Today’s ride I’d pitched as a social. Not too long, not too hard but the heatwave this week meant I had to keep an eye on the forecast as the potential temperature was teetering on too hot. Thankfully, the temp did ease a bit today and although it was very warm still, it wasn’t unbearable and the breeze took the edge off too.
I picked my mate up at 8.30am and we got to the Greenway car park about 9.10am which gave us time to get a coffee and pastry. Mark bought me my first-ever almond croissant which was a revelation and as we sat there with Kevin, a few more riders rocked up as we neared the 10am roll out.
My brief welcome and obligatory group photo done, we rolled out together and enjoyed a shaded and breezy start which was quite refreshing after the heat this week. The Greenway wasn’t too busy with no issues passing others.
At the end we crossed over to ride the extension of the NCN route through the new Meon Vale estate which sits aside a new-looking train depot. It’s a section I’ve never ridden before and follows a gravel path through the estate but the kissing gate at the end is a bit of a daft addition for cyclists to have to negotiate.
From here we enjoyed our first section of tarmac through Upper then Lower Quinton, keeping the speed nice and social, and made our way out into the lanes to find the next offroad sector which was quite dry and bumpy.
We regrouped at the end and tracked our way to the foot of the main climb out of Ilmington where we split. We regrouped again at the start of the next byway (Pig Lane) which was a bit of a skills test on it’s short, steep and rocky climb before the gradient eased and we passed the two masts you can see from the surrounding roads.
At the next junction we crossed the road and took the bridleway to cut the corner off the road route and regrouped at the summit of Lark Stoke with it’s amazing views out of the Worcestershire countryside.
The descent to Hidcote was another little skills test for some as it was loose and a bit rocky in places before the superfast straight descent of Bakers Hill to Mickelton which saw some of us exceed 45mph which was fun.
From here it was a couple of miles of tarmac in the lanes before we picked up the Greenway again for a zippy and dusty ride back to the cafe for a well-earned cold drink.
Great fun. Sometimes the best rides aren’t the longest or hardest. Today was one of them.
See you on the next one.
Adios
