To Wiston (provisionally!) led by James

Well, I think it’s safe to say that the first few miles of today’s Club Run was the most eventful ever!
When I got out of bed this morning, I awoke to a bitterly cold, frosty morning and the temperature outside didn’t really increase by the time I met the hardened Redhill riders waiting for me at the Angel. The group included Nick, Ben, Graham, Gavin, Andrew and Allan.
My plan initially was to make our way over to Wiston Tea Rooms, heading in the direction of Newdigate, Rusper etc. We headed off towards Leigh fairly slowly and it was clear by this time that some riders were getting a little impatient and were wanting to add some excitement to the ride; Gavin demonstrated his excellent bike handling skills when he decided to try a bit of Cyclo X by inadvertently mounting a grass verge.
We carried straight on at the Leigh cross-roads, came across a large sheet of black ice covering the entire width of the road and stretching around 20 metres In length. Thinking that it was just a wet patch of road, we tried to cycle across it oblivious to the fact that it was black ice. Ben was the first to hit the deck when his front wheel went from under him, and I quickly followed. Then it was Nick and Andrew’s turn at falling due to the icy conditions. Allan however, miraculously managed to avoid coming off when his front wheel went from under him by some skilful bike handling.
A decision was then made to abandon the ride for this week due to the poor weather and we all made our own way back.