Sunday 20th December

Small group out today - Chris, Steve and birthday boy Simon. After a lot of debate the night before about the likely icy/snowy conditions it was agreed to go off road on our mountain bikes, all of which have been pretty much unused for months!

The route took us from Highclere on seriously ice/snow covered lanes to climb up onto the Wayfarers Ridge via a track that was tough at first with rear wheels spinning on the snow. After a brief rest and running repair to Steve's deraillieur the next section was enjoyable along the ridge with great views and about 2-3 cms of snow on the ground.

We made our way past Coombe Gibbet and turned south to descend down the Test Way, regularly coming to grief on rutted and frozen ground. The descent was slow but fun. After the steep sections we made our way at speed down a wide track to rejoin the road and then the main climb of the route back up to the ridge. This was prolonged and steep in places, made more difficult by the frozen ground. Walking some stretches was a must as rear-wheel traction failed.

We were soon on the ridge again enjoying the views to the north over Berkshire and Oxfordshire and then descended to the village of East End to make our way home on still very icy roads.

A good ride in lovely sunshine and a real pleasure to be out. Very slow however, only 17 miles in over 2 and a half hours but way better than being on the turbo!

PS: Pete we hear was riding a 35 mile route around Lands End in Cornwall probably in warmer conditions and eating on the way as usual!