Riding with a group of people is a lot of fun: The first hour passes by without you even noticing, hills are no longer grinding misery but one can either see whether a race to the top is to one’s liking or just swear at the incline with somebody who’s suffering too.

I’m a woman, I enjoy riding my bike but I know hardly anything about road bikes. All I do is ride them and have fun doing so.

That the group ride is actually on the day of one of the major road races and following the theme of these races had passed me by completely when I signed up for the ride ( proved to be very easy online).

So I joined the lovely bunch of fellow road cycling enthusiasts on the morning of the Milan San Remo race in Italy, a bit unsure about what it would be like: Will they go with an average of 22 mph? Will they smile after each hill pretending it was nothing? Will I be the only woman? Am I fit enough?

And it was great!

The met office had tried really hard to scare me away from actually attending by throwing weather warnings of ice and sleet at me through the virtual world of the www and constant rain at breakfast did not help at all.

The ride itself led the small peloton out of Bristol and through Long Ashton and Nailsea to Clevedon, where we cycled past the pier and up to Portishead.

Up, yes, up we went a couple of times but everyone at their own speed and it was a very encouraging atmosphere of mixed ability where everyone can feel welcome.

The facilities at the Mud Dock are excellent so that one can enjoy the well-earned food in the Café after a refreshing shower.

We need more of these rides!

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