It really is sods law. Two weeks of glorious Summer sunshine and crisp fast hard baked trails and the day before our ride the heavens had to open. Heavy rain all of Saturday and overnight into Sunday meant it was a soggy start to the day but none the less six of us headed out for a very enjoyable XC Group Ride.

Our group of riders for the day was a great mixed bunch - some familiar faces and some new ones, and a group of riders with very mixed riding experience - just how we like it! Thank you to all the new faces that turned up for the ride.

Our route for the day started and finished at Wendover Woods just outside the Cafe, the owner kindly let us shelter and the veranda as the last few rain showers of the day moved through. The ride took in around a 15 mile loop of Wendover, Coombe Hill and surrounding areas taking in a very large amount of possible the finest singletrack in the area.

Even after the heavy rain luckily most trails were still riding quite well and really boggy areas where actually quite far and few between.

Wendover's singletrack and fireroads were riding well, but there was a lot of large areas of standing water to be avoided (or ride through depending on the rider!!!). A large percentage of the tracks leading away from Wendover into the Coombe area were fantastic fun, with the majority of them being fairly grippy but with the odd 'fun' corner kept everyone on their toes (so to speak!). Heading up into the Dunsmore and Coombe area we took in plenty of fun singletrack which kept a smile on everyones faces even with the odd shower, high winds and muddy trails. From the Coombe area we took in some fun singletrack loops before heading back down one of the fast singletrack gully runs back into Wendover Town before heading our way back into Wendover for some more singletrack and the final climb back up the Cafe for a cup of tea.

Besides everyone being cold and filthy everyone enjoyed the ride, and we managed to show some local riders even more trails that they didn't know existed. This route managed to take in a load of fast descents and descending singletrack with very few heavy climbs, which I think everyone was thankful seeing the climbs gave way to the odd spinning rear wheel. There were lots of keen comments about the route and interest from everyone to go riding the route again another day.

We cut our ride down to around 15 miles with the weather and decided to avoid our planned Aston Hill loop after until a slightly drier and warmer day.

Due to the wet trails and the cold we had to keep moving and did the route in a very respectable time, sadly however due to the cold we didn't manage to stop for long enough to get any photos from the day!

A big thank you has to go out to everyone who attended, the Woods Cafe for accepting more muddy bikers, and for all the guys who helped out with planning and leading the days ride.

Our June ride is to be held at Swinley Forest, keep you eyes peeled on the website, forum and in your inbox for more news and details on that coming very soon.