Well things did not go according to plan!

We rose early; unfeasibly early. Like 6am. We picked up Rachel and Dawn in the van just as the heavy rain started. By the time we signed on, the day had morphed into the worst of the year. Cold, windy and wet, despite the 1000 plus riders, there were still more puddles than cyclists.

After only a few miles, two friends we met at the start decided to retired.

The conditions were horrendous. It was the cold rather than the wet but the combination was fairly devastating.

We did 18 kms before abandoning. To add insult to injury Will had a puncture on the way back to the start.

Then soon after we arrived back in Moseley, the sky started to clear, the rain stopped and the weather picked up. It was not a bad afternoon.

Time for the turbo trainer.