I think considering the recent weather, the light drizzle to start with was a positive. At one point while having refreshments the sun came out. It was nice to see Pete after a long stretch off the bike. The ride went smoothly and while we encountered some standing water, we didn't have any significant floods to contend with. The Humble Bumble was buzzing, but we managed to get seats. As we made our way back into Wantage a few riders peeled off to their respective homes. On balance an enjoyable and relatively dry ride.

With another wet ride in prospect I was very happy to find Richard and Louis raring to go by King Alf. Maintaining a decent pace and tight peloton ensured that we kept warm. A good hot coffee and cake inside Java set us up for the ride back. Not a very adventurous ride but, given the conditions, it seemed about right.

It started all dry but as Phil and I worked our way up Chain Hill the mist and drizzle got heavier. Going up Chain Hill was a first for Phil. We made it to garden centre in Hermitage and were greeted by a larger selection of cakes, which were very welcome. The ride back to Wantage was uneventful, Phil peeled off home in Letcombe and I made my way back to the Market Square. Thanks Phil for making the effort to come out - it could have been worse!

With the Storm Chandra weather looking pretty awful at the start of the day, only two of us gathered in the market square on a pretty wet Tuesday morning.

As is quite often the case, whilst there was some drizzle for the first 1/2 hour, this thankfully blew over pretty quickly and we escaped from getting drenched for the rest of the ride.

Our route to Dorchester was anti-clockwise for a change, which was great until the flints in Ginge bore their teeth and we had a puncture to repair in Hendred barely 1/2 hour into the ride.

Lots of surface water and multiple sets of roadworks to navigate before we made it to Snug, which was lovely with the usual winter fire at full blast.

An uneventful return to Wantage, with even some welcome sunshine!

Thanks Louis for ensuring I braved the elements for what ended up being a good ride out.

The good thing it was not raining, the bad thing the recent heavy rain over the last week had created a lot of standing water and a number of floods, so the original route was changed after the coffee break at the Baking Bee. An unplanned stop was taken just as we approached Uffington for Andy to repair a puncture, but we were soon back on are way. We managed to dodge most of the floods by staying high and around the Spring Line. Louise went home a different way to make her way back to Stanford-in-the Vale in an attempt to avoid the some of the flooded roads.

A mild day but the strong wind made it feel cold whenever the sun disappeared. The wind was largely behind us (apart from the very exposed few hundred metres leading up to the Childrey Cross-roads) until Coleshill, where a rather quiet Blake's Cafe provided the coffee and cakes. On the longer return leg the wind was more in evidence either as a cross-wing or headwind - 16 mph was forecast but it seemed a good bit stronger. One slight hiccup on Northmead Lane, when Phil caught his tyre on an undercut road edge, resulted in an unscheduled dismount but both bike and rider seemed unscathed.

There was good disciplined group riding throughout, important given the wind - thank you all!

A grey start for a flat Vale ride.
We only encountered one deep puddle (twice) near Denchworth but it didn’t wet our feet or submerge our bottom brackets.
A couple of running groups meant we had a longer than usual queue at the bakehouse but a table came free upstairs so we lingered as we relished our snacks and admired the busy bakery in action.
Very enjoyable!