Hot, hot, hot. Excellent to see nine riders out for a century ride. Everything went very smoothly with excellent group riding and everyone looking out for each other.

Congratulations to Andy on completing his first imperial century ride

The ride to Malmesbury garden centre went well with everyone seeming to like the B-road approach which meant several miles were dispatched quickly. The breakfasts were excellent as usual and I think that's the first time I've been able to sit outside as I'm usually there in the winter with terrible weather!

Due to the hot conditions rider's bottles were emptying quicker than usual so we had a brief stop at Waitrose in Cirencester to refill and a few of us had an early ice cream

The lumpy bit through the Cotswolds was pretty tough in the hot afternoon Sun and Bibury was heaving with tourists. We elected to use the river side café in Lechlade for an official ice cream stop.

Phil decided to skip the stop and get a head start towards Buckland. The rest of us after the break got a lovely peloton going to Bampton which only got disrupted at the lights over the Thames. Phil was waiting for us at the top of Buckland Hill and reformed into nine we made our way back to Wantage for 5.30pm.

Most of us took the opportunity for a post ride drink in the KAH and arrived just in time to see Russia beat Spain on penalties in the World Cup

It was a joy to lead this ride with such well disciplined riders which meant I could take up position front, back or centre and not have to worry about anything. Cheers everyone