As the weekend approached, the weather forecast became more dire. But several groups of Tigers proved their mettle (or maybe their lunacy) and turned up in their best wet weather attire. There was some discussion about the rumoured road closure on the Frieth Road but we all took Ken's advice that the road had been fully open last night and set off in that direction. In the rain. I had opted to lead the Easy Tigers after a bit of a lay-off period so that I could take it easy. It was not to be. My group was particularly elite: just me and Oonagh. She had moved up from very easy tigers so I thought "I can take it easy". It was not to be. She joined the club recently and started at the slowest group, is working her way up, and hasn't reached her natural level yet. So the ride was all about me keeping up! Hey ho, what fun!
We tagged onto Alistair's (faster) Tigers group for the first part of the ride. Up towards the supposedly open road at Frieth. Paused for a brief chat with two guys in a pickup truck who had just re-closed the road. They cheerily and helpfully assured us that they had provided a way through for cyclists. On arrival, the road was completely blocked. There were no workmen on site, so we carefully moved some barriers, went through and closed them behind us. No problem, and on exiting the closed bit realised that the workmen had indeed provided a cycle path, but only at the other end of the closure. The old saying "Close, but no cigar" sprang to mind. So onwards we blundered through the worsening rain, somehow having managed to move from Alistair's group to Pauric's group. Oonagh and I parted company from Pauric's group at Radnage and I adopted my usual leadership stance of leading from the back so that "my riders" could "maintain a pace at which they are comfortable". Spent the rest of the ride struggling to keep up!
Did I mention the rain? It got worse and worse. Danesfield Hill was a river and on our return the footpath outside the clubhouse was under water. Were we downhearted? Absolutely not. My thanks to Oonagh for a good workout: just what I needed. And I maintained my record of always ending a ride with less riders than when I set off. With only two I thought my record was under threat but Oonagh obliged by heading straight home to a warm shower. Again, my thanks to Oonagh. Let's hope for better weather next week...