On Wednesday 26 July five intrepid cyclists braved the inclement weather towards the Wheelbarrow Castle pub at Radford (just south of Inkberrow): me, Jon P, Tim, Richard and Chris. It was raining lightly but with persistence as I set out from home and had backed down to a steady drizzle by the time we left Earlswood. We paused for elevenses at the top of the hill by the Purity brewery before sweeping down to Great Alne. The drizzle had diminished to a few drops a second enabling me to manage with just my excellent club gillet. Arms were wet but the water was warm. Down through Billesley and through the Graftons to Dunnington Cross and Weethey Gate. Between there and Gooms Hill there's a nasty, short thrutch and Richard foolishly tried to change both his rear sprocket and front ring simultaneously (not a good idea) only to find his pedals spinning without a chain. A link had gone missing. Fortunately Tim had a spare quick link of the right size and so with several sets of black and greasy fingers we managed to thread the chain round both derailleurs and insert the new link. (Clive, where were you?) All good, and we set off up the hill only to find that I'd trodden in something at the side of the road and had mud in my cleats, so there was another delay while I dug out the grot. The Wheelbarrow Castle changed hands a year or so ago and is a vast improvement on its former self, with a super carvery and a good selection of well priced lunches; in a word: splendid! The rain had almost gone by the time we set off through Stock Green, Bradley Green, Ditchford Bank, Finstall, the Pikes Pool road near Blackwell and across to Hopwood. Finally we split up, some to do battle with Weatheroak Hill and the rest to puff up Forehill and so home. A good 60 miles for me averaging over 13mph for the day and arriving home in sunshine.
