Sunday 24th January

Biggest group out this year - 5 in all - Chris, Steve, Simon, Pete and Stuart, still tanned from his Christmas hols in the Caribbean.

The day started gloomy but soon brightened up, almost Spring like, a real tonic after the weeks and weeks of wet conditions pre-Christmas and then the snow of the New Year.

The planned route strayed no further than 10 miles from our home village of Highclere but was over 55 miles and over 3500 feet of climbing.

We set off heading for Whitway to pick up Simon and then the first ascent of the day from Sydmonton up over to Whitchurch. Chris made a solo effort for the Sydmonton sign and then on the climb the group split up and but soon re-formed at the top. Simon and Chris then descended quickly and forced the pace only to have to ride back up to find Pete had punctured.

From Whitchurch is was up the Bourne valley to Stoke, with Steve and Simon dominating the village signs, then we turned sharp left and up the impressive hill of the same name. We then ventured into new territory around Enham Alamein and onto Tangley and Chute. The turning for Chute Causeway was missed, a shame as the views would have been excellent, so the slight change in route took us to Shalbourne and down to Ham.

The roads were undulating and there was no shortage of attempts to force the pace on the uphill sections by various group members. After Ham, Stuart took a wrong turn and let us know by text he had headed back for home. Not a bad decision as the route ahead was a real "rollercoaster" - the stiff climb up from Ham then onto Linkenholt with a fast descent where Pete pealed off to head back on his own via Faccombe and Ashmansworth. He didn't fancy climbing over Coombe twice!

Steve, Simon and Chris kept up a good pace through Coombe village and then up to Coombe Gibbet. Chris certainly "struck his last match" here as he kept the pedals turning hard all the way to the summit.

We then cut the route short with another fast descent leading to a climb up Coombe again, this time a slightly easier route. Steve at this stage had been descending cautiously as his rear brake blocks were almost worn away, but made up for it by powering up the last ascent.

At the top, it was agreed that time was running out(a second puncture for Pete had given us a us a bit of a break between climbs) and lunch was calling so instead of Faccombe we dropped down to East End. Downhill speed merchant Chris managed to increase is maximum speed here to over 43 mph.

The pace then slowed, with a bit of feisty riding by Simon occasionally to test our legs as we continued through East End, onto Woolton Hill and home.

51 miles and an excellent hilly workout of 3500 feet. All agreed, next time we would try to complete the whole Wayfarers Wheelers version of the Hampshire Hilly.

Sunday 17th January

After another blast of midweek snow, the roads were clear again or so we thought! Black ice was still a problem this morning and with a certain amount of trepidation, the three riders out for the first real training ride of 2010, Pete, Chris and Steve, set out with a large circular route planned, taking in Wantage and Lambourn and Hungerford.

It had threatened to be a larger group but Simon was a late withdrawal with the Flu and the effects of the Port at the dinner party the night before had given false hope of Fran and even Matt joining us. We did however agree to meet up with Marwood and his friend Mike in Chieveley.

After a slow and cautious start we decided to change the route to take in more major roads and headed straight into Newbury on the A343. This out of the way we took the main Wantage road and the pace was fairly fast up the first climb of the day. Sadly the following descent wasnt fast due to the ever-present concern about ice and there certainly were some small patches here and there.

Due to the cautious riding the Chieveley village sign wasn't contested and we carried on over badly crumbling roads, caused by the weeks of ice, towards Peasemore. We soon came across Marwood and Mike as planned and they turned around to ride with us to Farnborough(no not the one in Hampshire, the smaller one in West Berks!).

After Peasemore, we soon encountered large patches of ice through Stanmore and on the descent to East Ilsley. A new riding style was adopted by most of the group which entailed leaving one foot out of the cleat in anticipation of counteracting a fall. Luckily no one succumbed to the ice.

The pace quickened again on slightly safer roads for the climb up to Farnborough and we came across a small group of mountain bikers dressed in what appeared to be shell suits. They didn't seem to take too kindly to us passing them, probably viewing us as a bunch of road riding, Lycra clad poofs! To their credit as the pace quickened up the climbs two of them made a good effort of sticking with us and eventually they turned off with a friendly wave from their leader.

After Farnborough we bid farewell to Marwood and Mike and descended towards Wantage. The roads looked clear of ice so the speed built up with Chris reporting an impressive 41.3 mph on the main straight.

