Report by Richard Haynes
18 riders assembled at Romsey shortly after an unwanted shower to commence the Reliability Ride. The participants almost had an international flavour with three riders from the Isle of Wight.
There were more than 18 starters but some riders had decided not to do the complete ride and other members joined the ride partway through the route.
I suspect that average speeds were lower than normal because of the wet conditions to start and the amount of tree debris and mud on the roads, this was evidenced by many of the riders looking with dismay at the state of their bikes on completion. Some commented about the unhelpful headwind on the outward route and the route meant that they could not settle into a steady rhythm. All 18 who signed on finished and should be congratulated given the roads, number of turns and climbs.
Gold
Sotonia: Will Weynberg, Paul Ransom, Russell Speight, Dominic Betteridge, John French
Silver
Sotonia: Paul Witcombe, Jon Legg, Richard Burch
Bronze
Sotonia: Martin Roscoe, Martin Cole, Simon Daw, Mel Cook, Ian Wall, Nicole Wall, Colin Witt
Team Spy (IOW): R. Merryfield, N. Bee, J. Hayles