Typical Ride

Rides happen all year round.  Summer evenings can be magical, with tee-shirt weather at 11pm, striking sunsets and fast, firm off-road trails.  Mid-winter can be more of an experience — which tyres for Cambridgeshire mud?  As you peel off the layers into the washing machine, there is a quiet satisfaction and readiness to face the office or laboratory tomorrow.

During the day of the ride, people intending to ride usually post on The Forum, but this is not required.  Forum discussion might include the weather (we are British after all) and potential routes.

The evening

• 7:20pmPeople start gathering at Brookside.  Banter includes greeting new riders and discussion of the route — longer? shorter? shortcut option?
• 7:30pmWe leave together on a route that takes us out of the city into the surrounding countryside.  Thereafter the route is a mixture of permitted off-road (bridleways) and country lanes.
• 9:30–9:45pmArrival at the designated pub.  Some people prefer to ride home at this point, which is fine.  The Cambridge hinterland is blessed with many excellent village pubs — we naturally frequent those that accept a group of MTBers (in winter, that would be wet and muddy MTBers).
• ~11:00pmWhen people are ready, we leave for our homes.  There are usually some people returning to Cambridge city; mostly the ride back is on roads.

Pace and breaks will be to suit the slowest riders.  Hopefully there will be no punctures or other incidents, but it does happen.

In winter, if the pub is close to your home, you can be in the shower by 11pm.  In summer, when the pub is far out on the other side of Cambridge, expect to return after midnight.