The rain was persistent and those without mudguards felt very uncomfortable from the outset.
Near Brockham my ratchet on right hand side lever broke and so I diverted off the ride at Punchbowl Lane to swap bikes, I had the intention of meeting up again at Ranmore.
Unknown to me at the time, the ride group came across a “road closed” sign at Critten Lane and so turned off towards Whitedown, crossing the A25 and going in the direction of Ockley Road, onto Ockley, Capel, Newdigate and chose not to go to Tannhouse, due to the inclement weather, therefore went the most direct route home.
I got my spare bike (after changing rear tyre, from turbo trainer tyre), put bike in the back of the car and my wife drove in an attempt to join the ride, the chase was on! Expecting to find the group at the top of Ranmore, nobody there. So we went along Ranmore Common Road and saw the “road closed” sign, went down Whitedown towards the A25 and along to Shere and still did not find the riders. Tried to phone Brian, but the phone reception in that area is very poor. At Ewhurst I managed to contact Brian and he said they were at the Ockley Road/Forest Green Junction. When we got to the junction, Brian and the ride were going through Capel, the ride was moving very fast. We eventually overtook the ride just before Newdigate, parked in the school car park and off loaded my bike, eventually caught up with the ride back to Reigate and managed to ride 16 miles. My thanks goes to Brian for taking over and leading the ride back.
Well done to all considering the unexpected circumstances and bad weather thrown at them.