Wantage out of the way we followed the pleasant lanes through Letcombe Regis towards Lambourn with a couple of 10% gradients to contend with. At the top of the last one there was a brief stop for a few energy gels to be imbibed and then it was off again to Lambourn.

Steve, as he often does, wound up the pace as Lambourn neared with victory in the sprint for the village sign in mind. He probably went a bit too early and Chris sat on his wheel to then sprint past at the "finish". Pete was nowhere to be seen so a quick double back found him replacing an inner tube due to a puncture.

We set off again, back through Lambourn and onto Eastbury to climb up to the A4000 and then take the lanes around Hungerford. At this point having covered 40 miles or so it was agreed we would aim towards Kintbury and the shortest route home. Tired legs for all and Pete was obviously feeling the effects of missing a few road sessions.

The last few miles were covered at a fairly leisurely pace and the weather could be best described as "Spring" like with warm sunshine. Bliss!

All agreed ithad been a good workout with 56 miles covered and over 900 metres of climbing in the best conditions we have enjoyed for a while. Only 25 Sundays to Tourmalet!

Sunday 10th January

The snow is back - in a major way! Not to be put off by this, four of us; Chris, Steve, Fran and Simon headed out for an off-road excursion on the mountain bikes. Pete made what was probably a sensible decision to opt for the warmth of the gym but missed out on a fun time with lots of thrills and spills!

We met up at the Carpenters Arms in Burghclere, it was still nearly dark at 9am. After a brief ride on icy roads we were soon off onto hard packed, snowy tracks making for the Wayfarers Way. Trying to cope with the rutted snow was difficult and everyone slipped and fell over at some point.

The route twisted and turned with on and off road sections to Old Burghclere and then there was the major ascent up onto the Wayfarers ridge. This was along a tricky and narrow path which was very slippy in places. As the path levelled off it opened up onto an exposed field, snow flurries blew across and it looked really bleak. We picked our way over to the ridge itself and then followed the Wayfarers Way towards the A34. At times the depth of the drifted snow made cycling impossible but all the time fun was had as our bike handling skills were tested to the limit.

We came across another group of mountain bikers just before we crossed the A34, they were carrying out some major running repairs and we wobbled past with a brief "Hello".

Then it was up towards the West and into the Highclere Estate. This involved a long walk up along a badly rutted and snowy track which gave way to an open field section. Everyone spilt up and rode the best they could with regular stops to regain composure after numerous wipe outs.

The bikes were easily supported in the deep snow as seen in the photograph. At the highest point of the ride we followed a good track with firm snow although rutted in parts. Then Simon and Fran carried straight on to descend back down towards Whitway and home and Steve and Chris took the meandering track down to Highclere Street, back past the Red House pub and home.

14 miles in just over 2 hours. But a good work-out in the difficult conditions.

Weekend of 2nd/3rd January

No Sunday group ride this weekend, brought about by a mixture of icy roads and probably the last of the team's Christmas and New Year holiday social commitments.

Steve and Chris ventured out on Saturday despite the ice. The sun had lured us out and some roads were clear while others white-over with crunchy ice which was amazingly not slippy. We decided to stick to well used routes, but even then came unstuck. The road from Woolton Hill to Kintbury had some ice-rink like stretches. On one of these Steve came a cropper. We then became more cautious and ended up walking over the worst bits of ice.

After Kintbury a decision was made to head for the perceived "safety" of the A4. The traffic was quiet but the road still suspect with icy edges. We picked our way to Hungerford and then the road quality improved as our route took us to Chilton Foliat and up Stag Hill to return towards home on the A4000. We then took a short diversion to Great Shefford and on to Welford, Boxford and Bagnor. All the lanes were still considered impassable on two wheels so we headed into Newbury and the safety of well-used roads.

After negotiating through Newbury we headed home and turned off the main road again at Wash Water. This took us yet again onto ice covered roads and it was nearly midday - obviously a day when the temperature wasn't going to rise above freezing.

We arrived safely home having covered just over 32 miles at a very slow average speed. Our walking stretches at the beginning took their toll although the pace of between 17-22mph back from Hungerford helped.

Not surprisingly no signs were contested. Chris told Steve he could "have" the Kintbury one as it loomed up ahead along the whitened road. After that they were passed unnoticed.

Next planned group ride the Evans "Ride it" event at Chieveley, a 65 mile route. We'll see how the weather affects this!