Great turnout - 8 members plus 2 family tag-alongs - for the ever-popular social evenings.

The food was universally acclaimed, despite some mild agitation about late arrival of two chapatis.

Thanks everyone for your company and banter!

A splendid morning for a ride after a lot of overnight rain and a good turn out. We encountered a few floods, one particularly unsafe driver (with horse box), strong winds early on especially over the exposed Cholsey Alps. Sitting outside in the sun at Hampstead Norreys one could almost forget it was mid-November.

Enjoyable sociable ride with no more than my usual quota of navigational errors!

An easy run tonight, despite me downloading the wrong route from RwGPS and having to navigate from memory! I hope we approximated to the advertised route. Traffic was quiet and there was little standing water, despite the day's rain. We hit a strong headwind after turning west in Abingdon and there were a few blustery showers of rain. Jon left me in Challow to head home, so I completed the ride solo.

A mainly flat ride with a couple of surprise hills thrown in for good measure.

Leaving Wantage market place we headed off to Uffington via Denchworth and Goosey, and then had a quick stop to take off a layer or too as it was not as cold as we thought it would be. Onwards and up a couple of hills out of Shrivenham and in Coleshill, before having another stop to put some waterproofs on as the rain was becoming more persistent. We decided against a coffee stop in Lechlade preferring to aim on getting to the lunchstop a bit earlier. From Lechlade we wove around some villages in the Southern Cotswolds and had a surprise hill before heading on down to Bampton. The stop for lunch at Bampton Garden Centre was eagerly anticipated and I hope met expectations (there was food, it was warm, we were in the dry - what more do you want?).

Out again for the last leg. Celebrations were had just outside West Hanney as I hit my target for 5,000 miles in this calendar year, with 57 days in hand......I was tempted to stop cycling there and then, but decided it was probably better to finish the ride

A nice flat run back to Wantage.

Thank you all who joined.

Pretty much perfect conditions for the first winter ride of the season. Not too cold, not too much wind and dry roads.

We had such an easy run to Watchfield we felt sure we'd get a headwind on the way back but it didn't really materialise so we had a pretty easy run all the way round!!

A nippy one, but not nippy enough to stop a decent turnout. The drizzle started around Denchworth and carried on for a good half hour as we held a very disciplined double line heading north against the wind. The climb of Boars Hill was dispatched with little huffing and puffing, except for the new speed humps, which are rather annoying.

Down into Abingdon, there were a few spots of drizzle in the air, but we made it into R&R for our stop - service was slow as it was very busy. Through Abingdon, I managed to find a few roads that John T had never ridden - what is the chance of that?

At Steventon there was an ominous Road Closed sign, but we chanced our arm and were let through the resurfacing works by some very accommodating navvies - Thanks!

This was a delightful ride to lead - the riding standard was excellent, and big thanks to those who did turns on the front and swept at the back.

Very enjoyable potter in the sunshine, with a bit of a headwind for some of the journey to Alvescot. It was liver and bacon all round for lunch - and the consensus was very complementary!

Easy riding back with a bit of a tailwind once or twice - everyone did a turn on the front to bring the group back for drinks in the sunshine at Uffington.

What a fantastic October day for a ride.

Four of us rode our ways to Benson through a spectacular sun rise that cut through the surprisingly warm mist - except for a few hollows, such as the Hendred dip.

We had time for a drink and a bun at the Waterfront Cafe before setting off.

The well matched group rode steadily to Velolife, where we stopped briefly for coffee and cake.

The chain gang got into action on the flat roads to Jenners Cafe in Maidenhead.

The lumpy bit of the ride was ... lumpy. We spread out climbing Winter Hill, the long drag from Marlow to Frieth and the Turville Tunnel, regrouping at the top each time.

Then we whizzed down into Watlington to take coffee and cake sitting out in the sunshine at the Waterfront Cafe before completing our journeys home.

It was a joy

A good turnout of 15 plus two non-members.

In addition to the normal reports, a special award of Honorary Life Membership was made to Richard Preece for his contribution in setting up the club - thanks you Richard!

Committee Members for 2019 are:

Chairman and Webmaster: John Talbot
Treasurer: Phil Stubbings
Secretary, Rides Secretary and Welfare: Chris Walters

Minutes can be found here: link
The presentation can be found here: link

It was a quick AGM, followed by a very convivial meal at the Fox - thanks for coming, everyone!

Nine riders on a chilly autumnal morning but with plenty of sunshine. A flat and quite fast ride out to Burford before the lumps began. Lots of beautiful Cotswold villages to cycle through before we got to the cafe at Chedworth Roman Villa who were eager to please a group of cyclists. We had a room to ourselves, were offered water bottle refills without asking and had cycle parking.

We lunched before tackling some more lumps to Bibury after which the ride flattened out a bit. I had a run in with a motorist who thought overtaking me on a hill as I overtook a parked car was a good idea, apparently he pays road tax which is a bit stupid as it was abolished in 1937.

After Lechlade we had the A417 to Faringdon which is always pretty quiet on a Sunday and some excellent team riding kept a tight peloton the whole way before the last hill into town. Well done everyone!

The route back to Wantage was via Fernham and Baulking and the much busier A417 from Goosey, but we still kept a tight formation which was pleasing. Riders peeled off as we approached Wantage with most of the remainder heading to Costa for a well deserved coffee.

It was an absolute pleasure to lead such a well disciplined group which meant I didn't need to be at the front for the whole ride. Thanks all!