There was some debate as to the likely condition of the roads, after a night of rain and temperatures close to zero, but the conclusion was they were probably fine.
Wrong!
We were 5 miles along our journey to Dunstable and had just headed off down Gaddesdon Lane when we caught up with the youth group who had taken a spill on some nasty and very unexpected black ice. The Sociables had been flagged down and were able to stop well short of the ice, but another group coming the other way also took a tumble on the ice.
After a brief conflab, it was agreed that we double back and head to Vanstone garden centre and stick to main roads.
A different type of ride sticking to the main roads, but we were a large group so it felt quite safe.
A huge long hill out of Welwyn to Codicote and I drop back a long way. If it hadn't been for the teabreak at the garden centre we would have lost the group.
The tea break felt all too brief as we had arrived late, and now the temperatures had warmed up we were able to return along the country lanes. I really do love the lanes, the countryside is so lovely it makes riding a real pleasure.
Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn, which of course we only realised after we had flown down a huge hill, so now the rest of the group were long gone. Even without the wrong turning I know that I would have been dropped early.
I desperately need to work on my speed and I have now found that Westminster Lodge runs loads of spinning classes, so I am back in training! The great thing about the classes in the UK is that they are all in English and I understand all the instructions. I suspect I didn't get a lot of the benefit when I went to spinning classes in Montreal, as they were all in French and I never had much of a clue what was happening!
Writing about spinning reminds me of my favourite short story about a spin class........
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