up the road while making the accent at everyone through therain was pretty epic to say the least :shock:
We plodded on like drown rats to campden for warmth and coffee , things turned a little weird in the coffee shop and I am left with the worries of the welfare of the Herefordshire of moles :shock:.
Out of the coffee shop was bit of a shocker the wet clothes then getting cut in half with the cold wind which was starting to get blustery and stronger by the min!
Now on a normal summers day the climb out of campden to broadway tower is a nice affair not to steep cracking views etc etc. this in my eyes was the worst of the day ... The rain had stopped but the long exposed hillside with the howling wind was BRUTAL ...so brutal it was just head down and keep pedalling... I could hear shouting from behind and hadn't noticed I was still in the big ring with a crossover from hell ....bang my mech flew up and hit the frame thankfully the shouting alerted me enough to stop pedalling just in time and no damage and carried on.
Once we hit the summit and dropped away we managed to avoid most of the wind as started heading back home only the last hurdle being the last climb back into stow which I think most people wizzed up just at the thought of being warm and dry.
And that was that really we finished with a nice sit down and chatter with homemade chilli and bread in the flanders room
Just want to thank everyone for coming despite the weathers best efforts it's was a cracking day out and hope the Cotswolds did enough to be back on the calendar for next year.
Riders attended
Ededwards
Bobinnogs
John
Bugloss
Drystonepaul
Tarloone
Daj
Quick summary
Really pleasing turnout for the last round of the road series in the Cotswolds , we had a total of 7 dedicated souls still keen to ride despite the weather forecast.
In true retrobike fashion the early birds flocked in with various projects that needed doing to their steeds, worst being the Mr Ededwards having to wrap bars on his arrival!
We set off on time and out into the wilderness and what came to light immediately was the wind :shock: heading out of stow normally consists of a nice fast decent down into lower swell but as Bobinnogs said "I checked my tyres thinking I had a flat" the head wind was like a brake :shock:
The route over to winchcombe was pretty harmless out of the wind and still no rain everyone was digging in and only bugloss a little disappointed that the rain hadn't given his new rapha jacket a workout
Then came the first shocker of the ride ....the decent of doom down into winchcombe .....wet ...steep ...mud and leaves ...really was a horror show , I only made it by mirroring eds trick moves
After the horror came the first cat climb of the day , stanway is its name a nice long not to steep but gradual climb. On a nice sunny day the scenery and views are stunning .... Today it was hurdle that needed dealing with !
While muttering away regarding the weather john quite rightly indicated it could be worse ...could be proper rain..... :facepalm: that's when we were hit by the monsoon.
The driving rain and wind soaked me straight to the bone just before we hit the legendary Dover hill .... Looking up the road while making the accent at everyone through therain was pretty epic to say the least :shock:
We plodded on like drown rats to campden for warmth and coffee , things turned a little weird in the coffee shop and I am left with the worries of the welfare of the Herefordshire of moles :shock:.
Out of the coffee shop was bit of a shocker the wet clothes then getting cut in half with the cold wind which was starting to get blustery and stronger by the min!
Now on a normal summers day the climb out of campden to broadway tower is a nice affair not to steep cracking views etc etc. this in my eyes was the worst of the day ... The rain had stopped but the long exposed hillside with the howling wind was BRUTAL ...so brutal it was just head down and keep pedalling... I could hear shouting from behind and hadn't noticed I was still in the big ring with a crossover from hell ....bang my mech flew up and hit the frame thankfully the shouting alerted me enough to stop pedalling just in time and no damage and carried on.
Once we hit the summit and dropped away we managed to avoid most of the wind as started heading back home only the last hurdle being the last climb back into stow which I think most people wizzed up just at the thought of being warm and dry.
And that was that really we finished with a nice sit down and chatter with homemade chilli and bread in the flanders room
Just want to thank everyone for coming despite the weathers best efforts it's was a cracking day out and hope the Cotswolds did enough to be back on the calendar for next year.
Riders attended
Ededwards
Bobinnogs
John
Bugloss
Drystonepaul
Tarloone
Daj
